US universities on symbolic visit to Iran

A group of senior United States university representatives has visited Iran, in what is believed to be the biggest academic delegation since the 1970s, writes Sean Coughlan for the BBC.

As relations between the two countries begin to thaw, the delegation met representatives of 13 Iranian universities and research institutes. The symbolic visit revives what were once strong academic links. Before the Islamic revolution in 1979, Iran was the biggest source of overseas students in the US. There are now about 11,000 Iranian students in the US – compared with 270,000 from China – and it is believed that there are no students at all from US universities on exchanges to Iran. And there are still no formal diplomatic relations between the two countries, after decades of hostility and suspicion.

The university delegation was headed by Allan Goodman, president of the Institute of International Education, a New York-based organisation that supports US international education exchanges. Goodman, speaking on his return, said that the US delegation had come away with a strong sense of the Iranians wanting more engagement with the West. And he said this had been helped by a legacy of links in previous generations between Iranian students and the US.
Full report on the BBC News site