Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 1/ Trend, S. Isayev, T. Jafarov
According to the latest statistics, 712 winners of scientific olympiads and about 350 highest test-scoring students have left Iran, deputy head for cultural issues of Iran's National Elites Foundation, Hassan Hosseini said.
He noted that however, during the last year, 13,000 new Iranian scientists were registered at the National Elites Foundation.
Iran's National Elites Foundation (INEF) is an Iranian governmental organization founded in 2005 by approval of the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council of Iran. The main purpose of the foundation is to recognize, organize and support Iran's elite national talents.
He went on to note that most students have passed the entrance exams from Tehran and Horasan Razavi provinces. Then comes Fars and Isfahan provinces. He said that most gold medals were taken by students in chemistry, followed by math, physics, computer engineering, biology, literature and astronomy.
Director of the Monitoring and Evaluation Center of the Iranian Ministry of Science and Education Reza Ameri said on Sept. 14 that most of the students that are receiving education in Iran, prefer to study accounting.
"Some 170,000 students study law, while 100,000 students - computer engineering," he said.
Some 4.4 million students have been enrolled at Iranian universities this year. They will study at 2,500 high schools.
He added that the majority of students enrolled at high schools are studying at the universities in Tehran, Isfahan and Khorasan Razavi province.
"Some 16.6 percent of students study in Tehran (710,000), 7.25 percent - in Isfahan (310,000) and 6.1 percent - in Khorasan Razavi (260,000)," he said.
Meanwhile, official of Payamenoor University, Mohammad Hadi Amin Naji said in early September that Iran's universities are seeing a lack of students.
Iran's universities` capacity in bachelor's degree programs level reached some 730,000, while 690,000 students have chosen to study for a bachelor's degree this year.
Amin Naji went on to note that, this lack is linked to changes in the attitude of male students.
Iranian male students` attitude towards the labor market and higher education has changed, he said, adding that females are the majority of university students.
Iran has a large network of private, public, and state affiliated universities offering degrees in higher education.
State-run universities in Iran are under the direct supervision of Iran's Ministry of Science, Research and Technology (for non-medical universities) and Ministry of Health and Medical Education (for medical schools).
Last year, Iranian media outlets reported that number of students in Iran has increased from 170,000 students before the Iranian revolution to some 4,350 000 million citing director of Iranian Ministry of Science's Development and Planning committee, Abolfazl Hasani.
He added that the student population growth has been increasing alongside with overall country population, which increased from 30 million to some 70 million.