IRAN'S HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM - AN INSIDE LOOK

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 RPO DUBAI 000056

NOFORN
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 2/5/2019
TAGS: PGOV ECON SOCI SCUL IR
SUBJECT: IRAN'S HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM - AN INSIDE LOOK

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CLASSIFIED BY: Ramin Asgard, Director, Iran Regional Presence
Office - Dubai, DOS.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (C) Summary: Iran's best universities largely focus on
engineering, which the country's top students pursue for its
supposed financial reward. Our interlocutors ranked Iran's best
schools similarly, starting with Sharif University of Technology
and generally concluding with the Islamic Azad University,
Iran's largest university. University admissions are largely
based on performance on the nation-wide entrance exam though
additional factors, such as Basij membership, may also be
considered. Adherence to government-policy was also said to be
an important factor in determining faculty advancement. Iranian
universities are a mix of good and bad - of rigorous academic
standards and in some cases, ideological pressure. For most
young Iranians, however, they are an avenue to financial reward.
End Summary.




2. (C) IRPO officer in December 2008 and January 2009 met with
Iranian students and professors to discuss Iranian universities.
He spoke with graduates from the University of Tehran and the
Islamic Azad University, married professors from the University
of Esfahan, and a professor from Tarbiat Modares University.



University Reputations




3. (C) Iranian interlocutors consistently mentioned the same
universities as Iran's best universities, including Sharif
University of Technology, the University of Tehran, Amirkabir
University of Technology, Iran University of Science and
Technology, Khaje Nasir Toosi University of Technology, the
University of Isfahan, and the University of Shiraz. The
Islamic Azad graduate remarked that only "geniuses" attend
Sharif University. All of these schools primarily focus on
engineering and technology programs. Tehran University, in
addition to its well-regarded engineering programs, has a
broader range of programs, such as economics, history, and
literature to choose from. Tehran also features a department of
North American and European Studies in its highly regarded
School of Law and Political Science.




4. (C) Iran's best students tend to pursue engineering programs
or medical school. (Note: Medical school in Iran begins after
high school; students apply to a medical school as they would
any other university.) All our interlocutors explained that
engineering and medical careers are financially rewarding, which
is why they attract Iran's best students.




5. (C) The University of Tehran graduate said that students at
universities located in Tehran tend to be more politicized than
elsewhere in Iran simply because Tehran is the capital. The
Islamic Azad graduate instead noted that students from the
University of Tehran and Amirkabir University, in particular,
have reputations for being more politically engaged.
Continuing, he contrasted the University of Tehran, where
students invite political speakers to campus or debate politics,
to the branch of Islamic Azad he attended, where such a dialogue
was wholly absent.




6. (C) The private Islamic Azad University is Iran's largest
university and has a mixed reputation for academics. The Tehran
University graduate spoke dismissively of it, saying that just
about anyone can attend. Islamic Azad has its own entrance exam
and unlike the government universities, students pay tuition.
According to its website, the university has roughly 1.3 million
students spread over more than 300 branches inside Iran, and one
overseas branch - in Dubai. Although some of the locations may
be full campuses, the Islamic Azad graduate said many of the
branches, including the one he attended, are single buildings
and he did not think the university had dorms. He noted that
the quality of the instruction at Islamic Azad varied by the
program and by the location.




7. (C) Islamic Azad considers itself a private institution and
says that it receives no government financial support. However,

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the University of Esfahan professors questioned the school's
actual independence. Expediency Council Chairman and head of
the Assembly of Experts Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani founded the
university in 1985, and is head of the university's board of
trustees. The University president is said to be a Rafsanjani
ally.



Academic Materials and University Advancement




8. (C) The professors maintained that they use up-to-date texts
and other materials in their classrooms, though they conceded
that some professors do not and the quality of the material
varied by university and by professor. The couple from the
University of Esfahan also said that the students too should be
responsible for doing their own internet research to ensure that
their material is current. They also said that the IRIG helps
academics purchase text books. The Tarbiat Modares professor
added that his university, beginning three years ago, started
pressing faculty members to publish two papers a year in
established journals. An Iranian Canadian academic who has done
research in Iran told us separately that Iran lags far behind
the West in social science research. She said texts and
research materials in these disciplines were outdated, and many
of the best professors had been forced into retirement.




9. (C) The University of Esfahan professors said that
advancement within the university reflects ideology as well as
academic background. They complained remaining beardless or
speaking out against university policies can jeopardize one's
advancement. (Comment: Although the professors did not
attribute the ideological standards to Ahmadinejad, their
comments are consistent with the president's efforts to change,
in his words, the "secular education system." Ahmadinejad's
government subsequently forced many university professors into
retirement. Some such professors were later offered positions
at Islamic Azad University.)



The Road to University Admissions




10. (C) Iranian students aspiring to attend universities in
Iran must first take the university entrance exam, or Konkur.
All interlocutors stressed the difficulty of the exam and the
amount of time students spend preparing for the test. The
University of Esfahan professors explained that their daughter,
who is currently preparing for the Konkur, spends as much as 16
hours a day studying. Having helped her prepare, they said that
the material she studies is occasionally PhD level. Separately,
the Islamic Azad University graduate said he spent all of high
school preparing for the test. The test takes an entire day to
complete; afterwards, students are ranked according to their
performance, from one to as many students that took the test.




11. (C) The Esfahan professors said that the Konkur's
difficulty and importance have created a cottage industry of
private tutoring. They complained that some teachers will
purposely degrade the quality of their in-school teaching to
drive up demand for their private tutoring.




12. (C) After receiving their scores, students apply to
specific programs within universities rather than to the
university itself. For example, the Islamic Azad graduate said
that he applied to medical engineering programs at Amirkabir
University in Tehran, Sahand University of Technology in Tabriz,
and a branch of Islamic Azad University in Tehran. He chose
Islamic Azad because Amirkabir University's medical engineering
faculty also taught at Islamic Azad. After matriculating,
changing degree programs is difficult.




13. (C) Universities primarily consider students' Konkur score
when weighing applicants, but our interlocutors specified

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several other factors that may be considered. These include the
average Konkur score of an applicant's high school, Basij
membership, gender, and whether an applicant is related to a
soldier killed in the Iran-Iraq war. Basij membership or being
the child of an Iran-Iraq war victim was said to confer a
"point," however the weight of such a point is not clear. The
married professors from Esfahan University said the government
has started reserving 70 percent of university seats for males
in order to correct a gender imbalance now favoring females; the
professors were clearly worried that their daughter would not do
well enough to gain entry. (Comment: The number of Iranian
women attending university has been steadily increasing for
several years and in 2008 65 percent of Iranian university
students were women.)



COMMENT




14. (C) Iran's universities are a mix of good and bad; its best
universities are known internationally and avenues exist,
primarily via the sprawling Islamic Azad, to make higher
education broadly available, albeit at high cost. The
government universities are, however, another means for the IRIG
to exert ideological influence, either by rewarding Basij
members with easier admissions or punishing professors not
heeding the regime's line. Iranians value education strongly,
but Iran's best students now view its importance more as a means
for financial gain or exit from Iran.
ASGARD