Razi University

Kermanshah consular affairs Office (specially for non-Iranian students) was opened in Razi University.

According to the Public Relations report of Razi University, during a ceremony attended by Dr. Rahimi, head of the consular affairs Office of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology and a group of provincial officials, the consular affairs Office of Kermanshah (specially for non-Iranian students) was officially opened in Razi University on December 17, 2022.
Then, a meeting with the presence of the head of the consular affairs office of the Ministry of Science, a group of provincial officials and university managers was held in the meeting hall of the administration office.
Dr. Shahab Moradkhani, the director of the International Scientific Cooperation Office of Razi University gave a speech, welcomed the guests and mentioned that RU has been admitting non-Iranian students since 2005. He stated "Despite the good record of Razi University in admitting non-Iranian students, unfortunately we did not have a stable Persian language teaching center or a consular office to respond to some of the needs of these students during this period."
Referring to the efforts made for establishing these two offices throughout last year, he added "We were able to get the permission to establish both offices from the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology throughout the last month after some inquiries and discussions we had. The Persian language training center was officially opened last week and the consular affairs office is opened today, December 17."
The director of the International Scientific Cooperation Office of Razi University pointed out that more than 200 non-Iranian students are studying in this university and added " There are a total of 3,000 non-Iranian students studying in the universities of Kermanshah province, and establishing a consular office would facilitate the process of their education."
Dr. Moradkhani pointed out " In consular office of non-Iranian students, the administrative affairs of these students are taken care of in the shortest possible time, and there is no need for them to carry out these affairs continuously through the ministry."
He considered the consular affairs office of the university to be one of the first-level offices, which has the maximum powers of a consular affairs office. Non-Iranian students of universities in Kermanshah province can now refer to Razi University for their consular affairs.
In the following, Hamzeh Soleimani, General Director of Foreign Nationals and Immigrants Affairs of Kermanshah 's Province Hall gave a speech in which he referred to the strategic location of the province. He said " Kermanshah is specially distinguished from many other provinces in the country, and one of the most important influencing factors in this distinction is its proximity to Iraq."
He clarified "Kermanshah province has about 371 kilometers of common border with Iraq, a border that was more of a threat than an opportunity for us in the past, but now borders are in peace with the round-the-clock actions and efforts of the military, law enforcement and security forces. The peace has led us to look at this common border as an opportunity."
The General Director of Foreign Nationals and Immigrants Affairs of Kermanshah 's Province Hall stated that "Borders" can be considered as opportunities for the development of the province in various areas. He added " The development of international relations at scientific and academic levels is one of these areas."
He continued "The universities of the province have started admitting Iraqi students for several years with the cooperation of the different sectors of the Foreigners Organizing Commission of the Province Hall, but we are still far from reaching the main goal, which is the internationalization of the universities of the province."
Soleimani said that one of the ways to achieve this goal is to facilitate the admission of non-Iranian students and added "Fortunately, admitting more non-Iranian students is easier now with the opening of the consular affairs office at Razi University and all of their affairs including the issuing of passport, transportation and accommodation can be done more easily now."
He reminded "The establishment of this office does not mean the disconnection of the relationship of Razi University and the Consular Affairs Office with political, security and law enforcement institutions.  Rather, these strategic institutions always support Razi University in order to solve the problems and concerns of foreign students.
Then, Seyed Nasser Mousavi, the manager of the consular affairs of the students of Kermanshah province, said "Every foreign student should be looked at as a golden cultural opportunity. In fact, the presence of foreign students in the university is a precious opportunity that has been given to us and we should take advantage of this opportunity in different ways."
He stated " Iraqi students tend to study in the universities of Kermanshah province, including Razi University, which shows university's strong scientific capacities and the provision of good facilities."

Emphasizing that the universities of Kermanshah province have the capacity to admit more non-Iranian students, the manager of the consular affairs of the students of Kermanshah province said " students admission centers should be more active."
He continued stating that, increasing the services, raising the academic strength and creating comfort and peace for non-Iranian students can be a reason to attract more foreign students to Kermanshah.
In the following, Dr. Rahimi, the Head of the Consular Affairs Department of non-Iranian students of the Student Affairs Organization of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, congratulated the opening of the consular affairs office of non-Iranian students of Kermanshah in Razi University. He added "Scientific diplomacy leads us toward achieving scientific authority, a subject that the Supreme Leader always emphasizes on."
The Head of the Consular Affairs Department of the Ministry of Science stated, "According to the planned perspectives, Iran should gain the scientific authority of the region by 2025. Therefore, one of the ways to achieve this goal is to attract foreign students."
Dr. Rahimi said, "When foreign students study in our country, achieve high academic degrees and return to their countries, they will be cultural and political ambassadors of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and this will secure our national interests."
He stated, "Some of these students will have economic, social, political, and cultural positions after returning to their countries, and will have an eye to the place where they have studied. On the other hand, in order to raise their scientific reputation, these students also raise the reputation of the country they have studied in. Thus, we can use these opportunities for our national interests with considering these issues.
The Head of the Consular Affairs Department of the Ministry of Science added, "However, some universities sometimes look at foreign students as a source of income for themselves. These students though do not generate much income for the country, and we pay attention to them only because we consider them as providers of our national interests."
Referring to the status of foreign students in Iran, Dr. Rahimi said, "International students have entered our universities since 2004 and the office of consular affairs has been running in universities that have international students since 15 years ago.
He pointed to the significant growth in number of foreign students in Iranian universities during recent years and said, "In 2019 and 2020, about 57,000 foreign students studied in Iranian universities, and it was predicted that the total number of foreign students compared to Iranian students would be about 2.1 percent for 2021. This is while 57000 students at the beginning of 2021 reached about 96000 students at the end of this year, which was much more than what we predicted.
The Head of the Consular Department of the Ministry of Science added, "Currently, about 114,000 foreign students are studying in Iranian universities. The very high growth in the number of foreign students in the universities of our country was more of the interest of the neighboring countries rather than a planned program by the higher education system."
Dr. Rahimi reminded," Despite the fact that the country's higher education system did not have a plan for a significant increase in population of foreign students, it supported providing infrastructure after facing such an interest."
He said that making efforts to facilitate the international students' consular affairs is one of the infrastructure measures and added, "we tried to improve our relationship with the passport police in a systematic way in order to reduce the commute and physical delivery of the files."
Dr. Rahimi continued, "On the other hand, consular services were mostly provided to Iraqi students more than other foreign students. This was because a large population of our students were from Iraq and several other countries and they would travel more since their home country was near Iran. Thus, we received an approval from the government to be able to provide residence for the citizens of Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon while they study in Iran."
He added, "The one-time permission to leave the country for these students has been increased to four-times permission and they can even leave and return repeatedly. Also, we had discussions with the immigration and passport police so that if a foreign student stays for studying at a university, he/she will not need to go to the police and consular affairs for traveling to his/her country and he/she can travel across the border without any problems."
Welcoming the guests, Dr. Mohammad Nabi Ahmadi, the president of Razi University, said, "This office is established to facilitate the education of non-Iranian students, and it does not only provide services for non-Iranian students who study at Razi University, but also for students of other universities of the province."
Referring to the establishment of the Persian Language Teaching Center in this university, he said, "The establishment of the Persian language teaching center has provided this opportunity for non-Iranian students of universities of the province to get acquainted with the Persian language and learn science well. 
Dr. Ahmadi stated that non-Iranian students of all universities in the province and even neighboring provinces can learn Persian in this center. He added, " Razi University's priority in providing services to non-Iranian students of other universities is not about income generation. We want foreign students with a better understanding of their specialized field so thar they leave the country with a strong scientific foundation and remember Iran well in the future."
Stating that a university needs infrastructures to become international, he said, " If we want to have universities that succeed at the international level, we must be able to establish various components in it, including the presence of foreign students and facilitating education for them."
Dr. Ahmadi further informed about the admission of about 400 foreign students at Razi University and said, "These students are from Germany, Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria".
Then, Jafar Sattar al-Khazaghi, the consul general of Iraq in Kermanshah province, requested the Ministry of Science to solve the problems of Iraqi students' residence.
He announced that he is ready to cooperate to solve the consular problems of Iraqi students in Iran.
 

 

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