Payame Noor University

Payame Noor University (PNU; Persian: Dāneŝgāhe Payāme Nur) is a public multi-campus university and one of the largest universities in Iran, and a mega university in world, with its headquarters in Tehran, 31 provincial centers, 500 local study centers, other campuses around the country, and an International Study Center located in the headquarters in Tehran. Established in 1988, is a legal body under the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.

Payame Noor University
دانشگاه پیام نور
Mottoآموزش برای همه، هرجا و هر زمان
Motto in English
Education for all, anywhere and anytime
TypePublic Open University System[1]
Established1988
ChancellorMohammadreza Zamani [2]
Academic staff
~4000 Full-time and 20,000 Contracted[3]
Students~400,000[4]
Location
Iran

35°48′3″N 51°30′9″E
Campus~500 Centers and Campuses, 40 International Office
Websitewww.pnu.ac.ir

The university has held the record of publishing articles per student in Iran since 2013.[5] The university is famous for its strict and rigorous semester exams and the university's system that forces students to read and self-learn which often results in higher skills, but lower grades compared to other universities.[6] For non-practical courses, the tutors and professors are mostly for troubleshooting purposes.[7]

PNU took its first intake in five study fields at 28 local study centers. Presently, the university has 4,000 academic members and 800,000 national and international students.

Payame Noor means "The Message of Light" in Persian.

History
Payam e Noor University of Shiraz

Payam-e Noor University (Payame Noor University = Payam Noor University) is one of the largest public universities in Iran and a mega university in the world, whose name means "The message of Light" in Persian. It was established by decisions based on the meetings (No. 94 & 97) in 1986 by SCCR (Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution of Iran). It accepted the first group of students in Mehr 1367 (September 1988) in five branches and in the remaining 28 centers of the University of Abu Rayhan and Iran Free University.

Courses

Undergraduate course

Bachelor's degree programs

Business

  • Accountancy
  • Business Administration

Agriculture

  • Animal sciences

Social Culture

  • Education (Management of Curriculum Planning)
  • English Language Translation
  • General Psychology
  • Geography (Rural Geography)
  • Law
  • Library Sciences
  • Persian Language and Persian Literature
  • Social Sciences (Research)
  • Statistics
  • Theology and Islamic Studies (Jurisprudence and Basics of Islamic Laws)

Engineering

  • Aerospace Engineering
  • Agricultural Engineering
  • Architecture
  • Automotive Engineering
  • Chemical and Petroleum Engineering
  • Civil Engineering
  • Computer Sciences
  • Computer Software Engineering
  • Electronic Engineering
  • Executive Management Engineering
  • Industrial Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Metallurgy Engineering
  • Polymer Engineering
  • Project Management Engineering
  • Railway Engineering
  • Robotic
  • Urban Planning

Post graduate course

Master's Degree programs

  • Business Administration
  • Education (Curriculum Planning)
  • English Language Teaching
  • Chemistry (Organic,Inorganic,Physical and Analytical)
  • Computer Sciences
  • Computer Software Engineering
  • Ethics (Philosophy of Ethics and Ethical Philosophy)
  • Electronic Engineering
  • Executive Management Engineering
  • Executive Administration
  • General Linguistics
  • General Psychology
  • General Chemistry
  • General Biology Geography (Rural Planning)
  • Geography (Urban Planning)
  • Industrial Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Metallurgy Engineering
  • Mathematics (Applied and Pure)
  • Nahj-ol-Balagheh Studies (Fundamentals of Religion and Islamic Studies)
  • Persian Language and Persian Literature
  • Persian Language Teaching
  • Law (International, Private, Penal and Criminology)
  • Public Administration
  • Polymer Engineering
  • Project Management Engineering
  • Railway Engineering
  • Robotic
  • Social Sciences (Sociology)
  • Theology and Islamic Studies (Koranic Sciences and Hadith, Jurisprudence and Basics of Islamic Laws, Philosophy and Islamic Speech)
  • Theoretical Physics
  • Urban Planning

Ph.D course

Ph.D Degree programs

  • Health Psychology
  • Accountancy
  • Chemistry
  • Distance Education Planning
  • English Language Teaching (TEFL)
  • General Linguistics
  • Geography
  • Private Law
  • International Law
  • Persian Language and Literature
  • Physical Education (Management) Planning
  • Physics
  • Information science

Post doctoral course

Physics

International students

International student information

In 1990, the Faculty of Overseas of PNU was established for the study of Persian Language and Literature at Bachelor, Master and Ph.D levels. The aims of these programs is to give foreign students an understanding of Iranian culture and art.

In the new organization of the university, the Faculty of Overseas is replaced by the International Study Center. This implies that the Center is authorized to offer all the degree programs of PNU. These programs are correspondence courses, which heavily rely on textbooks. The language of instruction is Persian. The center has 1182 students admitted through Degree programs in 55 countries.

Admission

Since it is impossible for most international students to enroll and take part in the National University Entrance Exam, the International Study Center provides opportunities for students to continue their studies through degree programs at Bachelor, Master and Ph.D level.

International applicants are admitted at the university on the basis of their high school GPA or their exam results. The center also enrolls students on the basis of their secondary school or their bachelor's degree GPA at two levels of bachelor's and master's degrees subsequently. The final exams of students of the center are administered with the assistance of the Iranian consulates and embassies around the world. Having acquired necessary scores at the exams of the first semester, and having a high educational background at university or high school levels with high GPA, the encompassing students will become regular students.

Language courses for non-Persian

The following Persian basic language courses are launched for non-Iranian nationals worldwide:

LevelDuration
Basic Persian4 months
Advanced Persian4 months
Academic Persian4 months

Controversy

Iranian universities faced criticism in early 2007 about their treatment of Bahá'í students. Although religious identification has been removed from entrance exam papers, students are reportedly being expelled once their religion is discovered.[8][9]

The controversy specifically focused on Payame Noor when an official university letter[10] confirmed the expulsion as government policy.[11] Over 30 Baha'i students have been expelled under the policy.[12]

Additionally, in 2008, the university declared that Arabic will be the "second language" of the university, and that all its services will be offered in Arabic, concurrent with Persian.[13] (See Iranian Arabs).

Departments and faculty

Department and Faculty of Humanities
  • Dean: Dr Sourghali

Department and Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences
  • Dean: Dr. Mohammad Taghi Amini - Academic Position: Assistant Professor

Department and Faculty of Engineering
  • Dean: Dr. Hassan Fallah - Academic Position: Assistant Professor

Department and Faculty of Agricultural Sciences
  • Dean: Dr. Mohsen Shookat Fadaee - Academic Position: Associate Professor

Department and Faculty of Basic Sciences
  • Dean: Prof. Seyed Ahmad Mirshokraie - Academic Position: Professor

Department and Faculty of Art and Media
  • Dean: Dr. Hooshang Khosrobeigi - Academic Position: Assistant Professor

Department and Faculty of Theology and Islamic Sciences
  • Dean: Dr. Mo'meni

See also

References
  1. Pnu Main page
  2. "آشنایی با دانشگاه". pnu.ac.ir. Payame Noor University. Retrieved 4 February 2014.
  3. آمار اعضای هیئت علمی دانشگاه پیام نور
  4. تعداد دانشجویان فعال دانشگاه پیام نور به تفکیک رشته
  5. University rankings in Iran - Payame Noor University
  6. “Payame Noor University's student grades are the most real because of its hard rigor.” The minister of science says
  7. Professor's role in the university - Payame Noor University
  8. Baha'i group says Iran discriminates - Breaking News - World - Breaking News
  9. BBCPersian.com
  10. Official letter from university to discriminate against Baha'i students (in Persian)
  11. Iranian policy calls for Baha'i expulsions | Bahai Faith | Baha'i Faith
  12. Bahá'í World News Service - Bahá'í International Community - Official character of Baha'i expulsions in Iranian university revealed
  13. رادیو زمانه | خبر اول | ایران | دومین زبان دانشگاه پیام نور شد
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.