The 12th Meeting of International Vice - Chancellors and Directors of Iranian Universities and some Selected Higher Education and Research Institutes

The 12th Meeting of International Vice - Chancellors and Directors of Iranian Universities and some Selected Higher Education and Research Institutes

The 12th Meeting of International Vice - Chancellors and Directors of Universities and Selected Higher Education and Research Institutes was held in The University of Qom on Dec. 20, 2017.

This meeting was held with the presence of Prof. Salar Amoli, Acting Minister of International Affairs and Head of the Center for International Scientific Collaboration, Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, Associate Prof. Kouhian, Deputy Director General of the Specialized Organizations of the Center for Scientific and International Cooperation of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, Hojatoleslam and Al-Musslemin, Dr. Asgar Dirbaz, The President of the University of Qom, as well as Deputies and Directors of International Affairs of the Universities of Iran.

At the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Asgar Dirbaz expressed two points related to this meeting:

In the first stage, we must be able to maintain the national and religious identity of our country in addition to these international relations and the exchanges of teachers and students and the establishment of joint courses, and in the second stage, according to the Supreme Leader's orders, he considered Islamic revolution and revolutionary aspects should be taken into account and attention should be paid to the values of the revolution.

Prof. Salar Amoli thanked the host of the University of Qom and referred to the principles of the sixth National Development program of the country and outlined three main pillars of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. The first aspect of the program is the scientific commercialization, which should be considered more widely in universities. The second dimension is the expansion of professional technical programs. The third dimension is the International Affairs, which doubles the importance of this meeting.

Prof. Salar Amoli summarized the four axes of international affairs:

Establishment of joint projects with major foreign universities, having MSc. / Ph.D. supervision, and joint scientific meetings are the main axes of international affairs in the world's universities and ours.

The Acting Minister for International Affairs emphasized that the aim of this program to the end of the sixth year is to extend Iran's position among the top ten countries in 100 Asian countries.

He also added that in the sixth five – year development program in year 2017, we have to establish 6 universities in other countries, and this figure should reach 16 in 2020 and reach the point where foreign countries will come to invest in the mentioned areas.

At the end, Prof. Salar Amoli expressed gratitude to the presence of international university directors and deputies in Iranian universities.

All of these matters are being approved by the government and after the notification is made, universities should, according to the potential of their university, provide the opportunity for all members of international affairs to pursue their studies at the universities of the country.

Associate Prof. Kouhian, the Deputy Head of the Center for International Scientific Collaboration, Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, emphasized the issue of attracting elites in the field of international affairs and budget plan in the New Year.

 It is worth mentioning that Prof. Delavar, Adviser to the President and Director General of the Scientific and International Cooperation Office of the University of Applied Science and Technology and Dr. Kashefizadeh, The Expert and Administrator of the Scientific and International Cooperation Office of the University have attended this meeting.