Higher education plays a crucial role in economic and social development and as a catalyst for sustainable development by producing high quality human resources and disseminating the results of scientific and technical research. Through mobility, institutional cooperation is amplified since the HEIs involved in building partnerships and networks can cast a critical eye on the global challenges affecting them. International cooperation in the field of Higher Education also ensures that knowledge grows through sharing, and that capacity and excellence are built on both sides.

In light of this, the following objectives have been determined for the TIGRIS Project, which the partners will seek to address throughout the project’s lifespan and within the activities undertaken:

• Improve the quality of Higher Education in Kurdistan;
• Develop new and innovative education programmes;
• Modernise the Higher Education system in Kurdistan through policy reform;
• Create and implement national legislation which will facilitate the accreditation of joint and double degrees, the recognition of studies abroad, and the ECTS;
• Foster cooperation across different regions of the world via joint initiatives and collaborative action;
• Strengthen management structures and services geared towards international relations;
• Develop advanced strategic polices regarding the internationalisation of education, collaborative research, academic mobility, and international student services within Kurdistan which will bring Kurdish HEIs closer to their European counterparts;
• Transfer best practices and disseminate knowledge so as to understand how to cooperate within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and European Research Area (ERA).