YEAR 1 - SEMESTER 1

 YEAR 1- SEMESTER 2

YEAR 2- SEMESTER 3

YEAR 2 - SEMESTER 4

The program uses ECTS credits. One ECTS credit represents 27 hours of total student workload, comprising scheduled contact time (lectures, practical laboratory sessions, assessment) and independent study. The program totals 120 ECTS, distributed as 30 ECTS in each of the four semesters, which corresponds to a total student workload of approximately 3,000–3,600 hours across the two years.

Credit is not carried by teaching hours alone. A 6 ECTS specialist module is delivered as one theory session and one separate practical session per week for fifteen teaching weeks, with the balance of the workload met through preparation, laboratory reporting, directed reading and assessment.

Course synopses:

Synopses are grouped as institute courses of general formation, institute courses at degree or program level, and core courses of medical laboratory

technology. Core-course synopses reflect the module outlines approved in the 2026 curriculum review.

1.1 Institute courses — general

Computer Applications · 5 ECTS · Semester 1:

This module introduces the fundamentals of computer hardware and software so that students acquire the working computer literacy required in both academic and professional laboratory settings. Students are instructed theoretically and practically in operating systems, file management, browsing and effective search technique, presentation design, word processing and spreadsheet work.

By the end of the module students can work confidently in the Windows environment, use the institute\\\\\\'s e-learning system and institutional email, search efficiently for scientific information, build well-structured presentations, produce formatted documents with automatic tables of contents and referencing, and process and analyze tabular data in a spreadsheet using formulas, functions and charts. The spreadsheet component is of direct relevance to later laboratory work, where quality-control data, worksheets and result logs are routinely handled in this form.

Academic Debate · 5 ECTS · Semester 1:

This module develops academic thinking, argumentation, communication and debate. Students are trained to think critically, to construct and defend a position, to identify problems and propose workable solutions, and to engage respectfully with views other than their own.

Students learn to use varied sources for academic communication, to question and analyze scientific texts logically and critically, and to present material to an audience. The module also covers report writing, paraphrasing, presentation technique, formal debate, professional CV writing and preparation for job interviews. These competencies underpin the reporting and interprofessional communication expected of a laboratory technician.

Kurdology · 5 ECTS · Semester 2:

This module explores the history of the Kurds, including the accounts left by Western explorers and historians, the role of that external narration, the geopolitical and international significance of the Kurdish people, and the ancient history of the region reaching back to the Medes.

Alongside its historical content, the module places emphasis on the use of the Latin alphabet in written Kurdish; students are introduced to it early and encouraged to use it routinely. Assessment is built around presentations, posters, group discussion and classroom activity on the module\\\\\\'s themes.

1.2 Institute courses — degree and program level

Medical Terminology · 5 ECTS · Semester 2:

This module equips students to decode the medical vocabulary they will encounter on request forms, in clinical notes and in laboratory reports. It teaches the construction of medical terms from roots, prefixes and suffixes, and relates terminology systematically to body systems, structures, conditions and anatomical directions.

Delivery relies on active classroom participation: note-taking, verbal and written repetition, group work, image- based learning, and the use of medical dictionaries, terminology texts and reference websites. By the end of the module students can break an unfamiliar term into its components and infer its meaning, use terminology accurately in written and spoken professional communication, and read a clinical request or report without ambiguity. For a laboratory technician this is a direct prerequisite for correct specimen handling and correct reporting.

Career Development and Entrepreneurship · 5 ECTS · Semester 3:

The Career Development and Entrepreneurship module is designed to bridge the gap between academic learning and the modern labor market. The first half of the course focuses on essential employability skills. Students engage in self-assessment, career planning, and professional networking, while mastering practical workplace competencies such as resume and cover letter writing, effective communication, behavioral interviewing, critical thinking, and collaborative leadership. This ensures graduates are well-prepared to navigate the professional landscape confidently and effectively.

The second half of the module cultivates an entrepreneurial mindset, empowering students to identify market opportunities, innovate, and create value. Through a 100% practical and experiential approach, students utilize tools like Design Thinking and the Business Model Canvas (BMC) to develop, test, and present their own startup ideas. They learn critical business fundamentals, including market research, financial planning, and persuasive investor pitching. By combining real-world simulations, mock interviews, and team-based business development, the course comprehensively equips students with both the career readiness and entrepreneurial acumen required for success in traditional employment or independent ventures.

1.3 Core courses — Semester 1

General Chemistry · 7 ECTS:

This module builds the chemical foundation on which biochemistry, clinical chemistry and all quantitative laboratory work depend. Theory progresses from the classification of matter, measurement and significant figures through atomic structure and periodicity, chemical bonding, nomenclature and formula writing, reactions and stoichiometry, solutions and concentration, acids, bases and pH, redox chemistry, thermochemistry, kinetics and equilibrium, to an introduction to organic chemistry.

The final two theory weeks are deliberately framed as bridges rather than destinations: biomolecule classes are surveyed as an entry point to Semester 2 Biochemistry and are not re-taught there, and analytical technique is introduced through the Beer–Lambert relationship as the basis for the quantitative methods used from Semester 3 onward.

The practical program is hands-on throughout and centers on the manipulations a technician performs daily: safe laboratory conduct, accurate measurement, preparation of solutions and dilutions, acid–base, complexometric, precipitation and redox titration, buffer preparation and buffer capacity, qualitative analysis of cations and anions, and quantitative colorimetry. Graduates leave the module able to prepare a reagent accurately, measure to the correct precision, and perform a titration to endpoint.

Laboratory Instruments & Techniques · 7 ECTS:

This module teaches the instruments of a diagnostic laboratory: what each does, how it is operated correctly, how it is calibrated and maintained, and how common failures present. It covers general laboratory equipment, the light microscope, sterilization equipment, incubators and biological safety cabinets, the centrifuge, the spectrophotometer, the hematology analyzer, the pH meter, the analytical balance, the water bath, the distillator, and the fundamentals of instrument quality control.

Three instruments — the thermal cycler, the electrophoresis apparatus and the microtome — are deliberately taught here at the level of instrument familiarization only. Students learn to recognize, handle and set up the apparatus; the methods that use it are taught in Semester 4 by Molecular Diagnostics and Histotechnology respectively. This boundary is declared in both directions so that the method is taught once, in the module that owns it.

The practical mirrors the theory session by session and is hands-on throughout. On completion, students can operate and calibrate the standard instruments of a regional laboratory, recognize when an instrument is out of specification, and carry out routine maintenance.

Laboratory Management & Safety · 6 ECTS:

This is a theory-only module in which practical competencies are delivered through short in-session activities and demonstrations embedded directly in the lecture rather than in a separate laboratory slot. It establishes the professional and safety framework within which every subsequent module operates.

Content covers medical ethics in the laboratory; the laboratory quality management system; the chain of infection and its interruption; biosafety levels and documented risk assessment, of which this module is the designated owner for the whole program; laboratory hazards and accident response; general laboratory safety and standard operating procedures; specimen management, patient identification and patient interaction; laboratory organization; patient safety at the collection interface; waste management; and structured analysis of real laboratory accidents to derive preventive action.

The module is the program\\\\\\'s single home for biosafety-level assignment and risk assessment, and its competencies are assessed again in every practical module thereafter through adherence to safe working procedure.

1.4 Core courses — Semester 2

Medical Physiology · 7 ECTS:

This module provides the account of normal human function against which every abnormal laboratory result is later interpreted. Theory covers cell structure and body organization, membrane transport, the endocrine system, reproductive, digestive and renal physiology, the cardiovascular, respiratory and nervous systems, muscle and skeletal physiology, and blood physiology.

The module is the designated owner of normal endocrine physiology; endocrine disorders are owned by Clinical Chemistry in Semester 3, and the boundary is declared in both outlines.

The practical program was realigned in the 2026 review so that each session supports the lecture it accompanies: physiological measurement, osmosis, blood glucose in relation to endocrine control, anthropometric and metabolic measures, semen analysis, digestive and renal demonstrations, cardiovascular and respiratory measures, reflex and sensory testing, and blood physiology demonstration.

Biochemistry · 7 ECTS:

This module covers the chemistry of living systems as the basis of clinical biochemical testing. Theory addresses carbohydrates, amino acids and proteins, lipids, nucleic acids and the central dogma, enzymes, membranes and receptors, vitamins and coenzymes, carbohydrate metabolism, lipid and protein metabolism, bioenergetics and metabolic integration, hormones as chemical messengers, and the acid–base chemistry and buffer systems of the body.

The module is the designated owner of the molecular-biology foundation for the entire program: nucleic acid structure, replication, transcription and translation are taught here and are not re-taught in Semester 4. Enzyme chemistry is taught here while clinical enzymology is handed to Clinical Chemistry; hormone chemistry is taught here while endocrine disorders are handed to Clinical Chemistry; buffering chemistry is taught here while

acid–base interpretation is handed to Clinical Chemistry. Each of these boundaries is recorded in both module outlines.

The practical program is qualitative and hands-on: carbohydrate and reducing-sugar tests, differentiation of monosaccharides and disaccharides, protein detection and amino-acid-specific reactions, lipid and cholesterol chemistry, enzyme activity, buffer titration, and a DNA extraction demonstration that prefigures the molecular work of Semester 4.

Medical Microbiology · 6 ECTS:

This module was refocused so that general microbiology occupies the opening weeks and the medical and diagnostic aspects of the subject occupy the remainder.

Theory covers the place of microbiology in the diagnostic workflow and good laboratory practice, bacterial cell structure, microbial taxonomy and nomenclature, growth and nutrition, metabolism in its diagnostic application, microbial genetics and the genetic basis of antimicrobial resistance, sterilization and disinfection, antimicrobial agents and resistance, host–microbe interaction and normal flora, a survey of medically important bacteria, a conceptual bridge to mycology, virology and parasitology, and the diagnostic microbiology workflow with staining.

The module is the single designated home for staining technique in the program. Systematic bacteriology is deliberately delivered here only as a survey; the organism-by-organism treatment is owned by Medical Bacteriology in Semester 4. The practical program is hands-on throughout: media preparation, isolation, colony description, microscopy and simple staining, differential staining, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, biochemical identification, bacterial enumeration, and specimen-to-identification workflow practice.

1.5 Core courses — Semester 3

Hematology · 6 ECTS:

This module covers the composition and formation of blood and the laboratory investigation of its disorders. Theory progresses from hematopoiesis and normal red-cell, white-cell and platelet biology through the anemias — iron-deficiency, megaloblastic, hemolytic, aplastic — to the haemoglobinopathies, polycythemia, the leukemias and lymphomas with an introduction to immunophenotyping by flow cytometry, hemostasis, glucose- 6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency and the myeloproliferative neoplasms.

The module is the designated owner of sickle cell disease and thalassemia at the hematological level, of coagulation and hemostasis, and of blood grouping and transfusion technique. Its treatment of thalassemia connects forward to Molecular Diagnostics in Semester 4, where the molecular confirmation of carrier status is performed.

The practical program is hands-on and covers the routine hematology bench: specimen handling and blood collection, packed cell volume, hemoglobin estimation, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, manual and automated cell counts, blood film preparation and differential count, reticulocyte and platelet counts, blood grouping, bleeding and clotting time, prothrombin time and INR, D-dimer, and interpretation of a complete blood count.

Clinical Chemistry · 6 ECTS:

This module teaches the quantitative analysis of body fluids and the interpretation of the resulting panels. Theory covers the total testing process, analytical techniques and instrumentation, quality control and quality assurance, carbohydrate disorders, renal function and urinalysis, liver function, lipids and cardiovascular risk,

clinical enzymology, electrolytes and acid–base status, endocrine disorders, calcium, phosphate and vitamin D, proteins and tumor markers, therapeutic drug monitoring and point-of-care testing, and a case-based integration week.

The 2026 review made this module the single owner of diagnostic urinalysis. It is likewise the owner of liver function testing, clinical enzymology, and electrolyte and acid–base interpretation. Endocrine disorders are owned here while normal endocrine physiology is owned by Medical Physiology.

The practical program is hands-on and closely tracks the theory: specimen assessment, instrument calibration, a dedicated quality-control session, glucose and HbA1c, a full renal panel with complete urinalysis, liver panel, lipids and cardiac markers, enzymology, electrolytes and acid–base, endocrine testing, bone and mineral markers, proteins and tumor markers, point-of-care testing with fecal occult blood as its archetype, and an integrated case practical.

Clinical Immunology and Serology · 7 ECTS:

The theory sequence is designed so that antigen and antibody structure, the serological method families and the interpretation and quality control of serological results are taught in weeks 2 to 4, before the practical begins running assays. The remainder covers innate and adaptive immunity, the organs and cells of the immune system, MHC and antigen presentation, complement, cytokines and immunodeficiency, hypersensitivity, autoimmune disease, immunization, and a case-based integration week.

The practical program runs five agglutination sessions in a deliberate escalation — qualitative, semi-quantitative, titration, then prozone — followed by three immunochromatography sessions and two ELISA sessions, closing with an interpretive immune-workup session. Twelve of thirteen sessions are hands-on. Methods for which the department holds no reagents are taught as principle and demonstration and are explicitly identified as such in the outline.

Medical Mycology and Virology · 6 ECTS:

This module was formed for the 2026–2027 intake by relocating virology from Semester 4 and merging it with medical mycology within the same 6 ECTS envelope. The two halves are unified by a shared diagnostic frame — the compromised host — and by a shared methodological spine in antigen and antibody detection.

The mycology content is rebalanced to the Iraqi disease burden. Candidiasis, superficial and cutaneous mycoses including dermatophytosis and tinea capitis, aspergillosis, mucormycosis and chronic fungal rhinosinusitis are taught in full; fungal rhinosinusitis is the second most frequent serious fungal disease in national estimates and had previously been taught nowhere in the program. Subcutaneous and endemic mycoses, which had occupied four theory weeks and three practicals, are reduced to a single awareness session — Histoplasma, Blastomyces and Coccidioides do not appear in the Iraqi burden estimate, are restricted to the Americas, and require BSL-3 containment the institute does not hold.

The virology half covers viral structure, classification and replication, viral pathogenesis and laboratory diagnosis, viral hepatitis, HIV and the immunocompromised host, and the respiratory, herpes and oncogenic viruses, closing with vaccination and antiviral therapy. The practical program is hands-on where the department\\\\\\'s holdings allow — fungal culture and direct microscopy, dermatophyte and Candida identification, antigen detection, mold identification from respiratory and sinus specimens, rapid viral testing, hemagglutination and hemagglutination inhibition — and declares demonstration or image-based delivery where they do not, notably or viral cultivation, for which no cell-culture facility exists.

1.6 Core courses — Semester 4

Medical Parasitology · 6 ECTS:

This module covers the parasites of medical importance and their laboratory diagnosis. Theory addresses parasitological terminology and life cycles, pathogenic and non-pathogenic amoebae, enteric and urogenital flagellates, hemoflagellates, tissue and intestinal sporozoa, malaria, cestodes, trematodes, intestinal nematodes, tissue and blood nematodes, stool examination, ectoparasites and arthropod vectors, and the opportunistic parasites including microsporidia.

In the 2026 review the module was scoped so that it owns all stool work and the parasitic elements of urine examination, while the physical, chemical and non-parasitic sediment components of urinalysis pass to Clinical Chemistry. The boundary is recorded in both outlines.

The practical program is microscopy-intensive and hands-on: identification of each parasite group from prepared and clinical material, malaria diagnosis on a stained blood film, stool concentration and ova-and-parasite technique, detection of urinary parasites, and identification of ectoparasites and vectors.

Histotechnology · 6 ECTS:

This module teaches the preparation of tissue for microscopic examination and the recognition of normal tissue architecture. Theory pairs a histology strand with a processing strand week by week: surface and glandular epithelium with fixation and dehydration, connective tissue with clearing and infiltration, bone with embedding and microtomy, cartilage with hematoxylin and eosin staining, blood tissue with cytology including Pap and fine- needle aspiration, then muscle, nervous, gastrointestinal, renal and cardiovascular histology.

Two sessions were added in the 2026 review to close gaps against the module\\\\\\'s stated aims: immunohistochemistry, and frozen sections with special stains. Both are taught at the level of explaining the method and assisting competently with it, consistent with the technician scope.

The practical program is hands-on across the processing sequence — grossing, fixation, dehydration, clearing, infiltration, embedding, microtomy and H&E staining — and slide-based for tissue identification. The microtome, introduced at familiarization level in Semester 1, is used in earnest here.

Molecular Diagnostics and Cytogenetics · 6 ECTS:

The module title was extended to include Cytogenetics in the 2026 review. When ML231 Cytogenetics was discontinued from Semester 3, its content appropriate to a two-year technical diploma was absorbed here, and retaining the word in the title serves as the audit trail showing where that content went.

The module is built in five blocks. Block A carries the genetics foundations — chromosome structure and cell division, patterns of inheritance, and chromosome abnormalities with karyotype reporting in ISCN. Block B covers nucleic acids in the diagnostic laboratory and the molecular basis of disease. Block C teaches the core technique: PCR principles and primer design, gel electrophoresis and result analysis, PCR variants, and contamination and quality control. Block D applies it — molecular detection of infectious disease and resistance genes, thalassemia and carrier screening, molecular oncology and identity testing. Block E covers advance  technologies at awareness and referral level, and reporting and ethics. The level was explicitly reset during the review. Variant classification against ACMG criteria, VCF file handling

and HGVS nomenclature were removed as clinical-scientist tasks. Next-generation sequencing, real-time PCR, fluorescence in-situ hybridization, array comparative genomic hybridization, Sanger sequencing and non-invasive prenatal testing are retained at the level of recognizing what each does and knowing when to refer. Thalassemia is the module\\\\'s spine: inheritance is taught in week 2, its genetics and screening in week 12, and gap-PCR and ARMS-PCR are performed in the practical of the same week and read back against the pedigree the students constructed in week 2 — connecting the module directly to the region\\\\\\'s mandatory premarital screening program. The practical delivers ten hands-on sessions on the institute\\\\\\'s own thermal cycler and gel system. Karyotyping is image-based by design, since a genuine karyotype requires sterile lymphocyte culture, colcemid arrest and some seventy-two hours.

 Medical Bacteriology · 6 ECTS:

In this fourteen-week module, theory covers the classification and cultivation of bacteria for diagnosis; bacterial pathogenesis and host–pathogen interaction; then the systematic bacteriology of staphylococci, streptococci and enterococci, spore-formers and anaerobes, lactose-fermenting and non lactose-fermenting Enterobacteriaceae, non-fermenting and fastidious Gram-negatives, mycobacteria and tuberculosis, curved and microaerophilic Gram negatives, zoonotic and fastidious bacteria, and the spirochaetes and atypical bacteria. The final two weeks are given to antimicrobial resistance and susceptibility testing as a full week in its own right, and to diagnostic bacteriology organized by specimen type as a job-facing integration.

Tuberculosis is taught as an organism for the first time — previously only the Ziehl–Neelsen technique appeared anywhere in the program, with no organism behind it, despite tuberculosis being notifiable and endemic. Corynebacterium and Listeria, which had been removed from Semester 2 and re-homed nowhere, are re-homed in the zoonotic and fastidious week. Brucellosis is taught explicitly both as a regional priority and as a leading cause of laboratory-acquired infection.

The Enterobacteriaceae are structured as lactose-fermenting and non-lactose  fermenting rather than by genus, so that the lecture structure mirrors what a student actually sees on a MacConkey plate. The practical program is hands-on throughout and follows the theory session by session, closing with a full susceptibility-testing session and a specimen-type workflow session.

AI for Medical Laboratory Science · 6 ECTS · Semester 4:

This module introduces the application of artificial intelligence and data-driven methods to medical laboratory science. It covers the fundamental concepts of machine learning and artificial intelligence in a health context, the nature and quality of laboratory data, current and emerging applications — including automated image analysis in hematology, microbiology and histopathology, decision support and result flagging, and workflow and workload management — and the limitations, failure modes and ethical considerations that attach to these systems.

The module is pitched at the level of an informed user rather than a developer. Students learn what these tools do, what they require of the data a laboratory produces, where they fail, and what the technician\\\\\\'s responsibility remains when a system produces an output. It reinforces the program\\\\\\'s wider position that the graduate must recognize the limits of automated interpretation and know when human verification and referral are required.