Iran is keen to attract more Malaysian students through an exchange program.
Currently, only a dozen Malaysian students are studying in Iran, compared to some 5,000 Iranian students in Malaysia, wrote Malaysian newspaper Malay Mail.
Speaking to Malaysia’s state news agency Bernama at the Iranian Embassy recently, Abbas Qanbari, director and academic counselor for Iranian students in East Asia, said he is ready to facilitate and help connect any Malaysian university to the best universities in Iran and welcomed proposals for such collaboration.
Qanbari said language should not be a problem, as the students could take up courses to learn the Persian language.
He said that by studying in another country, bilateral relations could also be expanded and that this is in line with the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research and Technology’s “scientific diplomacy” that calls for the use of science, knowledge, research and technology as a basis to enhance bilateral relations.
“We want to use these as a basis for relations between nations,” he said.
Qanbari also noted Malaysia’s aim to become a world-class knowledge-based economy and a regional education hub, with the launch of the new higher education strategy called The Malaysia Education Blueprint 2015-25 (Higher Education), released in April this year.
In this respect, he said Iran is ready to fulfill Malaysia’s aspiration to achieve its target of 200,000 international students by 2020, and in return hoped that more Malaysians would also study in Iran.
Qanbari said Malaysians wanting to study in Iran could take up courses in information technology, medicine, nanotechnology, satellite, space and environment, among others.
“Currently, Iran has scientific collaboration with Russia, France and the United Kingdom, and hopes to forge such collaboration with Malaysia,” he said.
