Iraq will sign a new education initiative with Academy for Educational Development (AED), a non-profit social change organisation, aimed at sending Iraqi students to foreign schools to complete their higher education studies.

Among the Iraq Education Initiative's goals is to send up to 10,000 Iraqi students per year over the next five years to US, UK, Canada, and Australia, beginning with a pilot program of 500 students for the 2009-2010 school year.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will sign the new education agreement on July 25 in Washington, D.C.

Twenty-two universities are founding members of the American Universities Iraq Consortium which are welcoming these students.– TradeArabia News Service