Initially, the Koya University English Language Centre (KUELC) will serve scholarship recipients of the government’s Human Capacity Development Programme (HCDP) but it has plans to widen courses to the local community.

“We’re excited and pleased to be working in a country that’s investing in education at the moment,” Paul Edmunds Director of Business Development for the Middle East & North Africa at Kaplan told The PIE News.

“There’s been a lot of economic development and growth in Kurdistan and with that comes the desire and hunger for education.”

The Koya University English Language Centre in Erbil

Under the agreement, Kaplan is providing academic management and English language instruction and the university is providing student services and teaching facilities. Kaplan will also offer students guidance to enter universities around the world after they complete their course.

The core objective is to help students continue their academic carriers through IELTS and TOEFL preparation programmes, however organisers say the centre is committed to a long-term local agenda.

“We see over the next two to three years the centre expanding to about 300 students that would be on a route to overseas education,” said Linda Cowan, Managing Director of Kaplan International Colleges in the UK.

“More testing needs to be done in terms of the size of opportunities for English language in the local community so it’s a commitment into this project and one we hope to be part of five to 10 years down the line.”

As Iraq becomes more stable, foreign and domestic investment in education has risen. Through the HCDP, the government has allocated US$100 million annually to support students studying Masters and Doctorate programmes in various fields of science and technology at international universities.

In 2011 Pearson opened a testing centre in Erbil and last year English UK signed an MoU with the Kurdistan Regional Government to allow members to access the HCDP and develop English language teaching across the region.