Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region of Iraq — December 20, 2025

The American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS) congratulates its Founder and Board Chairman, Dr. Barham A. Salih, on his election by the United Nations General Assembly as the next United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Dr. Salih will assume his five-year term on January 1, 2026, at a time of unprecedented global displacement and intense strain on humanitarian systems worldwide.

“Dr. Salih’s election is an honor for AUIS and a proud moment for Iraq and the Kurdistan Region,” said Bilal Wahab, President of AUIS. “It is also a source of pride for all who believe in the transformative power of education—and in the idea that principled public service can begin here and resonate far beyond our borders.”

Dr. Salih initiated the establishment of AUIS in 2006, assembling an Iraqi and international founding board to advance a vision of a better future through education.

That vision has become a vibrant campus community where students from Iraq and the Kurdistan Region learn to think critically, communicate confidently, and lead ethically—prepared not only for opportunity at home, but for meaningful engagement with the wider world.

Dr. Salih’s own biography reflects the arc AUIS asks students to imagine for themselves: rigorous learning, public service, and global citizenship. A veteran Iraqi Kurdish statesman and the eighth President of the Republic of Iraq (2018–2022), he has held senior leadership roles in the Kurdistan Region and in federal Iraq, and earned degrees from Cardiff University and the University of Liverpool.

Today, AUIS joins scores of Iraqis and Kurds—students, alumni, parents, partners, and friends—in sharing pride and sending congratulations to Dr. Salih. For the AUIS community, Dr. Salih’s election underscores a message our students already understand instinctively: your origin is not your ceiling.
His journey—from persecution and exile, to national leadership, to a major global humanitarian mandate—reaffirms AUIS’s founding promise: work hard, invest in education, and treat public service as a calling that reaches beyond the local stage.