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.
Most studies indicated that the values of atmospheric variables have changed from their general rates due to pollution or global warming etc. Hence, the research indicates the changes of direct solar radiation values over a whole century i.e. from 1900 to 2000 depending on registered data for four cities, namely (Mosul - Baghdad - Rutba - Basra. Moreover, attemptsto correlate the direct solar radiation with the temperature values have been recorded over that period. The results showed that there is a decreasing pattern of radiation quantities over time throughout the study period, where the value of direct radiation over the city of Baghdad 5550 w/m2 was recorded in the year 1900, but this ratio decreased cle
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The removal of Ibuprofen antibiotics (IBU) by photo-degradation UV/H2O2/Fe+2 system was investigated in a batch reactor under different initial concentrations of H2O2 (100-500) mg/L, Fe+2 (10-40) mg/L, pH (3-9) and initial concentrations of IBU (10-80) mg/L, and their relationship with the degradation efficiency were studied. The result demonstrated that the maximum elimination of IBU was 85.54% achieved at 300 mg/L of H2O2, 30 mg/L of Fe+2, pH=3, and irradiation time of 150 min, for 10 mg/L of IBU. The results have shown that the oxidation reagent H2O2 plays a very important role in IBU degradation.
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This study was designed for isolation and molecular identification of Nontuberculous Mycobacterium (NTM) from fish during the period between October and December 2017 from Karbla province, Iraq. This study included 200 fresh fish samples from four different species including Spondyliosoma cantharus, Liza abu, Carassius carassius and Cyprinuscarpio. Three samples of each fish were taken including gills, muscles and all internal organs. The samples were processed by decontamination, concentration of 4% sodium hydroxide, and 0.1 ml of sediment was streaking on Löwenstein Johnson (LJ) media; then the bacterial cultures were incubated at 28-30 °C for 3days up to 4 weeks and suspected colonies were stained with acid fast stain to confir
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Objectives: To highlight the knowledge of Al-Kindy medical students regarding varicella infection and to assess their knowledge and attitude toward its prevention. Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional study enrolled academic year 2020/2021 students at Al-Kindy College of Medicine from first to final year. We used an online questionnaire by Google forms to collect data, which were analyzed with SPSS 26. Results: A total of 208 students participated with 126 in the preclinical and 82 in the clinical grades. Generally, most clinical students were more aware about epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and complications of varicella infection than the preclinical students. Conclusion: Educational stage is a significant variab
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The problem of steady, laminar, natural convective flow in an square enclosure with and without partitions is considered for Rayleigh number (103-106) and Prandtl number (0.7). Vertical walls were maintained isothermal at different temperatures while horizontal walls and the partitions were insulated. The length of partition was taken constant. The number of partitions were placed on horizontal surface in staggered arrangement from (1– 3) and ratio of partition thickness (H/L= 0.033, 0.083, 0.124). The problem is formulated in terms of the vorticity-stream function procedure. A numerical solution based on a program in Fortran 90 with the finite difference method is obtained. Representative results illustrating the effects of the thickn
... Show MoreThis research discusses application Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Geographical InformationSystem (GIS) models on water quality of Diyala River using Water Quality Index (WQI). Fourteen water parameterswere used for estimating WQI: pH, Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen, Orthophosphate, Nitrate, Calcium, Magnesium,Total Hardness, Sodium, Sulphate, Chloride, Total Dissolved Solids, Electrical Conductivity and Total Alkalinity.These parameters were provided from the Water Resources Ministryfrom seven stations along the river for the period2011 to 2016. The results of WQI analysis revealed that Diyala River is good to poor at the north of Diyala provincewhile it is poor to very polluted at the south of Baghdad City. The selected parameters wer
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