After my retirement from the University of Dublin, I devoted myself to writing about education, advocating for education system reform and changing teaching methods, emphasizing the importance of academic ethics, critical thinking, and academic freedoms. I was driven by what I closely observed of the deterioration of education in recent years, despite Iraq's ancient history rich in scientific achievements. The effects of the dismal state of higher education raised great concerns in me about the quality and effectiveness of academic programs and institutions.
In this way, I felt the importance of conducting a systematic analysis of the education and scientific research landscape to address shortcomings and promote improvements. I always assumed that academics should benefit from a critical and systematic analysis of university scenes with all their advantages. One of the main reasons academics benefit from systematic analysis of universities is the need for change.
Arab countries have faced significant challenges such as brain drain, declining quality of research output, and poor education quality. Addressing these challenges required me to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the current state of higher education, including examining strengths and weaknesses. Using this information, I felt it would enable academics to work on improving the educational system by implementing innovative reforms I had presented in several studies published over the past years to address weaknesses in the educational system.
I saw another reason for academics to benefit from systematic university analysis: the need for global competitiveness. The world has become more interconnected and globalized, and universities need to adapt to the changing demands of the global economy. By analyzing the state of universities, academics can benchmark their institutions against the best universities in the world, identify gaps, and adopt best practices to enhance their competitiveness.
However, I always realized that criticism and analysis may not always be constructive or productive; in some cases, criticism can be used to undermine the efforts of those working to improve the educational system. Therefore, I learned to provide in my analyses an evidence-based approach to policy-making, offering insights that can help develop effective policies in facing the challenges facing the education sector.
