University of Al-Qadisiyah

The University of Al-Qadisiyah was one of four new universities created by the government of Iraq in 1987. It started life with colleges of education and business administration. It has offered postgraduate courses in education from 1993 and doctorates in life sciences and history from 1998.

It declares a mission of "providing distinguished educational and research services in line with international academic quality standards, enriching human knowledge and exchanging experience with Arab and international academic institutions in line with the spirit of the times".

Taking its name from its province in Southern Iraq, the university is based in the provincial capital Diwaniya, on the left bank of the River Euphrates around 120 miles from Baghdad on the main road to Basra. Close to the ruins of the ancient city of Nefer, it is noted for biodiversity, particularly highly varied bird life.

The main campus, a 150-acre site north-west of the city, hosts the majority of the university's 18 schools, with a separate veterinary campus closer to agricultural districts north of the city. Medical and nursing students are based at Diwaniya Teaching Hospital. Plans for a 50-bed university hospital, addressing a shortage of specialised surgery provision in the district, were the subject of a feasibility study in 2018, while a Green Campus programme to create gardens and green spaces on campus was initiated in 2019.

Rated seventh in the Ministry of Higher Education’s ranking for Google Scholar citations, the university's recent research achievements include the discovery by three medical researchers of the possibility of developing antibiotics from fungus growing around human toenails.