A New Vision of Higher Education

It all began for Robert Moore, Ed.M.’12, when he applied for a job as a testing center manager at a university in Iraq. Fresh out of the Ed School’s International Education Program (IEP), Moore was eager to find a job combining his interests in international development, educational leadership, and music. “At that point I just wanted a position,” he explains. Little did he know he was on the brink of being hired for a top-level administrator role at the American University of Iraq (AUIS), a nonprofit institution that provides a student-centered, American-style education embodying the philosophy, standards, and teaching practices of the American higher education model.

Weeks went by with no response from the university, so he interviewed for a position as an assistant band director at a Texas middle school — a job far from the focus of his program at HGSE. Then, he received an email from AUIS stating their interest in him as a potential job candidate for everything except the testing center manager position he had applied for. Within a few weeks, Moore, along with his wife, was moving to Iraq to work as an academic affairs specialist at the university trying to create a new vision of higher education in the country.

While Moore never imagined how much impact he could have straight out of HGSE, his job and position continually change at AUIS. “It is interesting because the problems are so multifaceted,” Moore explains.

His current position is deputy to the provost. The only catch: the school does not yet have a full provost. Instead, Moore reports directly to the president and manages the 500-student undergraduate program; oversees degree curricula; writes and implements academic policies; manages faculty concerns, issues, and employment; and manages the undergraduate program budget.

“It’s been a great opportunity for someone to get experience abroad and see their work implemented in education in a very short time,” he says.

Working as one in only a handful of administrators at the university, Moore is continually faced with the challenge of pushing the university’s goal to offer an innovative, liberal arts education in a rapidly changing country with a long history of higher education. AUIS began in 2007, and currently offers six academic programs that lead to a bachelor’s degree, as well as an executive master’s of business administration (MBA), and continuing education classes from its Professional Development Institute.

Moore, who was recently in Boston to complete a New England Association of Schools and Colleges workshop, spoke to IEP students about his experiences. “AUIS is a great place, both in teaching and administration, for people who think they can do something and want to try to do it,” he told them. “It’s not good for people who perhaps have a lot of experience, have a strict idea of how a university works, and are set in their ways, because strictly American ways don’t always work there.”

One of the trickiest parts of Moore’s job is navigating the differences between the American higher education system that is fundamental to AUIS and the mainstream Iraqi system. More often than not those two worlds collide. Despite the AUIS model, it has often reworked its curriculum and offerings to meet the laws of the ministry of education.

“It can be a complex dance sometimes to integrate in the Iraqi system enough to be understood by the public and the authorities, yet still stay true to the school’s mission,” Moore explains.  “Some of the most satisfying moments on the job are when we find ways to strike that balance just right.”

For example, the concept of “liberal arts” education is often unheard of in Iraq. Most students are highly tracked and on a career path from their first day at university, with the top students funneled into medicine, engineering, or architecture. While AUIS initially didn’t offer majors in any of those areas, this is something that is slowly being changed. AUIS recently began offering a “general engineering” degree, however, even that seemed controversial. Moore explains that most Iraqi universities offer explicitly focused degrees and “general studies” is unusual. For the past year, Moore has been adjusting requirements to make the degree more palpable for the Iraqi Ministry of Education.

Yet, it is the freedom and flexibility of his job to try out policies and practices that are most rewarding for Moore. “I was put in a situation where I’m getting experience I wouldn’t get elsewhere,” he says. “This is a real entrepreneurial environment to create structure where there otherwise is none.”