Founded in 1955, Shahid Chamran University can, like many institutions in the Gulf, point to a long tradition of higher education. Its original name, Jundishaphur University, harked back to the Academy of Gondeshapar, which in the sixth and seventh century had claims to be the world’s leading centre of medical science.
Jundishaphur, based in Ahvaz in the south-western Iranian province of Khuzestan, began with a medical school and agricultural institute, and soon showed a capacity for progression in appointing Iran’s first female chancellor, Tal’at Basar during the 1960s. The 276-acre campus was built in the decade from 1968.
It was renamed in 1982 after the physicist Shahid Mustafa Chamran, a victim of the Iran-Iraq war in 1981. In 1985 its medical school was removed under the reforms which created Iran’s current system of freestanding Universities of Medical Science.
It states that it is "one of the most prestigious and accredited universities in Iran", and has significant expertise in the science of dust storms, a major problem for Khuzestan, hosting the International Conference on Dust in 2016 and several national events. Research from the university is informing the current development of a national plan to address the issue.
It hosts the only academic veterinary school in South West Iran, with a veterinary hospital equipped with specialist wards for small and large animals. There are 56 full-time faculty, offering master's and doctoral qualifications, spread across seven departments.
The Women’s Studies Centre was opened in 2017, while SCU research centres focus on issues such as renewable energy, drilling and network gas.
