More Foreign Students Interested in Iranian Universities

Increasing the number of foreign students in Iran is one of the priorities of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.

“The ministry is trying to double the number of foreign university students in Iran and prepare the grounds for greater international academic cooperation,” the minister, Mohammad Farhadi, said during a visit to Sayyed Jamaleddin Assadabadi University in Hamedan, Hamedan Province earlier this week.

“Students from many countries have expressed interest in studying in Iran, and we must make the most of this opportunity,” he was quoted by IRNA as saying.

Some 52,000 international students are currently studying in the country at the university level where a large number of programs are taught in the English language.

Among them are nationals from Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, Japan, China, Syria, Moldavia, Hungary, Ukraine, Poland, Singapore, the US, Australia, Pakistan, the Netherlands, Korea, Armenia, Italy, Canada, France, Bahrain, the UK, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Russia, Denmark, Senegal, Lebanon, Mexico, India, Germany, Egypt, Taiwan, Romania, Slovakia, Pakistan, Croatia, Nigeria, Oman, Serbia, Slovenia, Vietnam, Georgia, and Sudan.

Iran still lags behind some states in the Middle East when it comes to the number of foreign students at its academic centers and is making efforts to attract more foreigners to its private and public universities.

However, the number has increased since May 2015, when Farhadi announced 35,000 international students were studying in Iran.

He added that around 50% of foreign students’ study humanities (including Persian language), 30% are enrolled in technical and engineering courses, 17% in medical sciences and the remaining 3% are art students.

The minister said Iranian universities have been working hard to promote their international stature and added that the country is ready to admit more students from Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The director general for foreign students’ affairs at the ministry had said earlier that more foreign students are applying to study in Iranian centers of higher learning after the nuclear deal, the so-called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which came into effect in January 2016.

“The JCPOA has increased the number of foreign students interested to study in Iranian universities by providing for international cooperation in all areas,” Samad Haj Jabbari had said last October.

The University of Tehran, Amirkabir University of Technology and Ferdowsi University of Mashhad have the highest admission rates for foreign students in the country.

Previously, it was mostly Afghan students who were admitted in the universities, but after a memorandum of understanding was signed with Iraq, students from the neighboring Arab country now surpass Afghan students.