President Tim Collins and The Most Reverend Matti Warda commit to collaboration on cultural exchanges
Walsh University welcomed the Archbishop of Catholic University in Erbil (CUE), Iraq, to campus on November 14, 2022, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will foster a mutually beneficial collaboration for students, faculty and staff from both Catholic institutions of higher education and the broader populations they serve.
President Tim Collins and members of the Walsh University Cabinet attended the MoU signing ceremony. They met with His Excellency Archbishop Bashar Matti Warda, CSsR, who is the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Erbil, a leading international voice for the persecuted Christians of Northern Iraq.
Collins and Warda signed the agreement in order to formalize and support the ongoing collaboration between Walsh University and CUE and promote cultural exchanges between the two educational communities. The MoU states:
The parties will host groups of faculty and students from the partnering university whenever feasible and includes Walsh’s support for educational trips of Iraqi students to northeast Ohio. The two Catholic universities will work collaboratively to create educational opportunities for the students of the two universities and will include the joint pursuit of scholarship funding for Iraqi students to study at Walsh University online and in-person. Additionally, the universities will explore educational initiatives such as joint development of language courses in Arabic and Aramaic by faculty employed by the CUE to be offered to Walsh students.
As part of the MoU, there is also potential for catechist collaborations with Walsh’s Department of Theology, campus ministry and others.
Funding for this MoU will be collaboratively sought by Walsh University and Catholic University in Erbil.
