On the 26th of January 2022, Iraqi Minister of Youth and Sport, Adnan Dirjal, visited the American University of Iraq-Baghdad (AUIB) campus, where he was received by AUIB President, Dr. Michael Mulnix, and a team of university faculty. The Minister’s visit to the university came in less than two months after an AUIB team, headed by President Mulnix, visited the Ministry of Youth and Sport, where a cooperation agreement was signed.
President Mulnix welcomed Minister Dirjal, saying that the two parties “had an interesting discussion on how to promote youth, sports, athletics, and excellence in the classroom as well”. The Minister was “very interested in the establishment of an Honor’s College at AUIB, where we promote the very best in academic excellence, combined with the very best in excellence in athletics and sports. We are looking to educate the very best students to come out of Iraq”, said President Mulnix, expressing the AUIB team’s and his enthusiasm for proceeding on what he described as “an exciting venture”.
In turn, Minister Dirjal thanked President Mulnix and AUIB team for their warm welcome, expressing his delight for being at the AUIB campus, and stating that the purpose of his visit was to put the cooperation agreement recently signed to action. Minister Dirjal announced that a committee would soon formulate “a complete action plan for a whole year”, to be discussed with President Mulnix in a period of 20 days. The Minister reiterated AUIB’s and his keenness on finalizing an action plan with a specific timeframe, “on a variety of important issues on youth and sports affairs”, one that would bear fruit in the near future, stressed Minister Dirjal.
The American University of Iraq – Baghdad is a non-profit university founded in 2018. It currently has eight colleges.