Tajik State Pedagogical University named after Sadriddin Ayni

Tajik State Pedagogical University named after Sadriddin Ayni is the oldest higher education institution in Tajikistan. Based in Dushanbe, Tajikistan's capital, the university is a key institution within the country's national teacher-training system. It traces its origins to the Tajik Higher Agropedagogical Institute. 

The university was created from the history and economics and literature and linguistics departments of the pedagogical faculty of Central Asian State University, initially transferring only 195 students and 29 teaching staff. The university adopted its current name in 2007 in honour of Tajik writer and educator Sadriddin Ayni, widely regarded as Tajikistan's national poet and one of the most important writers in the country’s history.

Academically, it comprises 14 faculties and over 60 departments covering mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geography, history, Tajik philology, English, Russian language and literature, economics, technology and entrepreneurship, primary education, psychology, and pedagogy. Faculties offer programmes from bachelor's through to postgraduate and doctoral level. 

The faculty of history, for example, offers bachelor's programmes in history, international relations, and legal disciplines alongside master's and PhD specialisations, while the faculty of geography includes programmes in geography, ecology, climatology, cartography, glaciology, tourism, and hospitality.

The university has expanded significantly in recent years and currently educates more than 17,000 students across over 90 specialities, with total enrolment exceeding 19,000 when full- and part-time provision is considered. 

The university is also home to several postgraduate and doctoral education facilities, a Technological Park, an agrobiological laboratory, and a Centre for Professional Development and Retraining of Personnel.