Tehran – The University of Aramitabai Tehran and the University of Salento in Italy have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen scientific cooperation in social and human sciences.
At a meeting held in Tehran on Sunday, Tabatabay University Prime Minister Shoha Ahmadvando and Salento University Prime Minister Fabio Polise discussed ways to expand scientific cooperation, Mehr news agency reported.
Teaching Persian and Italian, holding short courses, exchanging professors with students, launching an archaeology major and a Persian Italian journal, implementing Erasmus+ projects in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, and donating books to libraries at two universities was one of the points proposed by the Italian side, well-known Ahmadvando.
Pollice proposed to hold virtual Persian and Italian language courses, hosting online meetings of two university faculty members and two peer science groups, to be familiar with existing capabilities, to promote interactions between professors at the two university and to exchange for short-term courses that will arrange long-term exchanges.
The signed MOU focuses on exchanging both parties the technical areas of interest in scientific data, books, journals, scientific and research documents education, research and technical fields, exchange articles published in related journals, and providing a mutual facility for sabbatical leaves.
It also highlights the establishment of collaborative education courses and educational programs with mutually recognized degrees, participating in international events in various educational fields held at each university, and collaborations on co-opsing by graduate students.
In February 2024, Italy’s Lewis University announced it was ready to strengthen scientific and academic cooperation with Iranian universities, the IRNA reported.
At a meeting held between Andrea Precipe, the prime minister of the Rome-based university, and Mohammad-Reza Sabouri, Iranian ambassador to Rome, Italian officials said many Iranian students were studying at Luiss University. He expressed the university was ready to attract more Iranian students.
Saburi has presented Iran’s preparations to exchange professors and students with Lewis University, highlighting the country’s scientific and academic achievements and capabilities in a variety of fields, including economics, management, political science and international relations.
Global Rankings
The 15th edition of the 2025 Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University rankings includes 17 Iranian universities in 21 subject entries compared to 17 Iranian universities in 2024.
Iranian universities are ranked among the top institutions in three faculty disciplines, including engineering and technology. Life Sciences and Medicine; Natural Sciences, Mehr News Agency reported.
Tehran University, with its global rankings of 280, is first placed in the country. It was ranked 346 worldwide in 2024.
Sharif Institute of Technology ranks second in the country, with its global ranking rising to 292 from 410-450 this year in 2024.
Times Higher Education (The) World University Rankings (WUR) ranks 85 Iranian universities among the world’s top universities, according to International Outlook 2025.
Sharif University of Technology (global rankings of 301-350) is the top university in Japan.
Amilkavir University of Technology and Iran University of Science and Technology are both second in the global rankings of 351-400.
Kermanshah Medical Sciences University and Tehran University ranked third in the global rankings of 401-500.
World University Rankings 2025 placed 81 Iranian universities among the top universities in the world in 10 of 11 subject regions compared to 73 universities in 2024.
The best rankings for Iran are in computer science and engineering.
The University of Tehran (401-500), Feldousi Mashhad University, Shahid Beshti University (501-600), Alame Tabatabay University and Isfahan University (601) are ranked number one in the arts and humanities.
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