Globalisation and rapid environmental change have created many challenges for public and private organisations across Iraq as a developing country, particularly in the higher education sector. This includes, for example, decreases in government funding; increased demand for higher education; a need for economic transformation, and related competitiveness of organizations. Such challenges require exceptional leaders and strategic planning in order to take action to improve. In Iraq, the higher education sector is still one of the main foundations in progressing the knowledge economy. Studies into leadership style, strategic planning processes, and the importance of leadership and organisational culture to an organisation’s success have been used to assist both public and private Iraqi colleges in responding to the challenges they face. Although, some studies have examined the interaction between leadership and strategic planning, and leadership and organisational success, there has been no empirical study that has investigated how these three variables interact together. Thus, this study aimed, firstly, to identify the current leadership styles and strategic planning processes in the colleges and the challenges they faced, and to gain an understanding from the perspective of the senior leaders themselves as to how they might best respond to the current situation. Secondly, based on the participants’ experiences, knowledge and perceptions, the study aimed to identify implications for both practice and policy to help improve the colleges’ outcomes. The study involved a mixed-methods approach and was conducted in two stages. During the first stage, the researcher gathered quantitative data by administering a survey package to 129 leaders (deans, associate deans, and heads of departments) across both public and private colleges in the capital city of Baghdad. During the second stage, the researcher gathered qualitative data to more deeply explore the survey results by conducting individual interviews with a sub-sample of 21 leaders from both college types (ten public and 11 private). In the data analyses stages, both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were applied to compiling tables and charts, and to test hypotheses, by employing the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), Microsoft Excel, and NVivo. The results of study showed that both transformational and transactional leadership styles played a varied and vital role in the colleges’ strategic planning processes, and in turn their success. The fact that private colleges were ‘for profit’ and public colleges were ‘not for profit’, as well as their contrasting funding models, highlighted key differences between the two college types’ leadership and general modus operandi. While it was found that both transformative leadership and transactional leadership styles were necessary to address the challenges colleges faced in the Iraqi educational context, the impetus for change extended far beyond the need for professional development of leaders. The embracing of information communication technologies, and reliable Internet was seen as necessary in all aspects of the colleges’ work and provision for teaching and learning, and students’ success. This applied to both college types along with the need for closer adherence to government regulations and more focused government coordination of colleges’ administrative functions. Furthermore, implications for making successful improvements to practice also identified the need to manage the challenge of sociocultural influences on the appointments and promotions of leaders. It was concluded that a greater emphasis on teamwork and provision of incentives for staff, along with a ‘boost’ to pedagogy and practice, which could be provided through the adoption of information communication technologies and appropriate professional development strategies, would enhance the colleges’ ranks and the status of their qualifications. Also, theoretically, the study offers a value-add to leadership, strategic planning process, and organisational success literature in the form of a conceptual model that links these variables in the context of Iraqi higher education sector.
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This paper demonstrates the construction designing analysis and control strategies for fully tracking concentrated solar thermal by using programmable logic control in the city of Erbil-Iraq. This work used the parabolic dish as a concentrated solar thermal. At the focal point, the collected form of energy is used for heating a (water) in the receiver, analyzing this prototype in real-time with two different shapes of the receiver and comparing the results. For tracking the parabolic dish, four light-dependent resistors are used to detect the sun's position in the sky so that the tracking system follows it to make the beam radiation perpendicular to the collector surface all of the time during the day for maximum solar p
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The present study aimed to investigate the morphological description and histological structure of Gallbladder in the adult local chicken bird. The morphological description and histological structure of the Gallbladder in the local chicken Gallus gallus domesticus found in the form of a cystic, spindle or pear-shaped, dark green color, located within the visceral abdominal side of the right lobe of the liver, histologically it was found that its wall consisted of three tunicae. The first tunica is mucosa which consists of an epithelial lining layer and lamina propria layer, while the muscularis mucosa was missing. The second tunica is musclaris, which is composed of smooth circularly arranged muscle fibers, and the third tunica is serosa o
... Show MoreQuick and accurate quaternary mixture resolution of furosemide (FURO), carbamazepine (CARB), diazepam (DIAZ) and carvedilol (CARV) by using derivative spectrophotometric method was performed. FURO and CARV were determined by means of first (D1), second (D2), third (D3) and fourth (D4) derivative spectrophotometric methods, CARB was determined by using D1, D2, D3 derivatives, while D1 and D2 were used for the determination of DIAZ. The recommended methods were verified using laboratory prepared mixtures and then successfully applied for the pharmaceutical formulations analysis of the cited drugs. The results obtained revealed the efficiency of the proposed methods as quantitative tool of analysis of the quaternary mixture with no requirement
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The study aimed to identify the degree of teaching competencies and job satisfaction of the teachers of physical education in the province of Baghdad, and then find the relationship between them. Use the descriptive approach in the style of associative relationships, the research community represented by teachers of physical education in the departments of education Karh (first, second, third) in the province of Baghdad. (522) teachers and (324) school principals distributed in (324) medium within the administrative configurations of these directorates for the academic year (2016 - 2017). The measure (teaching competencies) included (47) words distributed across seven areas. And the measure of (job satisfaction) included (15) words. After t
... Show MoreThere are numerous bidirectional interactions between the reproductive system and the liver. Sex steroids regulate metabolic health through signaling effects in both peripheral and central metabolic tissues, including adipose tissue, liver, skeletal muscle, and brain, and have a role in the etiology of structural and functional liver diseases. Blood samples were obtained from 90 healthy women (control group) and 90 women that have hormonal changes (patients’ group). The levels of reproductive hormones (follicle stimulation hormone/FSH, luteinizing hormone/LH, estradiol/E2, progesterone/P4) were measured by using fully automated Cobas E411, whereas those of liver enzymes (alanine transaminase /ALT, aspartate aminotransferase/AST, a
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Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic parasite in immune-compromised persons. The prevalence of toxoplasmosis in psoriasis patients is investigated. In addition, the treatment effect on psoriasis patients infected with toxoplasmosis through evaluating Tumor Necrosis Factor-α (TNF-α) cytokine levels is studied. Blood samples were collected from 130 individuals who involved 60 control samples and 70 samples with psoriasis. They attended Medical City Hospital in Baghdad province from October 2017 - February 2018. Then, the anti- T. gondii antibodies (IgM and IgG) and TNF- α in the sera were determined via the enzyme linked immune-sorbent assay. The highe
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Chlopheniramine maleate ( CPM ) , is one of the H- receptor antagonist , widely used in allergic diseases ,like skin rash and pruritis .CPM 3%w/w was successfully loaded in 2%w/w sodium alginate (SA) as a gel base , and to be considered as a selected formula .It was found that the diffusion of CPM through the skin of albino rat was increased as the concentration of CPM increased from 2 %w/w sodium alginate , More
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