"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."

The overarching goal of INsPIRe is to support modernisation and internationalisation of the Governance system of HEIs in Iraq with a specific focus on planning and programming systems. Due to the recent crisis and political economic situation, the current higher education system requires a strong intervention to face the weakness of the existing governance system. The WP1- Update of needs analysis requires the realisation of a comprehensive literature review aimed at identifying the existing governance frameworks and the development of an update needs analysis in Iraq HE system. The WP2- Training and capacity building activities for internal staff in quality assurance and strategic planning aims at realising capacity building through: online training; 3-days training study visits at four European Universities; 3-days training field missions in Iraq; 10 ToT (one per Iraqi university). Once the training section will end, the partners are ready to start the WP3- Implementation of changes and best practices through action plans, where the trainees and their institutions will be involved in the development of action plans that should be implemented by each HEI. According to the relevant literature on higher education governance, internationalization and wide participation of stakeholders are trend topic that guarantee a better governance. Thus the WP4 provides a specific focus on the management and governance of international relation through the development of useful tools and techniques. The WP5 provides the set up of a formal consultative body within HEIs, in order to assure a better coordination between the systems of higher education, and private/public sector, also ensuring the involvement of other non-state actors. In term of impact at short term, improvement and strength of skills and knowledge on innovative governance practices and strategic planning topics will be ensured as well as on long term the development of an ongoing process of self- improvement.