IRAN

IRAN: A snapshot of higher education
The Tehran Times recently cited Iran's Minister of Science, Research and Technology, Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi, as saying that university students currently comprise 5% of the country's 70 million population, reports Armenia: Higher Education and Sciences. He said that university students comprise about 3.5 million of Iran's 70 million population, and this year the student number is expected to reach over 3.6 million - up from 2.2 million in 2005.Zahedi said there had been a 100% increase in the number of students doing both masters degrees and PhDs over the past three years - from 20,000 in 2005 to a current 40,000 masters students, and from 2,000 to 4,000 Phd students.
He also described a sharp increase in the number of Iran's faculty members: "There has been over a two-fold increase in the number of faculty members over the past three years."
Full report on the Armenia: Higher Education and Sciences site