You’ve read the hundreds of reports (finally, they caught up with Al Jamiat!) on the newly launched Iraq Education Initiative. A fantastic new program from the Iraqi government to provide 10,000 scholarships for Iraqi students over the next 5 years.

The program begins with a pilot program, a small class of 500-600 students for the upcoming academic year.  Students must apply for the scholarship here: http://www.hcediraq.org/index_files/Apply.htm and we suggest you apply TODAY, the Iraqi scholarship application for 2009/2010 closes on September 1, 2009.

Currently it appears that the application is only in Arabic. If any Kurdish students need assistance, let us know so we can find a person to help with translation for you.

The scholarship is currently only open to Iraqi citizens who are currently living in Iraq and have lived in Iraq for the 2 years prior to the application.  Applications are for Bachelors and Masters & PhD degrees, there are age requirements for the different degrees which you can find here:
http://www.hcediraq.org/index_files/Eligibility.htm

You do NOT need to take the TOEFL in order to be considered for the scholarship, however, it will assist in your application process. You can learn more about the TOEFL here and find locations for where it is administered in Iraq from the official website of ETS.

Once you’ve completed your scholarship application, its probably a good idea to start figuring out where you want to study! Let us know if you have any questions and if you need any help with your decisions. We highly recommend our friends at MyUSearch as one of the few UNBIASED college matchmakers out there!