The opening ceremony of the academic year of 2023-2024 in the Supreme National Defense University (SNDU)

The opening ceremony of the academic year of 2023-2024 was held in the Supreme National Defense University in which Major general Dr. Mohammad Bagheri, the Honorable Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, commanders, officials, deputies and high-ranking military and national officials, students and international guests, including the Iraqi General Abdul Amir Kamel Al Shammari, the Vhief staff of Hashd al-Shaabi,  General Tahsin Matar al-Aboudi were present.

In this ceremony, Brigadier General Dr. Ismail Ahmadi Moghadam, the President of the SNDU welcomed the present guests at the ceremony and congratulated the Prophet's birthday (PBUH) and the Unity Week, pointed out to the Holy Qur’an, “Just as We have sent a messenger to you from among yourselves to recite My signs to you, and to cleanse you and teach you the Book and wisdom, and to teach you what you did not know. Chapter 2: verse 151.” He stated that the first goal of the dispatch of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is to explain and reveal the signs of God, and the second goal was to cleanse the soul and education of human being with good ethics; (In God’s messenger you have a fine model for someone who looks forward to [meeting] God and the Last Day and mentions God frequently. Chapter 33: verse 21), and the third goal is to teach knowledge and wisdom to reach the peak of humanity in a way that we could have not learned otherwise.

He added that the fourth goal of the Prophet's dispatch is to teach wisdom divided into scientific and practical ones, that is, knowing and applying them. The Holy Quran's interpretation of wisdom is myriad of good. In order to fulfill its educational mission, the Supreme National Defense University has expanded its activities in three areas of the armed forces, government managers and rulers, and dear guest students from other countries, and by creating new capacities, it has achieved adequate quantitative and qualitative growth with a high pace. Taking advantage of the physical space and suitable and improving infrastructures, distinguished and knowledgeable professors having experiences in governance and exalted and strategic management, and local scientific content based on field experiences with the correct use of human knowledge in a way that does not prejudice our scientific independence, and the existence of motivated employees and managers of the university and the all-round support of the honorable Chief  of the General Staff of the Armed Forces and his deputies, as well as detailed planning and round-the-clock efforts, are among the important factors of progress and taking steps towards the realization of the goals. Then, by stating the number of domestic and foreign students studying in the Supreme National Defense University, he presented the academic report on the process of developments and how to attract and admit the students to the audience. In the continuation of the ceremony, Major General Dr. Mohammad Bagheri also spoke about the role and importance of the Supreme National Defense University in training civilian and military managers at the strategic level, and emphasized the position of this university in formulating strategies, preparing strategic plans and how to perform management, and the managers’ having national understanding. While referred to the saying by Imam Ali (PBUH) that science is the source of power, he added that Islamic countries should give more importance to science and knowledge. He also added that the students of this university, who are mostly in the second and third decades of service have so much experience. What they have learned with modern science in this university so far, they will apply it at the strategic level. At the end of this ceremony, the Iraqi Minister of Interior visited the International Faculty of the Supreme National Defense University and got familiar with the facilities and professors of this faculty as well as the educational process of foreign students, especially Iraqi students studying at strategic levels.