TEHRAN – Health insurance coverage, longer residency, shorter visa processing time, and awarding exemplary students are among the conditions provided for foreign nationals studying in Iran, the deputy minister of science for foreign affairs, has stated.

The residency is currently extended for one year, but for the first time, some international students have been granted long-term residency based on the length of their education, ISNA quoted Jafar Razeqi as saying on Saturday.

One of the most important problems for non-Iranian students, especially in recent months, was the visa processing time, which took time due to problems at the host university and administrative processes in different parts of the organization, but now this time has been reduced by one third, he noted.

This year, a ceremony will be held to honor the best foreign students. Non-Iranian students who have learned Persian can also defend their dissertation in this language, he further said.

Some 57,675 foreign nationals from 133 countries are studying in Iranian universities.
 

"We have corresponded with all host universities of international students to cover these students with "health insurance", which will pay 70 to 90 percent of the treatment costs as well as 100 percent of the medical cost.

Another plan of the ministry is to provide dormitories to married students," he explained.

Foreign students

Some 57,675 foreign nationals from 133 countries are studying in Iranian universities, 30,600 of whom are studying in universities affiliated with the Ministry of Science, while 25,000 others are receiving education at Azad University and about 2,000 in medical universities.

Currently, foreign nationals constitute 1.64 percent of the country’s student population, which is about 0.14 percent higher than the goal set by the Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2016-2021), Mohammad Javad Salmanpour, the deputy head of the Organization for Student Affairs, said in April.

Twenty-five percent of the foreign students studying in Iranian universities are Afghan nationals, he added.

Afghan students attend Iranian universities in three ways; some enter the university by participating in the national entrance exam of Iran, and some others receive admission from universities that have non-Iranian student licenses. The third group also attended the country's universities through scholarships, he explained.

Many of the Afghan students are studying master's and Ph.D. courses in Iranian universities, he added, IRNA reported.

On May 7, Abolfazl Kamali, the deputy education minister said some 527,000 foreign students are studying in schools nationwide, the majority are Afghans and the rest are from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iraq, and other countries.

There are also 22 special schools for foreign nationals across the country, IRNA quoted Kamali as saying.

Pointing out that 10,000 foreign students are studying in the special schools, he said that they study according to the Iranian education system.

Iran spends about 20 trillion rials (nearly $77 million) every year on the education of foreign national students residing in the country, according to data released by the education ministry.

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