The Pharmaceutical Chemistry Branch at the College of Pharmacy, University of Basrah, organized a specialized workshop entitled "Iraqi Universities between Reality and Ambition," exploring criteria for academic excellence and global institutional standing.
The workshop featured an insightful lecture by Dr. Rahim Jamil Muhaisen, who reviewed the most globally recognized ranking systems, including THE, QS, Webometrics, and Shanghai. The session explained the methodologies behind university rankings at both scientific and literary academic levels, noting that these systems rely on a combination of rigorous statistics and targeted surveys distributed to students and faculty. These metrics primarily evaluate the quality of undergraduate education and the standard of scientific research at the postgraduate level.
The workshop emphasized that these rankings are based on objective criteria that have made them an international benchmark for academic competition. While traditional dominance by US and UK universities persists, Iraqi institutions are recording increasing competitiveness. The 2024 Times Higher Education (THE) rankings evaluated 1,904 universities from 180 countries with a notable Iraqi presence, while Webometrics recorded the participation and competition of over one hundred Iraqi universities and colleges, reflecting a serious commitment to global academic standards.
