Iraqi universities were known for their scholarly and technical prosperity in the 1960s and 1970s. They graduated the best specialists in the Arab world in various disciplines, and hundreds of foreign students from other Arab countries came to study in Iraq because of the reputation and prestige of these institutions.

Yet, they lost this reputation in the 1980s due to Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, ongoing wars and the economic blockade, and there is nothing on the horizon suggesting a qualitative development to restore the scholarly status of Iraqi universities. The reasons for this are the crises that have plagued Iraq in the post-2003 period, in addition to the unsuccessful policies of the Ministry of Higher Education and other governmental institutions involved.

The ratings of global institutions specialized in evaluating the performance of universities, such as the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), place Iraqi universities at very low rankings compared to their counterparts throughout the world. In addition, Iraqi universities are not effectively involved in global research projects, and none are mentioned in scholarly reports in the various fields of science and education.

This is despite the fact that a large quantitative development has occurred in recent years in Iraq. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, whose term has expired, launched the Educational Initiative in 2009 to send student delegations to foreign universities. This initiative included the possibility of sending 1,000 students from various scholarly disciplines to foreign universities each year. This is in addition to the delegations sent annually by the Ministry of Higher Education's Delegations Bureau.