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Welcome 2016 Summer School Students

September 2015
Training Programme for teaching stuff of Duhok University

September 2014
Network Meeting in Duhok

Mai 2014
Coordination Meeting in Erbil next steps: Extention of the Bachelor Programme to the University of Diyala rp-news -minutes

April 2013
Meeting in Duhok to coordinate the new bachelor prgramme teaching

April 2013
Start of the summer semester for all bachelor students in Dortmund

March 2013
Coordination Meeting for the project year 2013 in Dortmund

February and March 2013
Semester break for bachelor students

October 2012
Semester start for all Bachelor students in Dortmund

September/October 2012
Joint conference and network meeting in Iraq

August 2012
Exkursion with the bachelor students to "Der Selfkant" - the most western part of Germany

July 2012
Cross Cultural Training for the bachelor students in Dortmund

Establishing Planning Education in Iraq

Background: In February 2009 the German and Iraqi governments signed a Memorandum of
Understanding on university cooperation. Five German universities were commissioned to develop specific cooperation with Iraqi partner universities. The Faculty of Spatial Planning at TU Dortmund University was tasked to design education and research components in the field of Spatial Planning.
The project is part of the DAAD funded programme "Strategic Academic Partnership with Iraq".

Watch the Interview with Professor Dr. Dietwald Gruehn Chair of Landscape Planning and Landscape Ecology about our Project.
(Double click to go fullscreen and make sure to activate subtitles)

Project Overview

Since the project start in August 2009 the Faculty of Spatial Planning had the chance to extend and deepen already existing linkages with different Iraqi universities - now the universities of Baghdad, Diyala, Dohuk and Mosul are the most important project partners. These universities cooperate intensively to establish the idea of an integrated and sustainable development planning and corresponding planning education in Iraq.

To reach this aim the core element of the project is the development of a Bachelor Programme in "Urban and Regional Planning". This new Bachelor Programme will follow the Dortmund model - meaning that the planning education combines theory and practice.
At the same time the involved stakeholders agree that planning education must be based on an interdisciplinary approach. Otherwise it will be impossible to face the present and future challenges and solve increasingly complex planning problems.

12 students from the different Iraqi partner universities started in 2010 their studies at TU Dortmund University with an intensive German language course. During the first months specific courses about spatial planning have been offered and the students had been doing internships in Iraqi institutions to get to know the Iraqi planning system. 10 students are currently attanding TU Dortmund University's Bachelor Programme in Spatial Planning.

The development of the new Bachelor Programme is complemented by different measures of staff development. In an effort to strengthen not only the academic side of planning but as well the scientific planning discussion, the project partners identified trendsetting research topics.

As a result the 1st Joint Planning Conference on "Challenges for Urban Development in Iraq" was held in Dohuk/Iraq in October 2010 and the 2nd one on "Regional Development in Iraq" took place in October 2011.
In 2012 the 3rd Conference was organized under the headline: "Rapid urban growth and opportunities for sustainable development".

Furthermore, to strenghten the cooperation between all universities participating in the DAAD-funded programme the first Iraqi-German Universities' network Conference was held in Erbil in November 2010.

NEW: Publication
„Planning Education for Iraq - German an Iraqi Planners in Dialogue“

The publication is the product of the DAAD funded cooperation project pliq (planning education for Iraq). The pliq project is developed from a long-standing co-operation between the Faculty of Spatial Planning, TU Dortmund University and Iraqi universities in Dohuk, Mosul, Diyala, Baghdad, Sulaimania and Erbil. The publication provides a platform for exchange between planners from Germany and from Iraq, from academia and practice, thus encouraging and strengthening dialogue concerning the state of the art in the field of planning. By comparing planning philosophies and exploring new approaches and best practices in planning education and planning practice in the respective countries, it seeks to sharpen the profile of spatial planning as a discipline with an important development task.

Joint Planning Conference in Iraq
„A very beneficial exchange for both sides“

(11/2012) Already three times Dr.-Ing. Thorsten Heitkamp, senior researcher at the Faculty of Spatial Planning at TU Dortmund, has travelled to Northern Iraq. Since 2009 he joins the annual Joint Planning Conferences of the PLIQ Project. This year the conference focused on the challenges of the rapid urban growth in the country. Over the years Dr. Heitkamp has noticed perceptible improvements of the Iraqi partners. But in the interview he points out that spatial planning in Iraq still has a long way to go.

Read the full interview here.

Nineteen months in Germany...

(04/2012) „It was a tough time. But I’m proud I achieved so much so far”, student Arkan Al-Bakr says. He and nine other Iraqi students have been in Germany for more than one and a half year now. They take part in the PLIQ project (Planning Education for Iraq) and will be studying Spatial Planning at TU Dortmund University from the start of summer semester 2012 on.

Read the full report here.