During one of these visits, Aytaç said of al-Baghdadi, "Hashim is one of the best calligraphers of the Islamic world."[17] In 1960 he took up the post of Lecturer in Calligraphy at Baghdad's Institute of Fine Arts and later became the Head of the Department of Calligraphy and Islamic Decoration, a post that he held until his death in 1973 [18] During his academic career, he certified a number of calligraphers including: Walid Al-Adhami, Sadiq Al-Douri, Abdul Ghani Al-Ani, Taha Al-Bustani, Jamal Al-Kabbasi, Mehdi al-Jubouri, Major Ghaleb Sabri al-Khatat, Dr. Salman Ibrahim al-Khatat, Haji Saber al-'Azami, Karim Hussein, Adnan al-Shaikhli, Khaled Hussein, Essam al-Saab, his brother Abdel Hadi, Fawzi Khatat, Salah Sherzad and Mohamed Hassan al-Baldawi, many of whom went on to have notable careers.[19] He also influenced many young, aspiring calligraphers including the Chinese calligrapher, Chen Kun, through his mentorship, writings and public works.[20]