TEHRAN – Sistan-Baluchestan University will host the first international summer school for Afghan students and scholars, IRNA reported on Saturday.

In collaboration with the Scientific Association for Peace Studies of Iran, the University of Sistan and Baluchestan is holding the first international summer school for Afghan students and scholars for more than four months as part of the "Heart of Asia" international program.
In 2011, an initiative of the Republic of Afghanistan and the Republic of Turkey was officially launched at a conference hosted by Turkey in Istanbul. 

Twenty-five percent of foreign students studying in Iranian universities are Afghan nationals. Since then, Afghanistan supported by fourteen Participating Countries of the Heart of Asia Region and 16 Supporting Countries beyond the region as well as 12 Regional and International Organizations is leading and coordinating this Process. 

The Heart of Asia – Istanbul Process aims at promoting and strengthening peace, security, stability, and prosperity in Afghanistan and in the region through confidence building and enhancing regional cooperation among 15 countries of the Heart of Asia Region.

A detailed program called International Summer School for Afghan Students and Researchers (whether living in Afghanistan, Iran, or other parts of the world) has been prepared.

This summer school will be opened for the first time with the presence of 43 prominent professors from both Iran and Afghanistan in more than 260 hours of online education and in the form of 9 specialized topics in the field of humanities and social sciences from June 21 to October 28.

Afghans account for 25% of foreign students in Iran

In April, Mohammad Javad Salmanpour, the deputy head of the Organization for Student Affairs, said twenty-five percent of the foreign students studying in Iranian universities are Afghan nationals.

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.

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).

According to the plan, some 1.5 percent of the population of university students in the country should be non-Iranian, however, the figure stood at 1.64 percent in the past Iranian calendar year (March 2020-March 2021), Afshin Akhoundzadeh, an official at the Organization for Student Affairs, said, IRNA reported in May 2021.

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