"The Impact of Intellectual Movements in Iraq on the Reality of Education The College of Arts as a Model 1950-1968"

Abstract

            Intellectual movements naturally flourished in Iraq's modern history, with the emergence of the Arab nationalist movement, the Islamic movement, and then the socialist (communist) movement. Intellectual movements began to flourish within Iraq. The press played a major role in disseminating these ideas, as did the political parties, whose ideas influenced both professors and students. However, students, particularly those who completed their studies in Europe and the Arab Levant, played a major role in spreading intellectual movements within Iraq and within the college campuses. In the early 1950s, these movements intensified with the liberation revolutions in Arab countries and their repercussions on Iraqi elites and the rest of Iraqi society.

            The College of Arts was among those educational institutions that were influenced by intellectual movements at the faculty and student levels. These movements emerged within the halls of education at the cultural and political levels. During the study period, two prominent intellectual movements emerged that continued to influence Iraqi society: the nationalist movement and the communist movement. These two movements cast their shadows on the reality of the College of Arts during the period 1950-1968.