Despite my initial reservation toward "Ali Al-Adeeb" assuming the Ministry of Higher Education—being a leader in the "Dawa Party" coming from a political rather than academic background (despite holding a master's degree)—I perceived in him an unexpected side. I was aware of the limits and depth of his specialized knowledge in education files, but I found in him an attentive ear to the opinions and policies proposed by experts of my professional weight.
During my frequent visits to Iraq at that time, I met with him several times, held meetings with senior leadership, and presented workshops and lectures, and I saw from him clear welcome for those initiatives.
I admired the ministry's strategy (2011-2014), and although I contributed with routine proposals and was not part of its final formulation, I later followed it with critical and analytical articles. In contrast to this planning effort, I had a critical stance toward his decision to establish ten universities at once without providing the minimum requirements for sound establishment, as it seemed to be an attempt to achieve a quantitative leap in the number of universities, which unfortunately contributed to the decline in higher education levels and was one of the signs of its deterioration.
Al-Adeeb's era witnessed the launch of the student scholarship movement abroad, and although most of it was linked to the "educational initiative" launched by the Prime Minister's office in 2009 (to send 10,000 students), its activation represented a personal victory for me. I had been struggling since 2003 for intensive scholarships to Western countries, to compensate for the acute shortage of competencies and to break the international isolation and the "self-blockade" imposed on the scientific system in Iraq for decades. My relationship with Al-Adeeb culminated in an official visit to the University of Dublin, where agreements resulted in sending 21 students to study medicine in Ireland—the first medical scholarship of its kind in decades, followed by another group of students, and unfortunately not repeated thereafter. I must also commend the pivotal role played by my colleague Dr. Ismail Al-Mulla, who had a great impact in convincing Ali Al-Adeeb of the importance of seizing that opportunity, then in supervising the organization of the scholarships and following up on the affairs of the students sent with precision and dedication.
However, this effort, on which hopes were pinned, collided with a bitter reality. When these students returned to their homeland after seven years of serious academic achievement, they found nothing waiting for them but a wall of stubborn administrative obstacles to the equivalency of their certificates, and total disregard for their qualifications in appointment. They waited long until despair seeped into their souls, forcing them to leave Iraq again, with some returning to Ireland and others dispersing to other countries. Thus, Iraq lost these rare competencies, victims of short-sighted policies, administrative follies, and a hostile tendency toward anything connected to knowledge from Western countries.
Al-Adeeb's visit was a station for mutual understanding, where I sensed his great satisfaction with the organization of the visit and his firsthand exposure to Irish academic mechanisms. We spent long hours discussing education quality and curriculum development. Despite my deep conviction that my ambitions might collide with the reality of corruption and obscurantism inside, I was happy that my ideas received apparent support at least, and I considered that part of my duty in education and change.