TEHRAN – Payame Noor University of Iran and UMEF University of Switzerland have agreed to expand relations in different fields of education.

Ebrahim Taqizadeh, the president of Payame Noor University, held a virtual meeting on Thursday with Djawed Sangdel, the managing director of UMEF University, and Ahmad Shah Sangdel, the university’s director for international affairs, to discuss ways for fostering scientific cooperation.

The main objective was to hold joint short-term specialized courses for students. The graduates will be given certificates undersigned by the two universities, IRNA quoted Taqizadeh as saying.

Sangdel, for his part, said that the official courses will be offered in the form of joint educational projects, or dual degree programs.

Sci-tech co-op

In October 2023, the Iranian deputy science minister, Peyman Salehi, and the Swiss secretary of education, Martina Hirayam, discussed ways to boost cooperation between the two countries in the field of science and technology.

The officials met on the sidelines of the 20th annual meeting of Science and Technology in Society (STS) which was held from October 1 to 3 in Kyoto, Japan.

In this meeting, the officials reviewed the history of scientific and technological communication between the two countries, which has been done in the past years through the International Scientific Cooperation Center of the Ministry of Science, Isfahan University of Technology, Swiss Science Foundation (SNSF) and Zurich University of Applied Sciences.

Inaugurating a chair of Persian language and Iranian studies (Iranology) in Switzerland, granting scholarships to Swiss students to learn Persian language in Iran, supporting the implementation of joint research projects, especially by the Swiss Science Foundation, and the exchange of professors and students were among highlighted issues considered for enhancing cooperation.

Attracting intl. students

Iran is among the 15 successful countries in attracting international students, according to Mohammad Javad Salmanpour, the deputy head of the Organization for Student Affairs.

“We have the ability and capacity to have more than 250,000 foreign students by 2026,” he stated.

Currently, nearly 100,000 foreign nationals are studying in Iran, more than 90 percent of whom are from Iraq and Afghanistan and the rest are from other countries.

These students are studying in different fields of science, research and technology, health and medical education, and also in the fields of humanities, Islamic sciences, Persian language and literature, law, fundamentals of Islamic law, management fields, economics, psychology, social sciences, as well as engineering, agricultural sciences, animal sciences, and basic sciences.

In September 2023, Hashem Dadashpour, the head of the Organization of Student Affairs, said that the Ministry of Science is planning to increase the number of international students to some 320,000 from currently around 100,000 by 2026.

“There was an increase in the number of international students over the sixth National Development Plan (2017-2021). The seventh development plan (2022-2026) has also put increasing the figure to around 320,000 on the agenda,” he explained.

“Strengthening scientific authority, developing public diplomacy, and expanding the Persian language are the three main reasons for attracting international students,” Dadashpour said, IRIB reported.

He went on to say that the principle of attracting international students is a major strategy and plan for the Ministry of Science.”

Universities should increase their interactions and scientific exchanges in order to attract international students and accelerate internationalization in the region and the world, he highlighted.

Iranian universities achieved good ranks at the global level and based on the evaluations of the world’s most prestigious institutions so that there is the capacity to attract international students, he said.

MG/MT