The Institute of International Education led a delegation of senior US higher education representatives to Iran last month in an historic mission to forge academic ties.
The group met with counterparts from 13 Iranian institutions to discuss how to further educational collaboration and student exchanges.
The trip was the first visit from a university delegation in many years and, according to IIE CEO Allan Goodman, marks the first step in improving diplomatic ties between the two countries.
“The infrastructure of the higher education system is high calibre, every speaks English and we felt very safe there”
“Educational diplomacy is at the forefront of opening up dialogue between two countries, often before full diplomatic relations have been restored,” said Goodman.
The delegation included representatives from Ball State University, Pitzer College, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, the University of Southern California, and Wayne State University.
They visited many of Iran’s top universities and research institutes, including: University of Tehran, Shahid Beheshti University, Allemah Tabataba’i University, and the National Research Institute for Science and Technology (IROST).
Daniel Obst, Vice President for International Partnerships in Higher Education at IIE, was part of the delegation and said opportunities for research collaboration and student exchange are promising.
“The number of relevant programmes and faculty members who can speak English and the welcoming culture of Iranians means there is huge potential for study abroad activities,” he told The PIE News.
He added that there is growing potential for research cooperation between Iranian and American universities “because they overlap on a lot of the same global issues” like water management, food safety and earthquakes.
In 2014, there were nearly 10,200 Iranian students studying in the US making Iran the 12th leading source country of international students. However in 1979, the year of the revolution that cut ties between the two countries, Iran was the leading sender with more than 51,000 international students enrolled at US universities.
Meanwhile, there are no reported US students studying in Iran and with no US embassy in Tehran, Obst conceded that promoting the country as a study destination would be challenging.
“The key is for IIE and the delegates to talk about what we saw there. The infrastructure of the higher education system is high calibre, everyone speaks English and we felt very safe there.”
To continue the dialogue, Obst says the next steps will be to host a delegation of Iranian university representatives in the US and IIE plans to release a white paper this month outlining the challenges and opportunities for developing university partnerships with Iran.
“Most of the confusion on both sides is what is allowed under the current regulations,” he said. “There are some real limitations but then there are just a lot of uncertainties. The aim is to clarify some of the issues.”
