University of Isfahan

Set up in 1946 as the Isfahan Higher Medical Institute, the establishment expanded rapidly and moved sites to cater for the greater student body in 1950 and became the University of Isfahan. It has been a pioneer in Iranian and global progression in the sciences, humanities and engineering.

It offers a range of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees within 12 faculties: sciences, engineering, humanities and literature, economic and administrative sciences, educational science and psychology, foreign languages, physical education, virtual education, transportation, geographic sciences and planning, advanced sciences and technologies and cognitive sciences.

There is also a Persian Learning Language Centre, library and central laboratory for research purposes.

Its admission policy is selective: students are in the top 10 per cent of those who pass the generalised national entrance exam, which is set annually by the Ministry of Sciences and Higher Education.

With one campus in the Azadi Square in Isfahan, Iran there is also has another campus in Mirdamad, Khansar, two-and-a-half hours away. Isfahan is Iran’s third largest city and stretches along the Zayandehrud River. On one side lies the Zagros mountains and on the other, the central deserts of Iran. Although Isfahan is home to some of the best examples of Persian architecture (some of which are thousands of years old), it is a modern city that has thrived since the end of the Islamic Revolution.

Notable alumni include Nusrat Bhutto, former First Lady of Pakistan, Mohammad Khatami, former President of Iran and Ata’ollah Mohajerani, former Iranian minister of culture.