Widespread Dismissal of University Professors Continues; Decline in Global University Rankings and New Wave of Migration

The newspaper "Etemad" criticized the widespread dismissal of critical professors from universities in Iran, stating that universities are in a state of "dying," a fact not hidden from those in academia. Meanwhile, a university professor reported the covert recruitment of fifteen thousand "aligned faculty members" with the regime, and the latest Shanghai ranking indicates that the status of Tehran University, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Sharif University of Technology, Tarbiat Modares University, and Iran University of Science and Technology has declined compared to 2022. Etemad emphasized in its report that those currently working in universities, especially in the humanities and social sciences, know that sooner or later they will receive a "termination letter." The columnist noted that examining the history of faculty dismissals shows that the expulsion of professors in the humanities and social sciences has been more frequent and sustained than in other scientific fields. The article also mentioned migration, emphasizing that the wave of dismissals and migration seems to have increased the "desire to migrate among academics." In this context, a university professor reacted to the situation by writing: "Choosing compliant, silent, and conservative professors will not educate your desired students; understand the necessity for change and grasp the logic of institutions." Mehdi Khoyi wrote on his "X" (formerly Twitter) account: "I, Mehdi Khoyi, a sociology teacher at Allameh University, who did not compromise with anyone and knows that he was only committed to the people and students, have received a termination letter after seven years of teaching and am being expelled from my home, which is the university, and I am at a loss as to where to complain about this injustice." The website "Khabar Online" reported that the series of dismissals or terminations of university professors had previously been associated with names such as Mohammad Fazeli, a sociologist at Shahid Beheshti University, Reza Omidi, a sociologist at Tehran University, Mohsen Barahani, a law professor at Tehran University, Bijan Abdolkarimi, a philosophy professor at Azad University, Ali Sarzaeem, an economics professor at Allameh Tabatabai University, Soodeh Hamed Tosli, a law professor at Azad University, and others, and now the lottery has fallen on Mehdi Khoyi. Student guild councils across the country recently reported severe pressures on several professors from universities in Kerman, Beheshti, Tabatabai, Tehran, Isfahan, and Mashhad, evaluating it as part of the "purge of professors along with students." This guild council reported on Friday, August 18, the latest example of the "suppression" of professors, announcing the dismissal of Mehdi Khoyi, a sociology professor at Tabatabai University. In response to this news, the scientific-student association of sociology at Tabatabai University issued a statement criticizing the dismissal of Mehdi Khoyi and simultaneously condemned the "occupation" of university faculty positions by "rent-seeking and unqualified" professors. Previously, Farshid Norouzi, a former faculty member at Mazandaran University, told Voice of America that "the atmosphere of Iranian universities is one of repression, not a scientific environment." Recently, a group of medical professionals and faculty members from medical universities also expressed concern in a statement about a "coordinated plan to eliminate prominent professors simultaneously with forced retirements or group restrictions on others." This group of Iranian doctors criticized the silence of relevant institutions regarding the "planned removal of renowned and sometimes unique faculty members from various educational scenes," warning that the removal of prominent professors or their forced retirements is the source of the country's depletion of knowledge in all aspects. A Sharif University professor described the covert recruitment of fifteen thousand professors aligned with the government as a "disaster."