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.
Abstract
Agricultural investment is one of the main requirements in most economies of the world for its importance in the development of the agricultural sector through the agricultural and technological infrastructure and agricultural research, as well as its impact on most economic, social and service activities, especially if managed and employed scientifically, which generates income and productive capacities and services and new commodities, Unemployed as agricultural investments in Iraq fell significantly after 2003 due to economic, political, social
This study was conducted on Lake Hamrin situated in Diyala governorate, focal Iraq, between latitudes 44º 53ʹ 26.16 '- 45º 07 ʹ 28.03ʺ and 34º 04ʹ 24.75ʺ ــ 34º 19ʹ 12.74ʺ . As in this study, the surface area of Hamrin Lake was calculated from satellite images during the period from October 2019 to September 2020, with an average satellite image for each month, furthermore,by utilizing the Normalized Differences Water Index (NDWI), the largest surface area was 264,617 km2 for October and the lowest surface area 140.202 km2 for September. The surface temperature of the lake water was also calculated from satellite images of the Landsat 8 satellite, based on ban
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Age, hypertension, and diabetes can cause significant alterations in arterial structure and function, including changes in lumen diameter (LD), intimal-medial thickness (IMT), flow velocities, and arterial compliance. These are also considered risk markers of atherosclerosis and cerebrovascular disease. A difference between right and left carotid artery blood flow and IMT has been reported by some researchers, and a difference in the incidence of nonlacunar stroke has been reported between the right and left brain hemispheres. The aim of this study was to determine whether there are differences between the right and left common carotid arteries and internal carotid arteries in patient
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Until today, one of the leading predominant infections is Urinary tract infection (UTI). It exerts a huge burden on health systems worldwide each year. Treating UTIs empirically with antimicrobials improves morbidity rates. This study aims to assess the prevalence of UTI-associated bacteria in adult patients and to determine their antibiotic susceptibility profile. A retrospective study was conducted for adult outpatients who visited Al-Diwaniya tertiary hospitals from January 2020 till February 2022 to review their medical and lab records in addition to sociodemographic data. A total of 256 patients’ records were included of which 204 (79.7%) belong to females and 52 (20.3%) were males with an average age of 39.22±17.10 years. The pr
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Until today, one of the leading predominant infections is Urinary tract infection (UTI). It exerts a huge burden on health systems worldwide each year. Treating UTIs empirically with antimicrobials improves morbidity rates. This study aims to assess the prevalence of UTI-associated bacteria in adult patients and to determine their antibiotic susceptibility profile. A retrospective study was conducted for adult outpatients who visited Al-Diwaniya tertiary hospitals from January 2020 till February 2022 to review their medical and lab records in addition to sociodemographic data. A total of 256 patients’ records were included of which 204 (79.7%) belong to females and 52 (20.3%) were males with an average age of 39.22±17.10 years. T
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Convection heat transfer in a horizontal channel provided with metal foam blocks of two numbers of pores per unit of length (10 and 40 PPI) and partially heated at a constant heat flux is experimentally investigated with air as the working fluid. A series of experiments have been carried out under steady state condition. The experimental investigations cover the Reynolds number range from 638 to 2168, heat fluxes varied from 453 to 4462 W/m2, and Darcy number 1.77x10-5, 3.95x10-6. The measured data were collected and analyzed. Results show that the wall temperatures at each heated section are affected by the imposed heat flux variation, Darcy number, and Reynolds number variation. The var
... Show MoreThe hydraulic behavior of the flow can be changed by using large-scale geometric roughness elements in open channels. This change can help in controlling erosions and sedimentations along the mainstream of the channel. Roughness elements can be large stone or concrete blocks placed at the channel's bed to impose more resistance in the bed. The geometry of the roughness elements, numbers used, and configuration are parameters that can affect the flow's hydraulic characteristics. In this paper, velocity distribution along the flume was theoretically investigated using a series of tests of T-shape roughness elements, fixed height, arranged in three different configurations, differ in the number of lines of roughness element
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Staphylococcus aureus is one of the common causative agents of infections, from asymptomatic carriers to healthy individuals. It can colonize anterior nares of carriers with a high capability to resist different antibiotics. Students are susceptible to bacterial infection due to some factors, including poor health habits and surrounding school conditions. This study screened the rate of vancomycin- and methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus nose carriers among secondary students in rural and urban schools and its association with some sociodemographic factors. The study sample included 300 male/female students aged 15-20 years from 12 schools of rural and urban areas during the period from November 2020 till May 2021. It was fo
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Calcareous nannofossils were documented from the upper part of the Cretaceous Balambo Formation in northern Iraq with the aim of determining an evidence for the Oceanic Anoxic Event. A detailed investigation of the calcareous nannofossils led to the identification of twenty-four species. Regarding these data, Discolithus litterarius (Górka, 1957) was identified at the studied interval with the age of Early Aptian.
Early Aptian assemblages are dominated by nannoconids that drop sharply within the D. litterarius nannofossil zone, which may be related to the nannoconid crisis recorded in the Early Aptian in the other parts of the world. This event is coincided by a decrease in CaCO3<
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