Yousef Hojjat, the acting head of Tarbiat Modares University in Iran stated that due to “low financial credibility,” the global academic rankings of all Iranian universities have declined.
On Saturday, November 30, Hojjat told the state-run ISNA news agency that Iranian universities have experienced a decline in the “Shanghai Academic Ranking.” He stated, “All university budgets are spent on daily operations such as salaries, dormitories, and food, and we cannot stop these activities.”
He emphasized “financial problems” as the reason for the academic decline of Iranian universities, stating that “due to the country’s economic situation, the funds allocated to universities are losing their purchasing power day by day.”
According to this university official, the allocation of funds to routine operations leaves little for research, which is less than in previous years.
The Shanghai Ranking is one of the most reputable and widely viewed university rankings, published by Shanghai Jiao Tong University based on four criteria: “quality of education,” “quality of faculty,” “research output,” and “per capita academic performance.”
In the 2024 update of this ranking, most Iranian universities experienced a decline. While the University of Tehran was ranked between 301 and 400 in 2022, it dropped to the 401-500 range in 2023 and 2024.
Sharif University of Technology dropped from the 601-700 range to 701-800, while Amirkabir University of Technology fell from 601-700 in 2022 to 901-1000.
A review of the rankings of universities in Islamic countries shows that Iran ranks third after Saudi Arabia and Turkey. In this ranking, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Iran have 12, 10, and 9 universities listed, respectively.
Since a significant portion of the university ranking criteria relates to “human resources and academic staff,” Iranian officials attribute the decline in university rankings to the increasing migration of faculty members.
Hossein Simaei Sarraf, the regime’s Minister of Science, had previously warned that the widespread emigration of university professors not only “lowers” the quality of universities and students but also means that “if this trend continues, they will be replaced by individuals who may have weaker qualifications.”
The Minister of Science described the 25% rate of professor emigration as “concerning,” noting that in recent years, “25% of university professors have emigrated, and some of them have no intention of returning.”
In addition to financial issues, political factors have also contributed to the emigration of academic staff in recent years. In September 2023, the Etemad newspaper published a list of 52 dismissed professors from Iranian universities, indicating that another wave of dismissals began with the start of Ebrahim Raisi’s administration in 2021 and intensified during the nationwide protests in Iran in 2022.
