IRAN

Universities suffer from low student numbers

Iran's universities are seeing a lack of students, following poor applications for the academic year which started in October, reports Fatih Karimov for Trend.

According to Minister of Science, Research and Technology Mohammad Farhadi, who was quoted by IRNA news agency, 600,000 seats in Iranian universities are empty and some universities have less than 50 students.

The capacity of Iran's universities in bachelor degree programmes reached about 750,000 this year. The country has a large network of private, public and state affiliated universities offering degrees in higher education. The Islamic republic vastly expanded the size of the student body after the revolution in an effort to offer a college education to everybody who wanted one.
Full report on the Trend site