Al-Noor University: A Vision Blossomed in the Land of Nineveh

Al-Noor University began as a seed planted with sincere and sweet hopes in the soil of Nineveh. It grew to become a private Iraqi university striving for integration with public universities. The university has overcome difficult circumstances and faced significant challenges, all of which it successfully surpassed.

In the early days of April 2024, Al-Noor proudly became the first private university in Nineveh. Today, it flourishes with remarkable growth, comprising ten colleges across various disciplines: medical, health, technical, engineering, administrative, and humanities. It also includes twenty-six academic departments, some of which are unique locally, while others are distinctive on the national and regional levels.

The university provides its students with well-equipped classrooms and advanced laboratories, furnished with the latest tools and technologies required for practical studies. It also hosts educational dental clinics with 115 dental chairs, where students receive hands-on training while more than 250 patients receive free treatment daily.

In its commitment to engaging with its cultural and geographical environment, the university promotes heritage awareness and academic research through the Department of Archaeological Tourism, the Al-Noor Heritage Preservation Center, and its annual Mosuli Heritage Day celebration.

Environmentally, the university is committed to sustainability by banning smoking, using solar energy, employing medical waste incinerators, recycling systems, and expanding green spaces. It is also moving firmly into the digital age, utilizing e-portals, implementing electronic payment systems, and operating a fleet of university buses based on scheduled routes that serve students across the neighborhoods and districts of Mosul.

The university actively encourages its academic community to publish their work in Scopus-indexed journals, and it issues seven peer-reviewed scientific journals, including:

• Al-Noor Journal for Humanities

• Al-Noor Journal for Medical Sciences

• Al-Noor Journal for Legal Studies

• Al-Noor Journal for Digital Media Studies

• Al-Noor Journal for Information Technology and Cybersecurity

• Al-Noor Journal for Oil and Gas Studies

• Al-Noor Journal for Power Engineering and Sustainability

To date, faculty members have published 1,021 papers in Scopus-indexed journals. The university’s international collaboration efforts are also notable, with 65% of its research co-authored with foreign scholars. Around 300 papers have been published in Q1 journals, and 77 articles have appeared in the top 10% globally ranked journals. Additionally, 588 papers have been indexed in Web of Science.

Al-Noor University has entered 12 international rankings, and in the most recent national university classification, eight of its departments ranked among the top ten in Iraq.

The university has signed numerous agreements with international, regional, and local institutions and has initiated postgraduate studies in cooperation with UTP University in Malaysia, admitting the first cohort of ten students in Engineering Management.

Al-Noor employs Arab and international faculty members, and admits both Arab and foreign students. In line with the Ministry’s “Study in Iraq” initiative, it offers one full scholarship per department to non-Iraqi students each year.

The university organizes international scientific conferences both inside and outside Iraq, focusing on forward-looking themes. These have reached a total of 35 conferences, including:

• The International Conference on Aviation and Sustainable Development

• The International Conference on Arabic Narrative

• The International Conference on the English Language

• The International Conference on Media Integration

• The International Conference on Medical Sciences

(The last two conferences are indexed in Elsevier.)

In the academic year 2024–2025 alone, Al-Noor University held over 150 workshops, seminars, and academic symposia.

Nineveh is known for having two springs, but today, Al-Noor University has become its third.