300 academicians sent to the States in 2009

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: A total of 300 Iraqi academicians will be sent to U.S. universities for three months to conduct external research, the Iraqi minister of higher education and scientific research said on Thursday. “The Iraqi government has allocated $2.5 million U.S. dollars for student scholarships,” Abd Thiyab al-Ojeili said in a Baghdad-based joint press conference with the head of the Iraqi-U.S. Higher Coordination Committee, Ambassador Adam Ereli, attended by IraqiNews.com news agency. Qualification, professionalism, English proficiency are the main criteria for eligibility, he added. Meanwhile, Ereli said that his government has granted visas to 28,000 students from the Middle East, including 400 from Iraq, in the years 2007 and 2008. SS (P)/SR 1