Designing new pathways for employability and entrepreneurship of Iraqi students in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage

"The BANUU project originates from the experience of WALADU, a CBHE joint project financed in 2016 including part of the BANUU consortium, which has allowed to improve the teaching quality and structure of BA courses in Archaeology in Iraq. During this project, the partners observed several gaps and shortcomings concerning student employability due to the lack of structured University-enterprise connections. The BANUU consortium therefore aims at developing a Structural Project that involving the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research as full partner can contribute to the improvement of the students’ employability in the field of Humanities in Iraq by creating new pathways of cooperation between Universities and the public and enterprise sectors. As main results, BANUU will create a national framework for designing and implementing internships in Archaeology and Cultural Heritage in Iraq as well new pathways to enhance Iraqi students’ transversal skills (focus on entrepreneurial skills). The new frameworks and pathways will be piloted through internships, seminars and practical activities in 3 specific strategic sectors through a pedagogical strategy based on a ""learning by doing"" phylosophy and a ""training of trainers"" approach. Finally, the results of this piloting phase will be framed at national level strenghtening the relations between HEIs (Universities, Ministry) and the wider national economic and social environment. In particular, this result will be pursued by the creation of a permanent Inter-Ministerial commission that will be in charge of drafting new policies on public-private cooperation in the field of Humanities. The creation of these new institutionalised and structured spaces in which Universities and Enterprises can share experiences, ideas and reach a common vision as the basis for drafting comprehensive agreements and contracts, represents a key opportunity in terms of ensuring the project long-term impact and sustainability."