History Higher education in Iran

1 history

1.1 pre-islamic era
1.2 islamic era
1.3 modern

history
pre-islamic era

the existence of pre-islamic era universities such school of nisibis, sarouyeh, reishahr, , academy of gundishapur provide examples of precedence of academic institutions of science date ancient times.

islamic era


an academic library in basrah depicted in 13th century yahya ibn vaseti (یحیی بن واسطی), found in maqama of hariri (مقامات حریری).

the traditions , heritage of these centers of higher learning later carried on schools such iran s nizamiyya, , baghdad s house of wisdom, during islamic era.

modern

it abbas mirza first dispatched iranian students europe western education.

the history of establishment of western style academic universities in iran (persia) dates 1851 establishment of darolfonoon – founded result of efforts of royal vizier mirza taghi khan amir kabir, aimed @ training , teaching iranian experts in many fields of science , technology.

in 1855 ministry of science first established, , ali gholi mirza tizad al-saltaneh (علیقلی میرزا اعتضاد السلطنه) appointed iran s first minister of science nasereddin shah.

by 1890s darolfonoon competing other prominent institutions of modern learning. military college of tehran (madraseh-ye nezam), established in 1885 budget of 10,000-12,000 tomans, first rival; , in 1899 college of political sciences (madraseh-ye olum-e siyasi) organized within foreign ministry.

the ministry of higher education, oversees operation of institutes of higher education in iran, established in 1967. however, in 1928 iran s first university, know today, proposed iranian physicist, mahmoud hessaby. university of tehran (or tehran university) designed french architect andre godard, , built in 1934. today, tehran university iran s largest university on 32,000 students.

in medical field, joseph cochran first founded professional school in iran in 1878, , credited founding iran’s first contemporary medical college , founding 1 of iran s first modern hospitals ( westminster hospital ) in urmia. medical faculty cochran established @ urmia university joined several other americans, namely drs. wright, homlz, van nourdon, , miller. buried in urmia resting place after serving area many years.

in tehran, samuel m. jordan, whom jordan ave. in tehran named after, directly responsible expansion of american college in tehran. school received permanent charter board of regents of state university of new york in 1932.

mccormick hall, american college of tehran, circa 1930.

by end of first pahlavi period in 1941, university of tehran still modern university in country. hence, ministry of science commenced establishment of other universities in isfahan, tabriz, ahvaz, , shiraz, special emphasis given medical , veterinary sciences. charles oberling highly instrumental in regard.

in 1953, there 4 universities 14,500 undergraduate students whereas in 1977 there 16 universities 154,315 undergraduate students.

the shah initiated projects build iranian universities modeled after american schools. pahlavi university (shiraz university today), sharif university of technology, , isfahan university of technology, 3 of iran s top academic universities directly modeled on american institutions such university of illinois @ chicago, mit, , university of pennsylvania. shah in return generous in awarding american universities financial gifts. example, university of southern california received gift shah in form of endowed chair of petroleum engineering, , million dollar donation given george washington university create iranian studies program.

the iranian revolution put end massive us-iran academic relations. in 1980, major overhaul in academia , higher education system of iran initiated ayatollah khomeini led referred in iran iran s cultural revolution . however, universities in country closed down 1980 1983. in addition, islamic curricula , islamic educational setting introduced when universities reopened.

in 1986, ministry of higher education handed on supervision , overseeing of education in medical sciences in iran ministry of health, treatment , medical education. optimize use of medical resources in country, , promote health, treatment, teaching, , research more efficiently in field.

after iran–iraq war, new universities founded , doctoral programs developed in previous universities. number of university students more 6 times many in 1979 (when shah overthrown), critics debate whether national entrance exam useful anymore or not.