Shahrekord University

Founded in 1991, Shahrekord University serves the Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, a region known as the "Roof of Iran" or "Neighbour of the Sky", as much of it is at a height of more than 2,000 metres above sea level. Shahrekord, an ancient city known until 1935 as Deh Kord, is the provincial capital at a height of 2,070m.

Its earlier roots start with an affiliation to the University of Isfahan, 100km away from Shahrekord, via the Institute of Animal Husbandry created in 1975. This was followed by the Shahrekord Institute of Agriculture in 1982, which developed into a Higher Education Centre in 1988 and acquired university status in 1991.

By then it had moved into the 253-hectare campus which remains its base. There has been steady incremental growth, leading to an enrolment of 8,300 students, around a third of them postgraduates, in 2016. The Faculty of Engineering and Technology was established in 1998 with a focus on mechanical engineering, but then added electrical (2001), materials (2004) and civil (2007) engineering followed by computer science in 2013.

Other faculties include basic science – incorporating biology, genetics, physics and chemistry – maths, veterinary medicine (1989) and literature and humanities (1995) whose distinctive offerings include a BSc in fiction, offered since 2007.

There are Research Institutes for Biotechnology and Animal Embyro Technology. Established in 2003, the Animal Embryo Centre has a considerable roll of national "firsts" in areas like In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF). Other findings from the university’s researchers include advances in biotherapy for cancer and in the medical uses of Vitamin D.