The Broken Windows of the KRG Private Universities: An Autoethnographic Study on XY University in Erbil

Abstract

This research aims at exploring some of the fundamental disorders and anomies in the Kurdistan private academic institutions. It tries to answer how and why these anomies and disorders originated, and how they are translated into macro-level structural chaos in the society at large. Is the commercial aspect dominant or the academic dimension? which one does shape and constrain the other? My research is theoretically informed by the “Broken Windows Theory”, developed by “Wilson” and “Kelling”, that studies the causes and contexts of spreading, expanding, and translating trivial problems into large-scale and societal problems. I also draw upon the notion “Institutional Anomie” proposed by “Messner” and “Rosenfeld”, that focuses on the economization and commercialization of non-commercial and non-economic institutions. Methodologically, I employ the critical and interpretive autoethnography. To further strengthening my qualitative data, I also made use of focus group technique and unstructured interview with 37 samples (22 students, 7 instructors, and 8 university personnel) in addition to participant and direct observations. The name of the studied university is indicated by the symbol (XY), the researcher taught at this university for three years, and therefore chose it as a target sample. The results show that private universities in Kurdistan, despite their abundance, operate as commercial institutions more than academic and educational institutions, and participate in the marketing and sale of certificates accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education in Kurdistan.