The opinion committee of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research voted on a decision to honor the first outstanding student in the calendar exam for the medical and health group in public universities and to exempt the top three outstanding students in the same exam from tuition fees in private universities and colleges.

The meeting of the Opinion Commission, which was chaired by the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Naim Al-Aboudi, discussed the indicators of calendar exams that were taken by one hundred and twenty-nine thousand and three hundred and ninety students in public and private universities within the specializations of medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, and medical laboratory techniques, and the members voted on a number of decisions in this regard. :

▪️ Honoring the first outstanding student in the calendar exam in public universities with a financial reward.

▪️ Exempting the first three students in the calendar exam in private universities and colleges from tuition fees by 100% for the first student, 50% for the second student, and 25% for the third student.

▪️ The Committee of Deans of Health and Medical Technical Specialties determines other specializations in two parts to be included in the calendar exam.

▪️ Assigning deans committees (dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, health and medical technical specialties) to specify additional subjects in the calendar exam for the academic stages instead of two subjects.

▪️ Inclusion of engineering faculties (third and fourth stages), law faculties (second, third and fourth stages) and engineering techniques (third and fourth stages) in the exam.

▪️ The continued suspension of the development of evening studies in nursing colleges and departments in universities and private colleges.

▪️ Suspending the development of medical laboratory departments in private universities and colleges, except in cases of scientific partnership with public universities.

▪️ Suspension of admission for a full academic year for departments whose success rate was less than 10%.

▪️ Taking the necessary measures against the dean of the college, the head of the department, and the teaching staff, against the background of not reaching 30% in the grades of the calendar exam and deducting a percentage of the absorptive capacity of the lagging departments.

The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Naeem Al-Aboudi, urged all universities to take care of students and enable them to master the philosophy and skills of the disciplines included in the evaluation exam, which achieved positive results in evaluating the performance indicators of the educational process in the medical and health fields that directly affect the life of society.

The meeting discussed other topics on the agenda of the eighth regular meeting of the opinion committee, and voted affirmatively on each of the following:

▪️ Increasing the admission plan for the morning private public education channel at Jaber Bin Hayyan University of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Ibn Sina Medical Sciences, in a way that is equivalent to its plan for central admission.

▪️ Introducing the evening study in the Department of Electronic and Communications Engineering at the College of Engineering at Al-Qadisiyah University and the Department of Archeology at the College of Arts at Samarra University.

The Minister of Education concluded the meeting of the opinion commission with guidance on intensifying scientific and procedural efforts related to adopting the Bologna track in the faculties of engineering and science, enhancing cooperation in the fields of scientific research with researchers in international universities, improving quality and enhancing its environment, in a way that contributes to developing the positions of Iraqi universities in international rankings.