Ministry of Science Retreats; Sculpture Returns to Candidates' Selection Guide

Following widespread reactions to the "removal of two fields, Sculpture and Cinema," from the candidates' selection guide for the national entrance exam in recent days, officials from the Islamic Republic's higher education sector have finally added both fields back to the list of permitted fields. According to the state news agency "Borna," the "National Educational Assessment Organization" affiliated with the Ministry of Science and Research announced in the "second series of amendments" to the selection guide that "the Sculpture field has returned to the guide." Based on the second amendment to the selection guide, the announced capacity for the "Sculpture" field at Tehran University of Art is "20 people, equally male and female." On August 20, Iranian media reported, citing published images from this year's national entrance exam selection guide, the "removal" of the Sculpture and Cinema fields from "Tehran University of Art," with students attributing this occurrence to the "prominent presence of art university students in the protests of 2022." After numerous protests among candidates, students, art professors, and social media users, Saeed Seyyed Ahmadi, the deputy of Tehran University of Art, announced on August 30 that the "removal" of the two fields from the candidates' selection guide was a "mistake" made by the assessment organization and would be corrected soon in the amendment of the guide. On September 1, the news agency "ILNA" also reported that the "Cinema" field at Tehran University of Art was added back to the list of fields in the first amendments to the selection guide for the national entrance exam. Now, a week after the uproar over the removal of these fields from the candidates' selection guide, the government organization "National Educational Assessment Organization" has accepted in its second amendment to this guide to add the "Sculpture" field to the list of permitted codes. Throughout the national protests last year, students and professors from Tehran University of Art were among the most active educational groups in joining the protesting public, organizing protests, and holding sit-ins at the university.