Listen to Owen Cargol’s lecture
(8 mb mp3 file)
OXFORD, Miss. – At the American University of
Iraq-Sulaimani, faculty members promote entrepreneurship
and new ways of thinking that allow every student to have a
voice, the university’s chancellor told audiences Thursday
at the University of Mississippi.
“One of the most popular American exports is education,”
Owen Cargol said during a morning lecture to Ole Miss
business students. “It is considered very high status to
have an American University in Iraq.”
American University of Iraq-Sulaimani opened its doors to
50 undergraduate students and 35 MBA students in October,
Cargol said. His lecture focused on how American ways of
thinking and interacting are being applied at his
university.
“Public higher education in Iraq is controlled by the
central Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific
Research,” he said. “It is a very rigid and inflexible
system. All schools share the same calendar, same books,
same curriculum and same approaches.”
Professors at the AUI are English-speaking and encourage
free thought and classroom discussion. All voices are heard
and both male and female students learn to respect the
opinions of others despite differences. And unlike other
universities throughout the Middle East, AIU allows
students to choose their own majors.
“The hope is for Iraqi higher education, that it can enjoy
this model as opposed to a centralized model,” Cargol
said.
John Holleman, UM director of corporate relations and MBA
services, said the lecture was well received.
“Cargol was really able to present a cultural, educational
and on-the-ground look at what is happening in Iraq,”
Holleman said. “We all walked away with a really good
understanding of what it’s like to be in Iraq post-Saddam
Hussein.”
Ole Miss MBA candidate Ryan Cardwell, a 23-year-old Oxford
native, said he enjoyed hearing Cargol’s firsthand accounts
of cultural differences.
“It is hard to believe that 25 percent of Ole Miss students
want a degree in business, but students in Iraq view a
business degree as less prestigious simply because those
degrees were not valued under the former regime,” Cardwell
said.
Cargol, who buys students coffee if they meet with him and
speak in English, said he hopes the efforts of his
forward-thinking university will encourage young Iraqis to
evolve and take advantage of new opportunities to excel.
At both his morning lecture and a lunch seminar for
faculty, Cargol discussed the challenges of establishing a
Western-style university in a nation experiencing war,
civil conflict and ethnic and religious strife. In the
afternoon, he addressed graduate students and faculty
regarding for-profit versus not-for-profit higher
education, gender segregation and political and cultural
constraints on the curriculum in Iraq.
Cargol is the founding regent chancellor and CEO of AUI.
Previously, he was founding governor and provost of the Abu
Dhabi University (United Arab Emirates) for four years. He
earned his Ed.D. in higher education administration from
Pennsylvania State University and completed postdoctoral
studies at Harvard University. He also was a Fulbright
scholar in the Federal Republic of Germany.
To learn more about the UM School of Business
Administration, visit