Baghdad College ( ar, كلية بغداد) is an elite

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

for boys aged 11 to 18 in

Baghdad, Iraq Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the list of largest cities in the Arab world, second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the ...

. It was initially a Catholic school founded by and operated by American

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

from Boston. The 1969 Iraqi government nationalization and expulsion of Jesuit teachers changed the character of the school. It has been compared in the British media to

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and is arguably Iraq's most famous secondary school for boys, having produced an Iraqi prime minister, a deputy prime minister, a vice president, two dollar billionaires and a member of the British House of Lords, among many other notable alumni.

History

Baghdad College was founded in 1932 by William A. Rice, S.J. (who would later become Bishop in Belize, Central America).

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fro ...

requested the establishment of a Catholic school in Baghdad to serve the Muslim population there, and the church sent four

to establish the school.MacDonnell, Joseph.
The Jesuits of Baghdad: 1932-69

Archive
. ''

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

''. May 26, 2003. Retrieved on April 29, 2015. One of them was Fr. John Mifsud, who was of Maltese origins. The school originally had four Jesuit teachers and 107 students. The school

motto A motto (derived from the Latin , 'mutter', by way of Italian , 'word' or 'sentence') is a sentence or phrase expressing a belief or purpose, or the general motivation or intention of an individual, family, social group, or organisation. Mot ...

was "An Iraqi School for Iraqi Boys". The school was initially located in ten buildings, located at 11/45 Murabba'ah Street in Baghdad, on the east bank of the

Tigris River The Tigris () is the easternmost of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of the Armenian Highlands through the Syrian and Arabian Deserts, and empties into the P ...

, on of land in the northern part of the city. Father Leo Guay designed the campus buildings, using Iraqi architecture as an influence. Courses were conducted in English.

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

stated that at the time it was Baghdad's "premier high school." Soon after its founding the teaching staff included 33 Jesuits and 31 Iraqi lay teachers. Some of the Jesuits were fluent in the Arabic language, and others had established Arabic classes to try to teach themselves the language. The student body became over 1,100; Most of the students were children of the Iraqi elite. Filkns, Dexter,
Boys of Baghdad College Vie for Prime Minister

. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', December 12, 2005. Retrieved on April 29, 2015. Historically about 20% of the students received scholarships. About half of the students were Muslims and half were Christians; Jews were also students. Baghdad College's pupils included Iraqis, Armenians, Egyptians, Iranians, Palestinians, and Syrians. The school did not attempt to convert Muslims into Christianity, and students were not required to attend chapel services.

Richard Cushing Richard James Cushing (August 24, 1895 – November 2, 1970) was an American prelate of the Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Boston from 1944 to 1970 and was made a cardinal in 1958. Cushing's main role was as fundraiser and builder ...

, a cardinal from

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, privately criticized the school for not getting converts. Laith Kubba, an Iraqi activist and former student, stated that the school helped him become a better Muslim.

Anthony Shadid Anthony Shadid (September 26, 1968 – February 16, 2012) was a foreign correspondent for ''The New York Times'' based in Baghdad and Beirut who won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting twice, in 2004 and 2010.Baghdad College And America's Shifting Role In Iraq

Archive
.

. September 7, 2011. Retrieved on April 29, 2015. During the

Baathist Iraq Ba'athist Iraq, formally the Iraqi Republic until 6 January 1992 and the Republic of Iraq thereafter, covers the national history of Iraq between 1968 and 2003 under the rule of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party. This period began with high econo ...

era, students were required to take courses on

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

. The classes about Saddam ended after the 2003

invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Ba'athist Iraq, Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one mont ...

. As of 2005 the school still accepted the top students in Baghdad.

Dexter Filkins Dexter Price Filkins (born May 24, 1961) is an American journalist known primarily for his coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for ''The New York Times''. He was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for his dispatches from Afghanista ...

of ''

'' stated "Today, Baghdad College is becoming more its old self." In 2012 Anthony Shadid stated that the school had experienced "disorderly decline". The graves of five Americans are located in the school's cemetery. One of them is that of a teacher who was employed by Baghdad College for 35 years.

Enrollment and regulations

Students can only enroll during the first year of study as students who wants to transfer are usually deemed as below the standards of the school, specially in their English language skills as the majority of the subjects taught in the school are taught in the English language. Students who wants to enroll are required to have accumulated a minimum of 475 marks, and go through few tests in (IQ, Science, Math, Arabic language and English language) to determine the most fit among the applying students.

Notable alumni

Nemir Kirdar Nemir Amin Kirdar (28 October 1936 – 8 June 2020) was an Iraqi Turkmen banker, billionaire, businessman, financier and author. As a founding father of private equity, and an economic and cultural bridge-builder, he was the founder and CEO of ...

, financier, billionaire businessman *

Nadhmi Auchi Nadhmi Shakir Auchi, ( ar, نظمي أوجي; born 11 June 1937) is a British-Iraqi businessman and billionaire, founding president of the Anglo–Arab Organisation, and the founder and chairman of General Mediterranean Holding (GMH), a conglom ...

, billionaire businessman and philanthropist *

Loris Ohannes Chobanian Loris Ohannes Chobanian (born April 17, 1933) is an American-Armenian composer of classical music, conductor, and guitar and lute teacher and performer. He served as Professor of Composition as well as Composer-in-Residence at Baldwin-Wallace Colle ...

, composer, conductor, classical music teacher and performer *

Ali Allawi Ali Abdul-Amir Allawi (Arabic: علي عبد الامير علاوي) (born 1947) was Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister He is an Iraqi politician and scholar. From May 2020 to August 2022, he ran as Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister a ...

, writer and politician * Dr.

Ayad Allawi Ayad Allawi ( ar, إيَاد عَلَّاوِي ; born 31 May 1944) is an Iraqi politician. He served as the vice president of Iraq from 2014 to 2015 and 2016 to 2018. Previously he was interim prime minister of Iraq from 2004 to 2005 and the p ...

, neurologist and former Interim

Prime Minister of Iraq The prime minister of Iraq is the head of government of Iraq. On 27 October 2022, Mohammed Shia' Al Sudani became the incumbent prime minister. History The prime minister was originally an appointed office, subsidiary to the head of state, a ...

Ahmad Chalabi Ahmed Abdel Hadi Chalabi ( ar, أحمد عبد الهادي الجلبي; 30 October 1945 – 3 November 2015) was an Iraqi politician, a founder of the Iraqi National Congress (INC) who served as the President of the Governing Council of ...

, PhD, Iraqi politician, former Interim Oil Minister, and former Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq. * Adil Abdul Mahdi, PhD, Iraqi politician, economist, and Vice President of Iraq from 2005 to 2011. *

Mithal al-Alusi Mithal Jamal Hussein Ahmad al-Alusi ( ar, مثال جمال حسين احمد الآلوسي; born 23 May 1953) is an Iraqi people, Iraqi politician and the leader of the Iraqi Ummah Party. He was elected to the Iraqi Council of Representatives a ...

, Iraqi politicianhttp://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/133fae9c-d78d-11d8-9eb0-00000e2511c8.html *

Kanan Makiya Kanan Makiya (born 1949) is an Iraqi-American academic and professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Brandeis University. He gained international attention with ''Republic of Fear'' (1989), a best-selling book, after Saddam Hussein's in ...

, PhD, author, academic and founder of the Iraq Memory Foundation. *

Nizar Hamdoon Nizar Hamdoon (1944 - July 4, 2003) was Iraq's ambassador to United States from 1984 to 1988 and the United Nations from 1992 to 1998. He was also the deputy Foreign Minister from 1988 to 1992 and under secretary of the Foreign Ministry from 1999 ...

(1944-2003): Iraq's ambassador to the United States and the United Nations, a deputy foreign minister of Iraq and under secretary of its Foreign Ministry *Professor

Jim al-Khalili Jameel Sadik "Jim" Al-Khalili ( ar, جميل صادق الخليلي; born 20 September 1962) is an Iraqi-British theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster. He is professor of theoretical physics and chair in the public engagement in scien ...

, PhD, OBE, British theoretical physicist, author and broadcaster * Professor

Ara Darzi, Baron Darzi of Denham ARA may refer to: Media and the arts * American-Romanian Academy of Arts and Sciences * '' Artistička Radna Akcija'', compilation album released in former Yugoslavia * Associate of the Royal Academy, denoting membership in the British Royal Aca ...

, member of British Parliament, surgical pioneer * Dr.

Munjed Al Muderis Professor Munjed Al Muderis (born 1972) is an Australian Adjunct Clinical Professor in orthopaedic surgery, author and human rights activist. He has done pioneering work on prosthetics, especially on titanium devices. Al Muderis was born in Ir ...

, pioneering

osteointegration Osseointegration (from Latin ''osseus'' " bony" and ''integrare'' "to make whole") is the direct structural and functional connection between living bone and the surface of a load-bearing artificial implant ("load-bearing" as defined by Albrekt ...

surgeon and human rights activist. *

Qusay Hussein Qusay Saddam Hussein al-Nasiri al-Tikriti (or Qusai, ar, قصي صدام حسين; 17 May 1966 – 22 July 2003) was an Iraqi politician, military leader, and the second son of Saddam Hussein. He was appointed as his father's heir apparent in ...

, son of

Uday Hussein Uday Saddam Hussein ( ar, عدي صدام حسين; 18 June 1964 – 22 July 2003) was an Iraqi politician and the eldest son of Saddam Hussein. He held numerous positions as a sports chairman, military officer and businessman, and was the head ...

, son of

References

Notes

Sources

*MacDonnell, J.
Jesuits by the Tigris.
1994. Boston, MA: Jesuit Mission Press
Baghdad College And America's Shifting Role In Iraq
(radio transcript
Archived
.

. September 7, 2011.

External links

official website

America
{{Schools in Baghdad Boys' schools in Iraq Educational institutions established in 1931 Schools in Baghdad 1931 establishments in Iraq Defunct Jesuit schools