IRAN: Second higher education Cultural Revolution?

Some 30 years after Iran's 'Cultural Revolution', we are once again hearing the same slogans and witnessing the same goals. After 1979 the new Islamic republic wanted to Islamise the university curriculum, especially in the social sciences and humanities - which were seen as 'Westernised' and 'colonial' - with the help of theological schools.

Since coming to power in 2009 Kamran Daneshjou, the Minister of Science, Research and Technology, has emphasised the 'dewesternisation' of university programmes to conform to religious principles and local needs.

When he arrived at the ministry Daneshjou said he wanted to transform any university that was not quite faithful to the official political doctrine. For him, a university that does not respect religious principles should be "destroyed".

So can we talk about a new Cultural Revolution in Iran?

That question does not have a simple answer, but the current ideological and political discourse is the same. And Iranian higher education is undergoing a series of changes in its organisation and curriculum.

This new direction can be regarded as a response to the political involvement of students calling for democratic change, and their participation in the protest movement that followed the disputed 2009 presidential election.

Indeed, since the 1990s university students have been widely mobilised in support of democracy and in developing civil society. Conservatives complain about students' enthusiasm for Western democracy and its distance from revolutionary Islamist ideals.

The new ministry guidelines have tightened ideological and political control over academic careers, from recruitment to promotion, and through the assignment of research projects to those who take the 'official line'.

The most significant change has been the recruitment of young teachers and researchers. Since the beginning of this year, recruitment has been centralised under the control of the ministry.

Public universities must choose new professors from a list of those deemed 'qualified' by the ministry. The recruitment application posted on the official website of the ministry includes the scientific and educational background of candidates, as well as their political affiliation and ideological commitment.

According to the minister, universities must participate in the religious training of students in an Islamic country. He has openly announced that he will not support a 'secular spirit' within faculties. Academics with secular leanings or who disagree with the Islamic system are purged and threatened with losing their jobs.

The private Islamic Azad University, that has enrolled nearly 43% of Iran's total student population, has already announced the expulsion of its 'secular' faculty.

Since early 2009 dozens of well-known academics in public universities have had to end their academic careers through forced early retirement. This policy has been criticised not only inside universities but even by some members of the Iranian parliament who are concerned about the declining quality of teaching and research. The professors who are most often mentioned belong to humanities and social sciences.

The curriculum has also been targeted by current Islamic reforms. During the political crisis of 2009, triggered after the disputed presidential election, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei argued that some subjects were too heavily influenced by Western thought and could create doubt in students' minds. He suggested changing the programmes.

Since then, the humanities and social sciences have been at the focus of politically instigated critical debates.

Courses in human rights and in women's studies are particularly targeted, as well as law, philosophy, management, psychology, sociology and political science. For the minister, the curricula in the humanities and social sciences are not in harmony with the foundations of religion, and he has accused these courses of being "based on Western schools of thought".

Several committees have been established to 'adjust' the content of social sciences and humanities courses taught at universities. While waiting for new, adjusted programmes, the ministry is withholding permission for opening new degrees in these disciplines. It seems the presence of several thousand students in the humanities and social sciences are of little concern to the government.

The curriculum changes do not only focus on the humanities and social sciences or the arts and literature.

Universities have imposed several compulsory courses focused on religious education on students from all disciplines, and the optional teaching of the Koran or Islamic subjects.

The ministry also offers a range of optional programmes designed to strengthen religious and political belief, such as religious trips, thematic seminars and conferences. These 'cultural' and religious activities are sometimes led by clergy from outside the university.

Independent student organisations are increasingly controlled by the security services and groups of students loyal to the government. Several hundred students are being punished because of their political activities against the government. Those active in protest movements are denied access to the highest degrees.

All these proposed reforms recall the first Cultural Revolution launched in 1980 to Islamise higher education and the entire educational system.

At that time, universities were closed for two years and 40% of the faculty were dismissed or had to leave their universities. Iranian higher education underwent a radical transformation.

In 1979 Iran had an elite higher education system with nearly 175,000 students and about 15,000 faculty in 20 university towns.

During the last three decades, higher education has been largely democratised: there are more than 3.7 million students, 120,000 academics and 2,000 institutions in more than 200 cities. The number of students per 100,000 inhabitants rose from 510 to 5,040.

There is now a private higher education sector that educates 45% of students. The proportion of women in universities has increased from 27% in 1979 to 50% in 2010.

These demographic and sociological changes have made higher education a major institution, occupying a central place in Iranian society.

The government is conscious of the cultural, economic and social function of the university and that is why ideological and political control has become a major issue. But this is not an easy task in a changing Iranian society and in the context of globalisation.

From an academic perspective, new policies imposed on universities in Iran are endangering academic freedom as a fundamental principle.

A professor's freedom to choose the content of his teaching and research, or the right for a university to choose its members, are among the main prerogatives of the university. Autonomy in this respect is not an end in itself but is the sine qua non of knowledge production and independent critical thinking.

Academic freedom and university autonomy were never fully respected in Iran. But the restrictions imposed since 2009 are unprecedented since the birth of the modern university institution in the country in the 19th century.

A new wave of criticism of programmes and faculty has hit the higher education sector, without understanding why the first Cultural Revolution failed to Islamise universities.

If Islamisation was relevant and functional, the authorities would not need to reproduce the same discourse 30 years after the implementation of an ideological and political project that caused so much damage to higher education.

* Saeed Paivandi is an associate professor at the University of Paris 8, CIRCEFT-CRES.