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.
The aim of the research is to identify the methods of achieving mental health from an Islamic perspective by using an analytical approach. The methods that were explained: strengthen the spiritual side to control the motives and emotion s overcome the whims of the soul, fear of God and treat mental illness from an Islamic point of view by recognizing self, assurance, foresight, learning and acquiring new trends. Conclusion: we can achieve mental health by optimism, not despair, the compatibility of the Muslim with himself and with others, Consistency, emotional balance, and patience in difficult situations. Islam has attributes that make an individual feels psychological security. Thus, all these elements achiev
... Show MoreIn this paper the behavior of the quality of the gradient that implemented on an image as a function of noise error is presented. The cross correlation coefficient (ccc) between the derivative of the original image before and after introducing noise error shows dramatic decline compared with the corresponding images before taking derivatives. Mathematical equations have been constructed to control the relation between (ccc) and the noise parameter.
The research amid to find out the extent of Iraqi oil companies commitment to implement internal control procedures in accordance with the updated COSO framework. As the research problem was represented in the fact that many of the internal control procedures applied in the Iraqi oil companies are incompatible with most modern international frameworks for internal control, including the integrated COSO framework, issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Tradeway Committee. The research followed the quantitative approach to handling and analysing data by designing a checklist to represent the research tool for collecting data. The study population was represented in the Iraqi oil companies, while the study sample
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For over a decade, educational technology has been used sparingly in our schools and universities. Online training courses have been used since 2003 to fill the gaps in our learning system and to add extra program besides classroom learning. This paper aims to investigate the Iraqi EFL instructors’ participating in online training courses and its influence on the process of teaching and learning.
The sample of present study consists of 30 instructors from University of Baghdad. The questionnaire of sixteen items was constructed. After ensuring validity and reliability of questionnaire, it was applied on March 2013 and the result shows that most of instructors improve their teaching methods b
... Show MoreThe present investigation developed the ester prodrugs of Non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), Mefenamic acid and Flurbiprofen by conjugating with the natural antioxidant, 4-methyl umbelliferone that resulted the formation of Mefenamic acid-umbelliferone ester prodrug and Flurbiprofen-umbelliferone ester prodrug .The principal objective this study is the synthesis of the ester prodrugs of NSAIDs with the enhanced therapeutic activity and minimized side effects. Prodrugs were synthesized by coupling method using N,N’- dicyclohexylcarbodiimide/4-dimethylaminopyrimidine, subjected to physical, chemical characterization, spectral characterization (IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and Mass spectra),hydro
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The study aims to set an image to the mechanisms of the skills of the 21st century in the educational competencies of the basic education stage. To achieve this aim, a qualitative research design has been adopted in its analytical content analysis way. The study has arrived to the following conclusions: the availability of: the communicative and team work skills with a percentage of 25.9%, linguistic competency with a percentage of 24.6%, the skills of local and global citizenship, creativity, and problem solving with a percentage of 13.6%, critical thinking with a percentage of 10.38%, technological culture with a percentage of 5.8%, pioneerism and initiativeness with a percentage of 10.38%, technological culture with a percentage of
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House 21 fungal isolates fungus to the analyst Albroca output of manufactured blood clot from the Blama human blood showed positive fungi to test analyzes blood clot variation in times where decomposition recorded fungi