Department Of Nutrition and Dietetics

The Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Cihan University was established in 2017 as the only department in all Iraqi universities that award a Bachelor's degree in Nutrition and Dietetics. The program offers students a solid knowledge base in clinical dietetics, human nutrition, food science, and public health throughout the four-year program. The students will be taught to a high level the importance of the link between food, nutrition, and human health. As food is an essential part of the therapeutic process of any disease, nutrition and dietetics is an application of food science, therapeutic nutrition, and diet programs to prevent and treat diet-related diseases to enhance the health of the individual and society.
The curriculum is designed to prepare graduates with the knowledge and skills necessary for progressing toward foundational for a variety of professional careers in nutrition, dietetics, and food services. The course has been designed following different universities in developed and developing countries, ensuring you are taught to a national and internationally recognized standard.

The Department of Nutrition and Dietetics aims to prepare high qualified graduates with the required skills of leadership, innovation and communication in the fields of food science, nutrition, and dietetics. With these skills you will be qualified for professional job as Nutritionists and Dietitians according to national and international standards of associations, institutions, and syndicate to work and supervise on the following areas in order to raise public awareness and improve the health and well-being of individual and community through better nutrition care and healthy lifestyle.

Public and private hospitals, primary healthcare and medical centres
Therapeutic nutrition and dietetics counselling clinics
Food and nutrition research centres and laboratories
Sport clubs and fitness centre
Product developer and sensory evaluator
Supervising diets in restaurants, hotels, airlines, military, elderly house and schools
Media analyser and food marketing
Representative/ manager at food company, and catering services
Food technologist
Food safety and hygienic advisor
Food, beverage and drug quality assurance/ control agencies
International organisations (FAO, UNICEF, WHO, WFP)
Academic instructor/ lecturer at institutions, college and universities after post graduate studies

The mission of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at Cihan University- Erbil is to prepare graduates to be future leaders in nutrition, dietetics, and food services to improve human health and prevent non-communicable disease through better nutrition care and a healthy lifestyle. The department strives to accomplish this goal through research to understand how diet influences health at molecular and population levels, the development of nutritional strategies, informing policy, the education of researchers and practitioners, and the distribution of nutrition information to health professionals and the public.

Preparing a generation of qualified graduates with high levels of nutritional skills and upgrading the therapeutic diet role in Kurdistan and the rest of Iraq.
Educating the community about healthy food, nutritional care, especial diet, malnutrition diseases and epidemiology through holding local and international conferences, workshops, seminars, and training programs.
Developing the department regionally and globally by conducting outstanding scientific researches.
Emphasize cooperation and partnership with local and regional institutions/ organizations to promote nutritional care and protect public health.
Initiating different activities to improve nutrition knowledge and education throughout the four years of study.