The permanent exhibition of Iran Education History has opened the doors of Dar ul-Funun to visitors. It may be recalled that Minister of Education Ali Asghar Fani inaugurated the exhibition on August 30.
The exhibition comprises 5 sections, among them: education ministers, education martyrs, education Hall of Fame and educational materials and is open to the public daily from 8am to 4pm. It introduces different aspects of national education history such as 'education system at a glance', 'economic areas of education' and 'evolution of study books', ISNA reported.
First Modern Varsity
Established in 1851, Dar ul-Funun (Polytechnic), was the first modern university and institution of higher learning in Persia. Founded by Amir-Kabir, then the royal vizier to Nasereddin Shah, the shah of Iran, it originally was conceived as a polytechnic to train upper-class Persian youth in medicine, engineering, military science and geology. It developed and expanded its mission over the next hundred years, eventually becoming the University of Tehran.
Facilities such as assembly hall, theater, library, cafeteria, and a publishing house were built for the institute. Many parts of the institute were later merged into the Tehran University. The Faculty of Medicine for example, was successor to the Dar ul-Funun Department of Medicine, established in 1851, which became the School of Medicine (Madreseh-ye tebb) in 1919.
The elite school was training 287 students by 1889, and had graduated to 1100 students by 1891. During this time, the faculty consisted of 26 Iranian and16 European professors.
