ASIA/IRAQ – Courses to start soon at Erbil Catholic University

Erbil (agenzia Fides) – The year 2015 is to be the year when the first courses start at the Catholic University in Erbil, a college strongly desired by the Chaldean Catholic Church also as a form of tangible assistance for young people in the Middle East. Recently the Chaldean archbishop Bashar Matti Warda, ordinary of the archdiocese of Erbil and a great supporter of the project, announced in a letter the imminent commencement of activity in four faculties, including a college for studies in Business Administration. In the letter diffused by the Patriarchate’s official communications media, and received also by Fides, the archbishop appeals to all potential sponsors and collaborators to contact the archdiocese to put at the disposal of the university donations and or competencies in the field of university education.
The foundation stone of the University was laid on 20 October 2012, in Ankawa, in the suburb of Erbil where the population is mainly Christian. The local Chaldean Church made available 30,000 square metres of land for the university campus. The goal from the outset was to create a private centre of university studies open to all, in touch with the demands of the market and closely associated with scientific research. After almost three years, and the convulsions which overwhelmed the northern regions of Iraq and brought precisely to Ankawa thousands of Christians fleeing jihadist militia of the so called Islamic State, the University intends to stand as a tangible sign of help for Iraqi Christians, inevitably tempted to leave the country and put behind them the horrors of war and the uncertainty and threats weighing on the future. (GV) (Agenzia Fides 24/2/2015