U.S. college plans to expand in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A U.S. college with a campus in Baghdad says it plans to open three more sites for U.S. soldiers in Iraq within the next five years.

The University of Maryland University College has enrolled nearly 300 U.S. soldiers since opening the Baghdad campus in November, said Acting Provost Greg von Lehman.

The campus' seven professors teach government, math, cultural anthropology and macroeconomics, all of which can be applied to earn undergraduate and master's degrees.

The college has offered courses on U.S. military bases in Europe and Asia, for more than 50 years and no one has ever been hurt, Lehman said.

The college plans to keep expanding in Iraq under a 5-year contract in which the U.S. government pays the students' tuition, said professor Lisa Brooks, who describes her students as extremely motivated.

If their homework is late, they never say the dog at it, Brooks said. This being Iraq, it's usually more like, "The Humvee flipped over and I was getting shot at," she said.