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.
One eighth of the bird species in the world is considered globally threatened; the avifauna of Iraq comprises 409 species and is considered as the major indicator of the health of Iraq’s biological resources. The Iraqi geography falls into five main regions among which is the desert and semi-desert areas which cover much of the country area. Al-Najaf desert is still one of the poorly known regions from the biodiversity point of view. Birds of conservation concern are detected in Al-Najaf desert during 31 field trips to 20 sites conducted from August 2018 to April 2020, (citing literature records, and personal interviews with locals).The factors caused the bird numbers to decline in Al-Najaf desert include hunting and trapping, logging,
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The Migration is one of the important dynamic population movement phenomena in population studies because of its great impact in changing many demographic characteristics between the region of origin and arrival. And the multiplicity of forms and types according to the different reasons for it and the motives that prompted the population to move, as well as the currents and their size are also different according to the different causes, and here there are many types of migration, and many of them have been studied at the local and regional levels, and as long as the population is in a continuous dynamic movement, other types of migration are generated. (Al Douri, 2015, 230) &nbs
... Show MoreStabilization of phenol trapped by agricultural waste: a study of the influence of ambient temperature on the adsorbed phenol
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A literary-educational work is a work that explains wisdom to the reader and presents moral, educational and instructional issues in a literary form. Qaboos-nameh or Nasihat al-Muluk is an educational and educational book that has a special place in the field of ethics and guidance, where the author guides his children. Also, Ibn al-Wardi's Lamiyah or Nasihat al-Akhwan is a poem containing moral advice and advice in 77 verses that Ibn al-Wardi wrote to his son.
It seems that the main goal of Ibn al-Wardi and Onsur AL-maali in Lamia and Qaboos-nameh was to express educational and moral issues and spread and convey them to future generations. Ibn al-Wardi, like Onsur AL-maali, listed moral points such as knowledge, humility
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Activity test of the inhibitors purified from barley and broad beans crop proved the inhibition activity against 6 types of rots Pencillium ssp and Aspergellusflavus and Aspergillus niger and Fusarium solani and Fusarium semitectum and Mucor with three concentrations 0.1 and 0.2 and 0.3 mg/ml, where the inhibitor purified from the second peak of broad beans proved that it had a higher inhibition activity against the growth of test rots which were 53.75 and 62.5 and 78.5 and 76.25 and 84 and 18.8% respectively, at 0.3 mg/ ml followed by the first peak of the inhibitor purified from broad beans the inhibition activity were 43.75 and 50 and 62.96 and 75 and 80 and 12.5 then the inhibitor purified from barley in which the inhibition activity
... Show MoreBackground: Immune thrombocytopenia is an immune-related disorder that causes an impairment in platelet production and stimulates platelet destruction, causing variable bleeding symptoms. Objective: This study focuses on refractory immune thrombocytopenic purpura patients on romiplostim treatment and their level of illness perception related to treatment response. Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted from May 1st, 2025, to August 1st, 2025. Brief Illness Perception Questionnaires were administered to 84 patients with ITP to collect the data. The study took place at the Hematology and Bone Marrow Transplant Center, Medical City, Baghdad, Iraq. Results: The romiplostim response rate is 21 (25.0%), while the partial response rate is 4
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Adipose tissue releases pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines and hormones such as irisin, visfatin, and interleukin-6, which may be linked to periodontal diseases.
Our study aimed to determine salivary irisin, visfatin, and interleukin-6 levels in gingivitis and periodontitis patients, compare them with healthy periodontal patients, and evaluate the association between these biomarkers.
Purpose: This study aimed to assess the thickness of alveolar bone of maxillary and mandibular incisors from orthodontics perspective. Materials and Method: A total of 73 Cone beam computed tomography for Iraqi patients (47 females and 26 males) were included in this study. The selected images were captured and imported to AutoCAD database software to perform the measurement. To measure alveolar bone thickness, a reference line was drawn through the long axis of each incisor, from the incisal edge to the root apex. Then, labial and lingual/palatal perpendicular lines were drawn to the reference line at 3, 6, and 9mm apically from the cemento-enamel junction (CEJ). Results: The buccal bone is generally thinner than the lingual/palata
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This study evaluated the effect of spore suspension and fungal filtrate against different developmental stages of Tribolium castaneum third and fifth larval instars and adults. Two isolates of entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium anisopliae were used (commercially (Met 52 EC), and domesticly). For the two isolates, the effectiveness of various conidial concentrations were (1 × 104 ; 1 × 106 ; 1 × 108 conidia/ ml) and various concentrations of fungal filtrate (100,75,50%) were evaluated. It is observed that the fungal filtrate at a concentration of 75% and the conidial concentration of 1 x 108 conidia /ml for both isolates were the most effective in causing the highest mortality rates to the third and fifth instar larva and adult
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