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 removal of Anit-Inflammatory drugs, namely; Acetaminophen (ACTP), from wastewater by bulk liquid membrane (BLM) process using Aliquat 336 (QCl) as a carrier was investigated. The effects of several parameters on the extraction efficiency were studied in this research, such as the initial feed phase concentration (10-50) ppm of ACTP, stripping phase (NaCl) concentration (0.3,0.5,0.7 M), temperature (30-50oC), the volume ratio of feed phase to membrane phase (200-400ml/80ml), agitation speed of the feed phase (75-125 rpm), membrane stirring speed (0, 100, 150 rpm), carrier concentration (1, 5, 9 wt%), the pH of feed (2, 4, 6, 8, 10), and solvent type (CCl4 and n-Heptane). The study shows that high ext
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Abstract:
The issues related to foreign trade is a broad field for discussions and captures the interest of economists for their contribution to the process of economic development in the economies of the countries, especially developing ones. The imports of goods and services in foreign trade constitute an important part of the local by which the economy gets goods and services that the economy cannot produce because of the incompetent base of production. Further, the demand function of imports occupied a good deal of the attention of researchers in the field of international economics for which agricultural imports constitute an important part. The reason for the interest in the subject is due to its im
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The 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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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
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Buzurgan oil Field which is located in south of Iraq has been producing oil for five decades that caused production to drop in many oil wells. This paper provides a technical and economical comparison between the ESP and gas lift in one oil well (Bu-16) to help enhancing production and maximize revenue. Prosper software was used to build, match and design the artificial lift method for the selected well, also to predict the well behavior at different water cut values and its effect on artificial lift method efficiency. The validity of software model was confirmed by matching, where the error difference value between actual and calculated data was (-1.77%).
The ESP results showed the durability of ESP regarding th
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Research Summary
This research deals with the history of the founding of one of the most prominent religious schools in Iraqi Kurdistan and its scientific and cognitive contributions that lasted for more than a century, which is the “Biyara” school, where it was a large scientific institution from which distinguished scholars graduated who served Islam and Muslims in Iraq and neighboring countries, and played an important role in teaching Mental and transport sciences and the preservation of the Arabic language in Iraqi Kurdistan. The history of the founding of this school goes back to the year 1037 AH, at the hands of its founder, Sheikh Oma
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The Iraqi economy faces complex economic challenges that threaten the prospects for growth and stability in the short and medium term, The decrease in oil revenues on which Iraq is based in financing its total expenditure, both operational and investment, led to the emergence of a deficit in the government budget, As the global oil price crisis affected the revenues of the Iraqi government negatively, especially as this negative impact coincided with the increase in military spending resulting from Iraq's war against terrorism, Which led to the Iraqi government to implement austerity measures were to reduce public spending on several projects, which are less important compared to projects that a
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