Head of School
International Maarif Schools - Erbil (Iraq)

Ihsan Dogramaci Bilkent Erbil College

Located in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI)

Seeks a

Head of School

To commence with the 2016-17 Academic Year

Deadline for applications: 28 February 2016

Ihsan Dogramaci Bilkent Erbil College (IDBEC) currently serves 434 students with 53 teachers from Australia (6), Azerbaijan (3), Canada (3), Iraq (6), New Zealand (7), Philippines (1), South Africa (1), Turkey (12), UK (5), USA (9). 

Since opening in 2010, IDBEC has grown from 140 students in three grade levels - Kindergarten 1 (KG1), Kindergarten 2 (KG2) and Grade 1 – to 434 students currently, with its oldest cohort in Grade 6. IDBEC will continue to grow by one grade level annually, until it becomes a school for students from ages 4 to 18. The first students are projected to graduate from high school in 2022, with International Baccalaureate Diplomas. The school has started to implement the IB Middle Years Program with this year’s Grade 6, and has been an authorized IBPYP school since 2013.

Required Qualifications, Experience and Background

• Experience as a school head, or division principal
• Current professional certification
• Experience in successful classroom teaching
• Close knowledge of at least one International Baccalaureate program
• Excellent written and oral English skills 
• Ability to work to budget
• Effective interpersonal and communication skills
• Problem-solving mindset
• Cultural sensitivity
• Proven success in recruiting and retaining excellent staff

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience of working in a school with a multilingual curriculum
• Experience with school accreditation

The successful applicant will be the third person to hold this position since the school opened in 2010. The incoming Head will have the overall brief of building on these six years to propel our students into the senior school.  

The School

Since opening in 2010, IDBEC has grown from 140 students in three grade levels - Kindergarten 1 (KG1), Kindergarten 2 (KG2) and Grade 1 – to 434 students currently, with its oldest cohort in Grade 6. IDBEC will continue to grow by one grade level annually, until it becomes a school for students from ages 4 to 18. The first students are projected to graduate from high school in 2022, with International Baccalaureate Diplomas. The school has started to implement the IB Middle Years Program with this year’s Grade 6, and has been an authorized IBPYP school since 2013.

Ihsan Dogramaci Bilkent Erbil College (IDBEC) opened as a coeducational day school teaching in English, Turkish and Kurdish. IDBEC is a result of the vision and dedication of the late Turkish pediatrician, educationalist, and philanthropist, Professor Ihsan Dogramaci, who was also the founder of Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. The school is his legacy to his birthplace, Erbil, which was then a regional center in the Ottoman Empire, and which is now the principal city of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI). The excellent facilities and resources of IDBEC are evidence of the commitment of Bilkent University and the Ihsan Dogramaci Foundations to create a world-class school in the region. In line with all the Bilkent educational institutions, Ihsan Dogramaci Bilkent Erbil College is not-for-profit and receives no subsidies from any government.

The School Mission

The mission of Ihsan Dogramaci Bilkent Erbil College is to provide an educational program of the highest international academic standards. Its rigorous academic program includes strong components of both English and Turkish from the moment the students enter the school. The school provides a socially and artistically enriching environment and encourages students to inquire into meaningful concepts that have personal, local and global relevance.

Ihsan Dogramaci Bilkent Erbil College helps students develop themselves as critical, analytical and independent thinkers. We nurture life-long learners so that they may become competent, creative, open-minded, principled and responsible leaders of tomorrow, who will take action to improve the world around them.

The Students

Of the 434 students currently enrolled in Pre-school through Grade 6, approximately 95% are Iraqi, a mix of Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs. There are also a number of international students whose families have located in Erbil. A growing number of our students are of KRI background, born and/or brought up overseas and returning to Erbil with their families to take part in the city’s rapid development.

The Campus and Facilities  

IDBEC was purpose built on its own plot of land, some 5km from the city center, and some 5km from the airport. The school grounds of 75,000 m² house some 70 classrooms that the school will continue to grow into over the coming years. There are ample playgrounds and sports fields, a large library, a sports hall and a very high quality concert hall, which is used both for performances by the Bilkent University Symphony Orchestra and for school assemblies. Teachers and the Head are accommodated in modern well-appointed apartments adjacent to the school.

The Country and City 

Erbil is the largest city and the seat of government of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which is an autonomous region in federal Iraq. It borders Syria to the west, Iran to the east, and Turkey to the north. The Region is geographically diverse, from hot plains to cooler mountainous areas with natural springs and where snow falls in the winter. The main language spoken is Kurdish; others include Turkmen, Arabic, Armenian, and Assyrian in some areas. The Citadel in Erbil is known to have been continuously inhabited for many thousands of years.

The Kurdistan Region is now undergoing dramatic change. Erbil is a growth city, characterized by a rising population, construction and rapid economic development. The number of international hotels increases annually. A key feature of the changes occurring in Erbil and the region is that the KRI is building its own international ties.  Of direct relevance to teachers at the school is that many airlines, including Austrian, Emirates, Etihad, Gulf Air, Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, fly to Erbil direct. (From Turkey there are now four airlines operating direct flights both from Ankara and from Istanbul.)  Thousands of expatriates are working in Erbil, not only on engineering/construction projects but also for foreign consulates, banks, hotels and retailers. The Kurdistan Region has seven universities, including the English Language University of Kurdistan-Hewler in Erbil, which opened in September 2006, and the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani, which started its first program in Autumn 2007.

Qualities Sought in the New Head

The Head will have the experience and expertise required to lead a young school that has high ambitions for its growth and the quality of education it offers. He or she will have overall responsibility for curriculum, teaching and learning as the school works towards Evaluation for the Primary Years Programme and seeks Authorization for the IBMYP; as the school expands from Grade 6 upwards, the new Head will be expected to work towards the development and implementation of a sound curriculum in the Middle School. In addition to being the academic leader of the school, the Head is expected to share responsibility with the Board for securing the school’s financial stability and long-term sustainability.

Salary and Benefits 

The salary and benefits package for the IDBEC Head is commensurate with qualifications and experience, including a substantial salary, free furnished housing, transfer expenses, yearly home leave, the use of a car, and health insurance. 

Search Procedures

Interested candidates should send an application no later than February 28, 2016. The review of files will begin as soon as applications are received, and candidates should note that, if an outstanding applicant is identified early in the search process, IDBEC reserves the right to make an appointment before the deadline mentioned above and to bring the search to a close. For this reason we encourage interested candidates to apply at the earliest possible time.

The information requested below should be sent as a single email with a single PDF attachment to darylyork@bilkent.edu.tr and vicepres@bilkent.edu.tr

• A current résumé not to exceed two pages, including a list of three referees, one of them the applicant’s current superior, with telephone numbers and email addresses. Submission of an application is acknowledgement that the school may contact referees.
• A letter of application demonstrating the match between the candidate’s strengths and the required and preferred qualifications;
• A maximum of three letters of reference that may already be in your possession.

Finalist candidates will be identified by the Search Committee and will be interviewed, if applicable, in Ankara and Erbil in March.  Finalists will have the opportunity to meet with faculty, other staff, parents, and students. The Head will be selected shortly after the conclusion of the interviews. 

For further information about the school, please see www.bilkenterbil.org

Attention: If you apply for this position, please inform the school and us (Admin@searchassociates.com) that you saw the notice on the Search Associates website.