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Known in Iraqi Kurdistan as the "Mother University", Salahaddin University owes that designation both to being the oldest public university in the region and to its contribution to founding other institutions.

It was established in 1968 in Sulaimani, a city in Iraqi Kurdistan. It then moved to Erbil, the capital of the region and one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, and took its current name in 1981.

Starting with schools of science, agriculture, engineering, administration, medicine and education it grew steadily, but in 2008 lost medicine, dentistry, nursing and pharmacy when these were spun off to create the Hawler Medical University.

Spread across sites close to the Kirkuk Road on the south side of the city, it proclaims the vision "to be a world-class teaching university in the pursuit of knowledge, research and skills development and to network people worldwide for the purpose of academic excellence and mutual achievement. To be the leading university for creative and professional practice inspired by innovation and inquiry".

Some 14 colleges are located at the campus in Erbil and five colleges are at the extension campus in Shaqlawa, which has been operating since 2013. As of the 2019-20 academic year, the Bologna process was applied to first year programmes.

In 2018 it was rated ninth among Iraqi universities, and third in Kurdistan in the Ministry of ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ¡¯s publication rankings based on Google Scholar citations. Ambitious plans for a new campus based around a central circular tower building remain in place, but have been delayed by Iraq¡¯s various civil conflicts.