Iran Promises Higher Education for All

A revolution in making? Next year, all the applicants may be able to enroll at Iranian universities. But will they find jobs later?

Press TV online news agency reports that according to Iran’s minister in charge of higher education, starting next year. Iranian universities will be able to admit all the applicants.

"The university capacity will be higher than the number of applicants next year… Iranian institutions can accommodate 1,500,000 students while there will be only 1,250,000 applicants," Mr. Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi said at the closing ceremony of a 5-day exhibition that introduced the country’s scientific achievements.

Iranian applicants usually go through a challenging selection process including standardized exams called Concour and are assigned to different institutions via computerized procedure.

Many failed applicants manage to go abroad to pursue higher studies. Western European countries, Dubai, South East Asian countries such as Malaysia, and former Soviet republics including Armenia absorb most of this population.

Based on what the Minister has revealed it is not clear whether the Ministry plans to maintain the Concour exam or replace it by another selection device. Moreover, it is unclear how the chronic capacity shortage at universities is suddenly being dealt with. Are the authorities expecting a sharp drop in applicants due to some demographic trends and/or have the institutions of higher education been asked to dramatically increase capacity?

Iran has a population of over 70 million; more than two-third are under the age of 30. The population growth has caused various problems including unemployment and insufficient opportunities at higher education.

The unemployment concerns university graduates too. Press TV reports that a Ministry of Labor announcement put the number of unemployed university graduates in October 2008 at 15.6 percent.

Picture: Main entrance gates of Tehran University symbolize modern higher education in Iran.

The Six Uncommon Visitors

An unusual and interesting event: The presidents of 6 leading U.S. universities toured Iran, 14 - 20 November 2008. This was the latest in a series of exchange visits involving senior academics and scientists. University diplomacy in action!

The American delegation included David Skorton of Cornell University, David Leebron of Rice University, Jared Cohon of Carnegie Mellon University, J. Bernard Machen of the University of Florida, C.D. Mote of the University of Maryland at College Park, Larry Vanderhoef of the University of California-Davis, Robert Berdahl of the Association of American Universities (AAU), and Max Angelholzer representing the Lounsbery Foundation, a philanthropic organization that sponsored the trip.

According to the AAU, members of the delegation were chosen because “they or their institutions have been involved in previous scientific and other exchanges with Iran.”

As reported by CBS News, via Persian Hub, Mr. Berdahl, the President of the AAU which organized the tour, said, "We believe it is important to maintain and renew academic ties between our two countries as a means of laying the groundwork for greater understanding and rebuilding what was once a very healthy collaboration in science and higher education.”

"I think Iranian universities are interested in increased cooperation with U.S. institutions,” said David Leebron of Rice University. “Although we shouldn’t underestimate the contact that already exists. Don’t forget a lot of Iranian academics - especially senior ones - received some of their education in the U.S.”

The 6 university presidents were guests of Iran’s most prestigious institution, Sharif University of Technology. But they also met with Mr. Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi, Iran's Minister of Science, Research and Technology. This meeting contradicted earlier announcements that the group would not meet with Iranian government officials.

According to a report by Emily Cohn from Cornell Daily Sun published on The Maneater, Mr. Skorton of Cornell University stated that they met with Zahedi on the basis that the trip’s purpose was to promote “interactions of science faculties.”

“We decided before we left, we are not diplomats, we are educators,” Skorton said, refuting speculation that the group was scheduled to meet with Iranian President Ahmadinejad. “Now, there is obvious tension between the governments of our two countries, which is part of the reason we met with academics [rather than government officials],” he said.

One of the issues that were raised in the meeting with Zahedi was the detention of Professor Medhi Zakerian who was scheduled to teach as a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School last fall. However, the human rights scholar was arrested and remains detained by the officials since mid-August.

Renewing Ties

“Prior to the Iranian revolution in 1979, a very high percentage of the faculty at Iranian universities was educated in the U.S.,” AAU President Berdahl stated in a press release. “Since that time, and especially since Sept. 11, that number has declined dramatically. We believe it is important to maintain and renew academic ties between our two countries.”

According to Emily Cohn of Cornell Daily Sun, political unrest has plagued Iran for decades over mounting tension between Islamic rule and the breadth of academia. Since the Iranian Cultural Revolution, Iran’s academic relationship with the U.S. and the West has been strained. The Islamic movement expelled hundreds of university professors in a wave of reform to pronounce theocratic rule and abolish Western influence. The Iranian student protests of 1999 further intensified the clash of ideologies. The riots ended with the disappearance of up to 1,400 Iranian students who were allegedly detained by the authorities.

“Iran, regardless of its government’s obvious faults, is a country that respects higher education,” AAU spokesperson Barry Toiv stated. “Now, a very high percentage of the country receives a college education. Interestingly, 60 percent of that student population is women, despite the severe limits placed on women in Iranian society as a whole.”

According to Toiv, the U.S. State Department had not expressed a point of view on this trip whereas according to President Leebron of Rice University, the State Department and the Secretary of State had endorsed the ideas of these trips and these kinds of “conversations”.

Mr. Skorton told Cornell Daily Sun that he was unsure about future academic exchanges between Iran and the U.S. but said he saw the movement gaining “some momentum.” “Going forward, it’s unclear,” he said. “We hope we would be able to develop more robust relationship between the people of the two countries.”

The Bridge

According to Mr. Davood N. Rahni, Professor of Chemistry at Pace University, and Adjunct Professor of Dermatology at New York Medical College, USA, the Iranian students who stayed over in the US after the 1979 Islamic Revolution may play an essential role in this rapprochement.

In an article published on Payvand online news magazine, Mr. Rahni praised the visit of the American delegation and indicated that more than 65,000 Iranian students who stayed in the U.S. post Islamic revolution have served as the critical cluster leading nearly one million affluent and highly educated Americans of Iranian heritage.

According to Mr. Rahni, every major university in the U.S., Canada, and most European schools has a number of instructors of Iranian origin. Prominent Iranian-Americans, especially those in the academe could distinctively serve as the bridge between their ancestral motherland and their adopted “promised land”, the U.S., as they truly understand the commonalities of both nations.
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Iran: The Global Pinnacle of Science?

According the Leader of the Islamic Republic, Iran's long-standing academic achievements can help the country become a "global pinnacle of science." Mr. S.A. Khamenei said Iranian academics have pushed forward the boundaries of scientific research and technology.

In his address at the University of Science and Technology of Iran, via Press TV, Mr. Khamenei said Iranian academics have made great strides in promoting science and research in the country. He specifically praised the country's recent achievements in the fields of Medicine, Nanotechnology, and Nuclear Energy.

"Academics have played a decisive role in the past, and will do the same in the future … The Islamic Republic's scientific leap and technological breakthrough should continue in order to keep up with global developments and innovations," he added.

Mr. Khamenei said Iran's peaceful use of nuclear technology is in line with the country's urgent needs. It is estimated that with an annual 6 - 8 percent growth in demand for electricity and a population of 100 million in 2025, Iran cannot rely exclusively on oil and gas for its energy needs.

An “Explosion of Science”

Meanwhile, IRNA official Iranian news agency, via Mathaba news network, reports that Iran’s Vice President of Scientific and Technological Affairs, Mr. Sadeq Vaez-Zadeh, has claimed that the number of registered inventions during the current Iranian year (ending on 20 March 2009) has so far reached 10,000, showing a 30 percent annual growth.“During the course of the past 5 years, the number of registered inventions in Iran was below 1,000 each year, and the 10-fold increase this year is due to proper planning and effective backing of the inventors …"

He noted that the population of the country has doubled over the course of the past 30 years while the number of scientific and academic centers has increased twenty times.

“As a result, the internationally acknowledged scientific production of Iran has increased from 500 cases in the year 1978 to 12,000 in the current year, which means we are witnessing an explosion of science in Iran … Pursuing the scientific works in Iran requires … a nationwide mobilization of all competent forces and a nationwide revolutionary will…since side by side with the servant government, all the concerned circles need to work twice as hard as before to allow the nation to reach the objectives set in the 20-Year Perspective Document, at the end of which Iran is expected to become a unique scientific and technological hub in the region and the world.”

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Pictures above by Jamel Salehi, IRNA: A recent exhibition in Tehran.
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In Higher Ed, Iranian Women Rise

Almost 60 percent of university students in Iran are female. In recent years, female enrollment has sharply increased even in traditionally male-dominated fields such as Engineering and Medicine. Among those who have left the county to pursue their studies or research, some have made remarkable achievements.

Based on statistics released by Iran’s Women’s Socio-Cultural Council, Iranian.ws reports that the percentage of women entering universities has increased to 58 percent of the student body; a 37.24 percent growth over the last 3 decades.

Ms. Nahid Azamram Panahi, Women’s Socio-Cultural Council Deputy Director, told a meeting of university chancellors and professors that women constituted 64 percent of the applicants in 2008 which shows a 24.27 percent increase compared to the last decade.

The number of female applicants for university studies has risen by 31 percent in humanities, 31 percent in applied sciences, 14.8 in foreign languages, 13.8 percent in scientific programs and mathematics, and 6.3 percent in art.

The Case of Saba Valadkhan

Payvand news agency refers to Dr. Saba Valadkhan as world-renowned biomedical scientist. She is an Assistant Professor at Case Western Reserve University, USA.

After graduating from Tehran University of Medial Sciences, Saba Valadkhan moved to New York where she continued her studies at Columbia University. The young scientist has already won several international awards for her effective and determinant contribution to the field of Molecular Biology.

In 2005, she was awarded the American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) award of Young Scientist of the Year for her breakthrough in understanding the mechanism of spliceosomes.

Payvand news agency recently published a comprehensive interview with Dr. Valadkhan conduced by Mr. Ahmadreza Tavassoli, a freelance journalist. My 3 selected questions and answers dealing with the Iranian scientific community, brain drain, and the productivity of scientific work in Iran are as follows:

Question: It is more than 15 years that you are far from your homeland, Iran. Do you still have relationships with universities and institutions inside the country? Would you consider returning to Iran someday if favorable conditions for scientific work were provided?

Answer: I am trying to forge scientific relationships with the Iranian research community, and I am hoping to have a broader interaction with the Iranian scientific community in the future. I am unfortunately not very familiar with the status of research in Iran, but I know that the number and quality of scientific publications from Iran have been on the rise, which is a very encouraging sign. Hopefully this trend will continue.

The status of science seems to be improving in Iran, however, the infrastructure is still a concern, and interaction with the broader scientific community is still very limited. These factors prevent the science enterprise in Iran to achieve its full potential. Hopefully, with effective planning, sufficient funding, and the cooperation of the scientific community these issues will become less of a hurdle in the future.

There are many talented scientists currently in Iran that if given the opportunity will do great things. I want to stress that we don't lack talent or skill, what is limiting science in Iran is the lack infrastructure and the right type of environment. Even if all the Iranian scientists currently living abroad return to Iran, there will not be any significant changes in the quantity or quality of scientific productivity in Iran until these shortcomings are addressed. Now, if the government solves these shortcomings, the scientists currently residing in Iran are more than qualified to do cutting edge research.

Q: Therefore, what causes that many young Iranians leave the country each year to go abroad and make us face the phenomenon of brain drain?

A: I think this is the wrong way of looking at the problem and, in fact, it's not seeing the real problem at all. In Iran, we can't complain about brain drain, we have many more educated, trained forces than can be gainfully employed. We don't need any additional educated work force; we already have more than the country needs. The real problem in Iran is that the country spends a lot of resources training medical doctors or physics PhDs and they can't find jobs that match their training, and end up doing carpet business. Our problem is brain inflation, not brain drain.

It is not that educated people choose to live and work abroad despite having equally good opportunities in their home country, the issue is that they don't have acceptable choices at home. Nobody enjoys the often very painful process of emigration, but lack of opportunities forces many to leave their home. And let's not forget that after these "overflow" educated forces leave, they often remain committed to contributing to their motherland in any way possible.

There are many prominent Iranian academics abroad that have made significant contributions to the human society that have made all Iranians proud, and that continue to contribute to their homeland by transferring their knowledge through teaching in universities and workshops in Iran.

Q: If we put the workforce aside, we can review Iran's scientific stride based on science indicators such as ISI. Among these indicators which ones are the most remarkable and what do they tell about Iran's research productivity?

A: There are many such indices and depending on whom you talk to, they might prefer one or the other. I think a reliable way of measuring the level of scientific productivity in the biomedical field is the number of publications in Pubmed-listed journals. Number of publications in top tier journals in biomedical fields, Science, Nature, Cell and the New England Journal of Medicine, is a good indicator of the quality of scientific work done in a country.

I took a moment and calculated these numbers for Iran and a number of other countries in Asia. Although the total level of productivity in Iran is still lower than Turkey, India and China, while we are doing better than all our other neighbors, the rate of growth of our productivity has been excellent, although it has slowed down in the last three years. We need to address this slow down and correct it. In terms of quality, we need to improve but I think as our level of productivity rises, so will the scientific quality.

Top Picture: A scene from Persepolis, a 2007 film by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi.

Other pictures by Saman Aghvami, ISNA, via Payvand. To read the interview in full, please click here.

For further reading: Iranian Women in Science: A Gender Study of Scientific Productivity in An Islamic Country, Emerald, 2008, Volume: 60, Issue: 5 (paid access).
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Student Day Remains A Day of Protest

The 6th day of December is known in Iran as Student Day. In 1953, 3 student activists were shot at Tehran University by the security forces of Shah Reza Pahlavi. They were protesting U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon's visit to Iran, following the U.S.-engineered coup that brought the Shah back to power.

Since then student organizations mark the anniversary to stage protests against the lack of political and civil liberties. As the country’s political system – except very short interludes - has remained non-democratic, swinging between authoritarianism and totalitarianism, the nature of Student Day has stayed unchanged.

This year, the organizers had preferred to hold their rallies on 7 December, according to Nima Darabi, an Iranian blogger and Ph.D. student at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Students at Tehran University as well as other universities in the capital and in provinces, held gatherings calling for the release of imprisoned students, and the reinstatement of suspended students and faculty.

Mr. Darabi reports that although university campuses were completely surrounded by the police, the Islamic militia, and intelligence and security agents, many students succeeded to attend various meetings. At Tehran University, some students from other universities who had been blocked from entering the campus to join their comrades, tore the western entrance gates down. Some were arrested. According to witnesses, the climate seemed very tense, and the students seemed much more radical and determined than in previous years.

An Insulting Slogan: We Want Democracy!

IRNA official Iranian news agency, via Reuters news agency, blamed an "illegal splinter group" of a major student organization for clashes with security personnel.

Pictures obtained by Reuters showed hundreds of people gathered at Tehran University, some of them carrying banners saying "We want democracy" and "Return expelled students and professors." One photograph showed some demonstrators tearing down a metal gate at the university. IRNA called those who gathered a "limited group" and said they had attacked the university's western entrance gate.

IRNA said people gathering at the campus "must have confused Tehran University with a battlefield" and denounced their "savage moves and insulting slogans."

Tradition of Politicized Universities

Rasmus Christian Elling, an Iran expert and one of the contributors of a collective blog called Copenhagen University Middle East and Islam Network, via Farideh Farhi, recently posted an informative article on the subject.

Rasmus notes that since universities were established in Iran in the 1920s, they have been key centers of political dissidence, arenas for ideological battles, and homes to alternative voices. Universities played central roles in the revolutionary movement that ousted the Shah in the late 1970s and in the reformist movement that brought Khatami to power in 1997.

During the so-called ‘Tehran Spring’ of 1997-99, it seemed as if a democratic student movement was ready to burst out of university and revolutionize Iranian society. However, the severe clampdown on students – and in particular, the violent attack on Tehran University dormitories in July 1999 that resulted in widespread riots throughout Iran – curtailed this movement.

The repression eventually seemed close to completely wipe out the Iranian student movement. Instead of disintegrating, however, the student organizations underwent a painful divorce from the parliamentary reform movement, its institutions and its head, Khatami.

Ahmadinejad Repression

Rasmus notes that since the election of the neo-conservative hard-liner Ahmadinejad in 2005, the student movement has faced even more complex set of challenges. Ahmadinejad’s government has sought to control universities by discharging critical professors and appointing loyal managers, by segregating facilities in certain universities, by installing video surveillance, and by burying ‘martyrs’ of the Iran-Iraq War right on university campuses and thus imposing the militant ideology on students.

Student activists all over Iran have faced official and unofficial reprimands, abductions, mock trials, torture, detention and heavy sentences that span from exclusion from university and forced transfer to other universities to fines and jail sentences.

However, the difficulties facing the student movement are not just political. Rasmus indicates that students are also confronted with a wide array of problems including the fierce competition for enrollment in prestigious universities, the dwindling quality of teaching and research in Iranian universities, the severe problem of brain drain, social problems such as drug addiction and suicide as well as issues related to everyday student life such as appalling conditions in dormitories, lack of pastime facilities and, of course, the prospect of post-graduation unemployment.

The Upcoming Presidential Elections

Rasmus suggests that the student movement may intensify during the current year. With the 2009 presidential elections looming on the horizon, the so-called reformist wing of the regime seems to be looking to the student movement, hoping it could again play a significant role.

The ‘reformists’ would benefit from a re-activation of the huge potential among Iran’s 2 million university students. Yet, significant change is needed: since the student organizations do not consider the reformists sufficiently determined and enterprising. Rasmus thinks that the reformists will have to prove themselves if they want to have any hope of regaining the confidence of the young generation.

They will need a strong and charismatic leader, a clear and resolute program and they will need to address the key issues championed by social movements, the women rights movement and the student movement.

To read Rasmus Elling’s article in full plus two recent updates on this year’s Student Day in Iran, please click here.

To read New York Time’s article of 4 January 2009 entitled "Ahead of Election, Iran’s Hard-Liners Crack Down", please click here.

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Pictures via Iran Watch Canada blog and NYT, Student Day in Iran 2008.
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Iran's Higher Ed Through Numbers

Tehran Times cited Iran’s Minister of Science, Research and Technology Mr. Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi saying that university students currently comprise 5 percent of Iran’s 70 million population.

Student Body Grows: Mr. Zahedi said that university students make up about 3.5 million of Iran’s total population, and by the next Iranian calendar year of 1388 (2008-2009) this is expected to reach over 3.6 million.

The number of university students has risen from about 2.150 million in 2005 to over 3.5 million in 2008, Zahedi claimed, stressing that there has been a 100 percent increase in number of students doing a master’s degree and PhD over the past 3 years.

The capacity of universities for master’s degree has reached 40,000 from about 20,000 in 2005 and the capacity for PhD studies has risen to 4,000 from 2,000.

Faculty Numbers Grow: He also referred to a sharp increase in the number of Iran’s faculty members and said, “There has been over a twofold increase in the number of faculty members over the past 3 years.”

Science Productivity Increases: Mr. Zahedi also claimed that there has been an increase in the number of scientific articles indexed by the International Scientific Index (ISI) in 2008 compared to last year. On this topic, he did not however release any numbers.

Graduates Remain Unemployed: One of Mr. Zahedi’s colleagues in the government described the other side of the coin. According to Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Security, via Payvand news agency, 30 percent of the unemployed in Iran are university graduates.

The youth enter into the job market after 4-6 years of study in universities but lack sufficient skills and capabilities. To become employable, he said, they attend technical and vocational centers. Currently, 40 percent of the capacity at technical and vocational centers is taken by university graduates.
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Oxford Law Degree of Iranian Minister

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest scandals in Iran in 2008 was the demise of Minister of Interior Mr. Ali Kordan.

It was revealed that Mr. Kordan, a fellow former revolutionary guard and a close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had faked a law degree from Oxford University, U.K.

According to an article by Ian Black of Guardian daily, U.K., the Iranian president suffered a serious blow and tarnished his reputation as a ‘fighter against corruption’ because he continued to back Mr. Kordan until the eve of a vote of no-confidence at the Iranian Parliament; the Majlis.

Mr. Kordan had not only forged the degree, he also admitted trying to bribe MPs not to proceed against him. It was, in fact, revealed that a Kodran associate had tried to collect signatures from lawmakers against the impeachment in exchange for a check of about 5,000 USD.

Iranian newspapers quoted Kordan as admitting that he had made a mistake in trying to bribe MPs, and was “prepared to offer an apology” but would not resign!

Mr. Kordan's job included domestic security as well as organizing next summer's presidential elections, in which his friend, the hardliner Ahmadinejad is expected to stand.

'Piece of Torn' Honorary Degree

According to Guardian, the Kordan saga began in August 2008 when the Majlis that vets ministerial appointments, voted on his confirmation. When MPs questioned his eligibility he produced a certificate purporting to be an "honorary doctorate of law" from Oxford, and was approved by a slim margin.

Within days Iranian journalists were following up claims that the degree was bogus. Kordan released a copy of the document to quell speculation. But Alef (site in Persian), a website associated with one of Ahmadinejad's critics, pointed to typing errors, garbled English and misspellings, purportedly signed by 3 Oxford professors.

The certificate commended Kordan for "research in the domain of Comparative Law that has opened a new chapter not only in our university but, to our knowledge, in this country". Alef passed it to Oxford, which disavowed it.

It later transpired that he also did not hold a bachelor's or a master's from Iran's Open University, as he had claimed.

Prior to Kodran’s dismissal, Mr. Ahmadinejad had defended him by saying the disgraced minister should not be judged on a "piece of torn paper, not necessary for serving the people ". IRNA official news agency, via International Herald Tribune, reported that Mr. Ahmadinejad had called the move to impeach Kordan ‘illegal’ because he had not committed “any wrongdoing while in office.”

He had nevertheless said that his administration would abide by any decision made by the Parliament, but the hard-line president had also accused his opponents of being behind the call for Kordan's impeachment.

One MP told Guardian that the President could have won millions of votes by simply dismissing Kordan and that his support would cost him those votes next summer.
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