The Educational Assessment Organization Denies the Approval of 2501 Bachelor's Programs at Azad University

On Thursday, July 8, the Educational Assessment Organization of Iran issued a statement denying the claims made by the acting head of Azad University regarding the approval of 2501 master's programs at the university. According to Mehr News Agency, the Educational Assessment Organization referred to the order from the Minister of Science, Research, and Technology for a re-evaluation of these programs, stating: "On July 7, two meetings were held at the Educational Assessment Organization and the Office of Higher Education Expansion, and it was decided that Azad University should send a list of unapproved programs along with more detailed information such as the year of admission, number of faculty members, etc., for further review to the Office of Higher Education Expansion." The organization added: "The results of the reviews will be announced in the coming days after confirming the necessary conditions for each program by the Office of Expansion and will be disclosed in subsequent announcements." Prior to the statement from the Educational Assessment Organization, Mohammad Ali Nourian, the acting head of Azad University, had announced on the evening of July 7 that 2501 programs had been approved from the 2900 programs removed from the university's selection booklet. According to ISNA, he stated on Iranian state television that 399 programs were removed due to not meeting the necessary standards. According to Nourian, the capacity of the 399 programs that failed to meet the standards was reduced to zero, but 2501 other programs have been reinstated. He noted that the 2900 removed programs constituted one-third of the programs at Azad University and expressed confidence that these issues would not persist in the future. Earlier, Saeed Alizadeh, the director of human resources and welfare at Azad University, referred to the removal of 2800 programs by the Ministry of Science as an "unprofessional and challenging" action. He told Fars News Agency that this action by the Ministry of Science "contradicts the explicit policies of the system and has created job insecurity" for faculty members and staff at Azad University. Alizadeh announced that the removal of these programs "contradicts the scientific and technological policies issued" by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic and "the law of the Parliament," predicting that the removal of these programs would lead to the unemployment of "a number of the 67,000 part-time and full-time professors and 40,000 staff at Azad University." He stated that Azad University currently has "35,000 staff, 35,000 official faculty members, and 35,000 adjunct faculty members." In this context, Hossein Ali Hajidilagani, a member of Parliament, also stated that "if this inappropriate decision is not revoked, we will consider it political and will question the Minister of Science on this matter." He raised the question: "Why, now that changes and reforms have been made at Azad University and Dr. Velayati has prevented abuses, are such actions being taken?" Azad University has witnessed controversial changes following the appointment of Ali Akbar Velayati as the head of its board of trustees. Velayati dismissed Hamid Mirzadeh from the presidency of Azad University in early May of this year and introduced Ali Mohammad Nourian as the acting head of the university. Mirzadeh's dismissal was met with reactions, including from Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and a member of the board of trustees of Azad University, who wrote a letter to Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, asking him to intervene in the issue of Mirzadeh's dismissal and the changes at the university. Mirzadeh claimed that his dismissal occurred without following legal procedures and voting in a meeting of the board of trustees with all members present. In response, Velayati raised the issue of Mirzadeh's son's involvement in the financial affairs of some university units and the signing of large financial contracts, making accusations against the former president of Azad University in this regard. In reaction to Velayati's statements, Mirzadeh issued a statement asking him to publish the documents he claimed.