Turkish Ambassador to Tehran meets with the President of University of Tehran

Prof. Seyyed Mohammad Moghimi, President of University of Tehran , on Monday, November 30, in a meeting with Prof. Hicabi Kirlangic, the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey in Tehran, which was held at the office of the President of UT, stated: We are interested in expanding international scientific cooperation between UT and major universities in Turkey. Cooperation in all fields of science and disciplines should be developed in such a way that both Islamic countries can have synergy in strengthening the scientific position of the two countries by sharing each other's strengths.

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Referring to the many cultural commonalities and close cultural relations between the two nations of Iran and Turkey, he said: "The world conditions demand that the relations between the two countries, Iran and Turkey, expand further, especially considering the conditions we are witnessing in Gaza today." The magnificent gathering of the people of Turkey in support of the people of Gaza shows the valuable passion that the honorable people of Turkey have towards the issues of Islamic countries and the fate of the Islamic world.

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The President of UT considered the increase of solidarity and the expansion of relations between the two countries as requiring the strengthening of common values ​​in international and regional, cultural and academic issues and clarified: Ayatollah Raisi's state attaches special priority to the development of relations with neighboring countries and Muslim countries and the expansion of interactions between the two countries of Iran and Turkey and the Islamic world.

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Prof. Moghimi stated that by expanding international scientific cooperation, academics can play a role in the stability, permanence and effectiveness of the relations between countries, and stated: We believe that in order for scientific diplomacy to become a basis for political diplomacy, we need more politicians and academics to think alike, and within the framework of this thinking together, while finding solutions to develop the contents of university communication, we should also do institution building in this field.

He pointed out: Unfortunately, we have faced a kind of neglect in the interactions between the universities of Iran and Turkey, because despite all the commonalities of the two countries, the interactions between the universities of the two countries have not been effective and our university systems have not had a significant link in areas such as study opportunities, creation of joint fields and other joint scientific activities.

He pointed to the conclusion of 53 memorandums of understanding between the University of Tehran and various Turkish universities in the last two decades and reminded: when the volume of scientific exchanges and interactions between the University of Tehran and Turkish universities in various fields including student and professor exchange, joint research and other programs is examined, we observe that these interactions are very low. Currently, only 15 students from Turkey are studying at Tehran University in the fields of humanities, law and arts, and this cannot reflect the real capacities of scientific interactions between the two countries.

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The President of UT further pointed to a decade of experience in organized interactions between major Iranian and Russian universities in the form of holding seven meetings of the presidents of these universities in Tehran and Moscow and added: in the meeting with the Chinese ambassador in Tehran and also the president of Nanjing University. it was agreed to hold the meeting of presidents of major universities in Iran and China; that holding this joint event is a step beyond concluding inter-university agreements to expand scientific relations. The initiative of holding a meeting of presidents of major universities in Iran and other countries can also be implemented in interaction with major universities in Turkey.

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Prof.  Moghimi referring to the establishment of the secretariat of the meeting of presidents of major Iranian universities in the University of Tehran, from the universities of Tehran, Sharif Technology, Iran Science and Technology, Amir Kabir, Shahid Beheshti, Tarbiat Modares, Allameh Tabatabai, Khawaja Nasiruddin Tousi, Al Zahra (S), Ferdowsi Mashhad, Shiraz, Tabriz, Isfahan and Isfahan Industrial University were named as 14 member universities of this meeting and the interactions and mutual thinking that takes place continuously between the presidents of these universities is the reason for the coordination of policies and the strengthening of the role of universities in important fields such as the formulation of the 7th economic development plan. , social and cultural of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In the other part of his speech, the President of UT mentioned the program of establishing Tehran University branches in the target countries and announcing that Turkey is one of Tehran University's target countries for setting up branches, he said: UT   branches are on the verge of being established in Iraq and Georgia. Also, some countries in the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia are considered as target countries for the establishment of UT branches. Following the recent visit of the President of our country to South Africa, in a letter to Dr. Raisi, the readiness of two universities of Tehran and Tehran Medical Sciences to open a branch of the two universities in Johannesburg was announced.

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He pointed out: We have set incentives for the professors so that if they spend the study opportunity period in the universities of the neighboring countries, they will get benefits. Of course, for the development of academic links between Iran and Turkey, it is necessary to consider more incentives.

In this meeting, Prof. Moghimi explained the details of the global position of UT in various fields of science and said: According to the Shanghai Subject Ranking in 2023, Tehran University has the best rank among Iranian universities in the field of water resources with a global rank of 37.

And based on this ranking, the presence of University of Tehran among the top 75 universities in the world in fields such as mechanical engineering, medical engineering, civil engineering and mining engineering; Placement among the first 100 universities in the world in agricultural sciences and the fields of science and technology of tools and science and food industries and being in the list of the top 200 universities in the world in veterinary sciences as well as the fields of electrical and electronic engineering, computer science and engineering, energy science and engineering and transportation science and technology creates a suitable field for the expansion of international scientific cooperation in these fields.

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The President of the University of Tehran considered the remarkable scientific growth in some key fields as the result of the efforts of the faculty members and researchers of the University of Tehran and explained: In the 2022 edition of the Shanghai subject ranking, we saw that the University of Tehran in the field of mechanical engineering is among the top 150 universities in the world in civil engineering. It was among 200 universities, among 75 universities in water resources, among 200 universities in agricultural sciences, among 300 universities in management, and among the top 500 universities in environmental sciences and engineering;

But the position of UT in these fields has improved significantly based on the 2023 edition of Shanghai; in the field of mechanical engineering and civil engineering in the list of the first 75 universities in the world, in water resources in the 37th place in the world, in agricultural sciences among the top 100 universities, in the field of management among the first 200 universities in the world and in the field of environmental science and engineering. It is among the top 400 universities in the world

The Ambassador of Turkey to Iran, in a meeting with the President of Tehran University, acknowledged that UT is one of the most rooted universities in the region and said: " University of Tehran has a special place for me, and I am very interested in Iranian universities in particular UT "

Referring to the Turkish government's interest in interacting with Iran in the field of science and technology, he pointed to his history of serving  at Ankara University as the vice-chancellor of this university and said: When academic relations between the two countries are discussed, the first axis that comes to mind is expansion and  cooperation  in the field of establishing Persian and Turkish language groups in the universities of the two countries. Although the establishment of these groups is effective,

He added: In Turkey, 5 universities have Persian language departments and each of these departments admits about 30 students annually. In Iran, since 2004, the Turkish language department has been operating in Allameh Tabatabai University, but the Turkish government wants to establish a Turkish language department in  UT. Of course, we are also interested in cooperation with Iranian universities and scientific centers in the fields of engineering, agriculture and technology transfer.

In this meeting, Prof.  Elham Aminzadeh , Vice President for International  Affairs at University of Tehran, in addition to common forms of inter-university cooperation such as exchange of professors and students, implementation of joint research projects, joint publications, joint supervision of dissertations and theses, etc  spoke about ., holding cultural week of Iranian and Turkish universities. , holding manuscript exhibitions, forming inter-university cooperation with the focus of tourism, sending professors from Iranian and Turkish universities for study opportunities, setting up the Science and Technology Park office of UT in Ankara University and setting up the Turkish language department in the Faculty of Foreign Languages ​​and Literature as other operational axes for the expansion of academic cooperation between Iran and Turkey.

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Prof. Mahmoudreza Delavar, Director General for the International Students and Staff at University of Tehran also talked about different fields of cooperation such as climate change, water, crisis management, agriculture, energy, automobile, environment, migrant crisis, digital technologies, space technology, information technology, Internet of Things, science. He further mentioned land management, as important research fields of interest to the two countries and expressed hope for serious cooperation in the field of developing joint digital economy and cultural development, conducting joint scientific and cultural visits and future research in the field of science and technology between Iran. And Turkey took place.

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Prof. Farideh Alavi, Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages ​​and Literatures, Abdolmajid Eskandari, Director General, Office of International Relations, University of Tehran, Prof. Farzaneh Azam Lotfi, Director of the UT Asian Research Center (UTARC), and Prof. Seyed Taha Merqati Associate professor of Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, also expressed their views and suggestions for development of scientific relations between Iran and Turkey.