Haidar Abdul Dhid, the Undersecretary of the Ministry, speaking at the “Ather 2025 Award” ceremony, confirmed that 81 Iraqi universities have entered the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings for sustainable development, collectively pushing Iraq to 5th place worldwide in the 2025 classification.

This marks an exceptional leap from the 7th global rank achieved in 2024 with 72 universities.

Despite these achievements, Abdul Dhid acknowledged that Iraqi universities, especially public ones, face significant challenges in securing the necessary financial resources and upgrading infrastructure to fully meet all sustainable development goals.