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Baghdad Business School

 

Baghdad Business School opened in October 2020 and has graduated two classes of approximately 20 students, all of whom have gained jobs in the private sector or started their own businesses after finishing the program. Our current, third class of 75 students started the program in November 2022. Each of our classes has been 45% to 60% female. For more details on the BBS student body, please visit our website and social media.  

 

Baghdad Business School (BBS) currently offers a one-year program called Business Foundations in English language, Business, and Professional skills to enable Iraqi university graduates to work in the private sector. BBS addresses the skill gap, youth unemployment, and generates human capital for the private sector.

 

 

Business Foundations is a one-year, three-tiered curriculum in English, Business, and Professional skills. The curriculum provides both academic training in critical thinking through reading, writing, discussion and presentations as well as practical hard skills like Finance and Marketing needed for Iraqi university graduates to find entry-level employment or to start their own businesses. The program is divided into three semesters:

  1. Professional English I (12 weeks)
  2. Professional English II & Career Development I (12 weeks) 
  3. Introduction to Business & Career Development II (20 weeks)

The Business Foundations courses are taught by experienced lecturers and professors who are academics and practitioners with experience teaching and working in the private sector in Iraq and the Middle East. 

 

The Career Development Program is part of Business Foundations and prepares students for their future work through a four part program: 

  1. Professional Skills training and workshops  
  2. Professional Development Lecture Series 
  3. Mentorship Program
  4. Internship Program 

For more information on Baghdad Business School, please visit our website and social media.

 

 

Scholarship Initiative

The Mustaqbalna (“Our Future”) Scholarship Initiative seeks to address a major gap in the ability of Iraqi students to study abroad:

  • Iraqi students are not able to obtain many scholarships available to them due to issues such as lack of access, supplemental funding, and difficulty meeting application requirements like visas and English language.
  • Scholarship providers face problems identifying qualified Iraqi students for their programs due to a lack of visibility on the ground and access.
  • There are few to no Iraqi only scholarship programs that offer funding and support to Iraqi students who want to study abroad.

 

Mustaqblna seeks to bridge this gap by partnering with scholarship providers to identify Iraqi students eligible for those programs and by supporting Iraqi youth in their preparations for study abroad. IFHE will provide resources such as databases and workshops to help Iraqi students apply for schools and scholarships, as well as courses in English, academic skill-building, and in some cases, funding.

 

The core of the Mustaqblna scholarship program is to provide Iraqi students with a quality education that enables them to think critically and provides them with the knowledge, skills and ability to succeed as citizens in society, and professionals in the public or private sectors in Iraq.

 

The program will help students based on need and merit, and priority will be given to fields of study that are under-represented in Iraqi universities and which can contribute directly to Iraq’s development: humanities, public policy, business, political science, international relations, and economics.

 

If you are interested in donating or partnering with IFHE’s Mustaqbalna Scholarship Initiative, or in creating a tailored scholarship in your name at an alma mater or particular university, or in a particular field of study, please contact us at support@iraqed.org.

Support IFHE

IFHE seeks financial support for its projects, including the Baghdad Business School and Scholarship Initiative.