BAGHDAD, August 28 (IslamOnline.net) - Iraqi university students and professors, including the deputy president of the Baghdad-based Al-Nahrien University, firmly oppose any attempt to "Americanize" universities and would only support "cooperation" with American educational institutions.

Dr. Faek Gawwad al-Ezzawi told IslamOnline.net that the U.S. administration in Iraq, which is working on "twining" Iraqi universities with American peers, keeps special plans for his time-honored university which once carried the name of ousted president Saddam Hussein.

"It (plan) dates back to almost two months when U.S. officials visited the university in the posh Gadriaa area and were surprised at its quasi-American education system," he recalled.

The Iraqi official said the Americans were thinking to turn the university into an American similar to those in Egypt and Lebanon.

Ezzawi also indicated that some Iraqi professors held meetings with Iraqi "pointmen" to communicate with the American official in charge of the Iraqi education file to conclude twining agreements between Iraqi and American universities.

He, however, stopped short of naming the American universities or fixing a date to put such agreements into fruition.

Though Ezawwi rebuffed the "Americanization" of the Iraqi universities he welcomed "cooperation" protocols regarding "curricula, researches, future plans and mutual visits."

"Our universities should hold on to their independence," stressed the university deputy chief.

Anmar, a student at the faculty of science, saw eye to eye with Ezawwi, approving only curricula development on par with American universities.

"Baghdad University will remain independent and under the authority of the ministry of high education and scientific research," he said.

"Iraq abounds with brilliant and competent professors, who can keep pace with the latest development in the West and the United States," Anmar remarked.

Khaled Khalil, another student, echoed the mainstream.

"Iraq is a free and independent country and our university will never be in American hands," he said.

Ezzawi further said that education in Iraq has been always free-of-charge, noting that the idea of privatizing Iraqi universities "has not been debated yet."

"Some parties are encouraging Iraqi universities to get foreign aid but none has been granted any financial assistance thus far," he said, criticizing insufficient allotments from the occupation authorities in Iraq.

But Ezzawi did not spare the deposed Iraqi regime the blame, saying pre-war chaos in the education system dragged on.

"We used to buy books and photocopy it and then distribute the copies among the students, and now it is the same as ever, given the insufficient funding," he asserted.

Some universities, in light of the anarchy that mired the country in the aftermath of Baghdad downfall, have doubled and even tripled their admission fees, such as the Baghdad-based Al-Rafdeen University.

"The university displayed a notification of admission fees, which sky-rocketed from 250,000 Iraqi dinars to 650,000 (1800 dinars equals one dollar)," said Mohammad Hani, a marketing student.

On the nature of university curricula now that Saddam Hussein is out of picture, Ezzawi said Al-Nahrien University, for instance, has wiped out a book on the deposed president which was obligatory.

He noted that the university also penciled out some parts from other textbooks, which trumpeted the ideas of the disbanded Baath party.

As for the curricula of the faculty of political sciences in the university, Ezzawi asserted that they were devoid of anything related to the former regime.

"All Saddam photos and Baath slogans have been rubbed out from all textbooks," he put it in a nutshell.

Following the Baathist revolution in July 1968, the education sector in Iraq took a new turn, as Baathists made education charge-free and paid due attention to cadres.

After the first Gulf War between Iraq and Iran, curricula gradually turned to "glorify" any thing made by Saddam.