An Official from the Ministry of Science: We Will Double the Number of Foreign Students from Islamic Countries; A Look at the Al-Mustafa International University

An official from Iran's Ministry of Science has promised that the recruitment of foreign students in Iran will double. This claim comes at a time when a significant portion of foreign students are religious seminary students who rely on the government's public budget. According to IRNA, Hashem Dadashpour, head of the Student Affairs Organization of the Ministry of Science, stated on Saturday, May 6, that over 100,000 international students are studying in Iran, and in the next four years, we aim to attract about 250,000 students from Islamic countries. Notably, Mr. Dadashpour's speech took place at a conference titled "Commemoration of International Graduates of the Country's Universities" in the Hazrat Zahra (S) courtyard of the Hazrat Masoumeh shrine in Qom. Critics argue that a significant portion of foreign students in Iran are seminary students. The Al-Mustafa International University is the most extensive religious educational organization in the Islamic Republic, hosting tens of thousands of foreign students and utilizing the public budget of the Islamic Republic. Alireza Biniyaz, the research deputy of Al-Mustafa International University, previously stated that over 100,000 seminarians from 136 countries are present at this scientific center, with 2,500 female seminarians studying in its religious schools in Iran and 6,500 in its branches abroad. The use of government funding for foreign seminarians dates back to the Khatami administration. Ayatollah Mohaghegh Damad, referred to as a "professor of seminary and university," stated in a meeting reported by the Shargh newspaper on December 20, 2021, that "the first person who made this mistake and allocated a budget for the seminary was Mr. Mohammad Khatami." This sanctioned institution collaborates with the Quds Force and claims to be a scientific and international entity with a seminary identity. It states its goals include the expansion of human and Islamic sciences, primarily targeting non-Iranian seminarians. This institution is also one of those under the supervision of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, formed in the 1980s through the merger of several organizations. The supreme presidency of Al-Mustafa International University is held by the Supreme Leader, who is responsible for approving the charter, selecting board members, and appointing and dismissing the head of the university. Currently, members of the board include representatives from the Supreme Council of the Seminary, the Secretary-General of the World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought, representatives from other organizations, and three to five "scholars and thinkers" familiar with international issues, all selected by the Supreme Leader. Units of Al-Mustafa International University are located in Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, and Gorgan, and it has announced that it has representation in over 60 countries, including London, Indonesia, Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, Thailand, Ghana, and Burkina Faso. The budget of this institution has seen significant growth in recent years. In 2017, its annual budget was 278 billion tomans, but by 2022 it reached 771 billion tomans. The Shargh newspaper reported on January 18, 2023, that Al-Mustafa would have a budget of 895 billion tomans in 2023, although no specific line item or expenditure for this institution was included in the budget proposal, contrary to standard budgeting practices. In 2020, during Trump's administration, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Al-Mustafa International University, identifying it as a source for gathering intelligence and recruiting personnel for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its extraterritorial branch, the Quds Force. Canada also sanctioned this institution a year ago, coinciding with the sanctioning of the police chief. At that time, it was stated that this institution "promotes the regime's ideology through its global branches abroad." Besides its organizational ties with the Quds Force, Al-Mustafa carries another accusation: that some attributed the initial spread of the coronavirus in Iran to the Chinese students of this institution from Qom. Mohammad Hossein Bahraini, head of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, mentioned that the presence of 700 Chinese seminarians in Qom was among the factors contributing to the spread of the virus in the religious city of Mashhad. These statements were echoed by Molavi Abdolhamid, but the head of the Iranian seminaries stated that "the coronavirus outbreak in Qom is not related to the Chinese seminarians of Al-Mustafa." Amidst a shortage of medicine, the Ministry of Health is considering cooperation with the seminary and Al-Mustafa University.