In a special ceremony held at the American University of Iraq-Baghdad (AUIB), in the presence of the Italian Ambassador to Iraq, Mr. Niccolò Fontana, the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at AUIB and the Department of History, Religion, Anthropology, Art History, and Performing Arts (SARAS) at Sapienza University of Rome celebrated the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) articulating the two parties’ will “to explore possible opportunities for collaboration in mutually agreed areas of research and other scholarly activities.”
In their mutual commitment to promoting intercultural interaction, scholarly collaboration and exchange of faculty, staff, students, information and academic material, the two signatories have laid the general framework for prospective collaborations in developing curricula at AUIB, as well as in jointly organizing symposia and lectures. Crucially, the MoU outlined collaboration in developing the infrastructure of laboratories and relevant technologies in research and education at AUIB, as well as in the pursuit of both programmatic and institutional accreditation. As per the signed document, the two parties also envisioned “working jointly on projects in Iraq to support local museums (and train) museum staff,” in collaboration with the Iraqi Ministry of Culture
AUIB Founding President, Dr. Michael Mulnix, welcomed the Ambassador and the Sapienza delegation to campus, saying that the signing of the MoU “indicates AUIB’s intent to have many joint programs with the university of Sapienza,” and announcing that AUIB will “begin to work very closely with the (Italian) embassy” as well, in the same context. In her turn, SARAS representative, Associate Professor of Islamic Archaeology and Art History, Ms. Michelina Di Cesare, expressed her looking forward to working with AUIB “to explore new opportunities and paths for the education of the next generation of archaeologists and (museum) curators.”
Founded in 1303, Sapienza is one of the oldest and largest universities in Europe and the world, and one of the most prestigious research universities, as it ranked first globally for the study of Classics and Ancient History for several years.