Ferdowsi University of Mashhad


The Ferdowsi University of Mashhad is a major comprehensive research university in Mashhad, capital city of the Iranian province of Razavi Khorasan. The university is named after Ferdowsi who is considered to be the national epic poet of Greater Iran, and was born in Tus, near Mashhad. It was established in 1949, making it the third oldest university in Iran.
Ferdowsi is among the most prestigious universities in Iran, and was ranked as the 3rd best research university of the nation in the 2018 ISC rankings published by the Iranian government. It offers 180 bachelors, masters, and PhD programs to 30000 students. It has 810 faculty members and 2500 staff. Foreign students, especially from Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq make up a significant portion of students and the university has the highest number of foreign students in Iran.
Before the 1979 Iranian revolution, the curriculum and research efforts at Ferdowsi were designed with the help of Georgetown University. However, the collaboration was halted after the revolution. The university also has one of the largest campuses in Iran.

Mission

The mission of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad is to educate the citizens and citizen-leaders for our society based on divine principles of Islam and scientifically qualified centers of excellence. FUM has a few mosques, the most prominent of which is the mosque of Imam Reza.

History

If the efforts to upgrade the college of Health to the Faculty of Medicine in 1949 is regarded as the first step in establishing Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, the university could be the fourth oldest university after the University of Tehran, University of Tabriz, Shiraz University University of Isfahan . However Mashhad Faculty of Medicine, officially opened on November 23, 1949, is thought to belong to Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, which merged with Faculty of Literature to form the University of Mashhad in 1954 when the new Faculty opened with 5 different fields. With the expansion of higher education the following faculties also were established one after another: Faculty of Theology, Faculty of Science, Faculty of Dentistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Nutrition, Faculty of Education and Psychology, Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty of Engineering, the Institute of Optometry, the university's high school, the Teaching Center. Mashhad University of that time was renamed Ferdowsi University in 1974.
After emerging regional health organizations in the universities of medical sciences in 1994, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences was separated from Ferdowsi University. Meanwhile, a number of new faculties and schools such as Faculty of Administration and Economics, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences, Shirvan Agricultural College, Faculty of Physical Education and Sports, Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, Neishaboor Faculty of the Arts, Institute of Plantation Science, The Seismology Research Center, the University's College, Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment, Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning were established one after the another.

Academics

School of Letters and Humanities

Founded in 1955, the School of Letters and Humanities, the nucleus and first school of the current FUM, offers graduate and postgraduate degrees in the fields of the Persian language and literature, English language and literature, Arabic language and literature, French language and literature, Russian language and literature, geography, Iranian history, social sciences, and linguistics. The Faculty has 83 academic members, 4500 undergraduate and 500 graduate students. The departments offer B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. programs. Moreover, the Department of Persian Language and Literature is designated by the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, as a Center of Excellence in Ferdowsi Studies.

School of Economics and Business Administration

Founded in 1987, the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration currently has 53 faculty members and 2146 students. The programs offered at the Bachelor's, Master's and Ph.D. levels are Economic Science, Law, Accounting, Political Science, and Management.
The Research Center for the Economy of Eastern Iran and Neighboring Countries was established in 2006 for the purpose of conducting research into the economy of Iran and the neighboring countries. The Center has 11 economics specialists actively engaged in multifarious research projects.
Majors and programs offered in the Faculty of Economics:
Founded in 1958, the School of Theology has 48 faculty members and comprises five departments: Islamic History and Civilization, Islamic Philosophy, Islamic Jurisprudence, Koranic Studies, and Comparative Religion and Mysticism. The school offers programs at the Bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D. levels.

School of Sciences

Established in 1961, the School of Sciences has 97 faculty members, 1862 undergraduates, 325 Master's students, and 81 Ph.D. students. The faculty comprises four departments: Biology, Chemistry, Geology, and Physics. Of these, the Department of Geology is introduced as a Center of Excellence in Fossilology by the Iranian Ministry of Sciences, Research and Technology. The research centers at the School of Sciences include the Center for Research in Seismology, Center for Research in Rodentology, Center for Research in Nanotechnology, Center for Research in Biotechnology and Center for Research in Environmental Chemistry to name but a few.

School of Mathematical Sciences

Founded in 1996, the School of Mathematical Sciences has three departments: Applied Mathematics, Pure Mathematics and Statistics. The school has 45 academic members and approximately 1,300 students. Currently, there are 170 graduate enrollees. The School of Mathematical Sciences offers three programs specializing in Pure Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Statistics at the Bachelor's, Master's and Ph.D. levels. Both the Departments of Mathematics and Statistics were awarded as "Centers of Excellence" by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in 2000 and have retained the status since then.

School of Agriculture

Established in 1973, the School of Agriculture has 101 faculty members and 1622 students. The college comprises the departments of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Machinery, Agronomy, Animal Sciences, Food Science Industry, Gardening, Plant Pathology, Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Soil Sciences, and Water Engineering. The College of Agriculture offers 10 programs: Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Machinery, Agronomy, Animal Sciences, Food Industry Science, Gardening, Plant Pathology, Plant Breeding and Biotechnology, Soil Sciences, and Water Engineering; these programs are offered at the Bachelor's, Master's, and Ph.D. levels. The Dept. of Agronomy is considered as a Center of Excellence in Special Crops.

School of Education and Psychology

Established in 1973, the FUM School of Education and Psychology is home to 30 faculty members and about 1300 students. The school consists of 11 departments offering graduate and post-graduate programs in the fields of the educational management and planning, curriculum planning, education of disabled youth, pre-K education, the philosophy of education, clinical psychology, psychology of the disabled, general psychology, educational psychology, family counseling, and library and information sciences.

School of Veterinary Medicine

Founded in 1991, the School of Veterinary Medicine has 37 faculty members and consists of the departments of Basic Sciences, Patho-biology, Clinical Sciences, and Agri-food Hygiene. There are 400 enrollees majoring in the B.Sc., Doctor of Veterinary Medicine, Doctor of Veterinary Science, and Ph.D. levels. The programs and degrees offered are Large Animal Internal Medicine, Veterinary Parasitology, Veterinary Biotechnology, Veterinary Pathobiology, Comparative Histology, Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine, and Veterinary Laboratory Sciences. Academic members of the faculty are actively engaged in education and research in areas as diverse as clinical practice, domestic animal health and diseases, food safety, biology and public health. More importantly, the Research Center for Ruminant Abortion and Neonatal Mortality Studies is considered to be a Center of Excellence of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.

Faculty of Engineering

On February 25, 1975, Faculty of Engineering was established to serve as the leading engineering institution for the eastern part of Iran. In September 1975, the Faculty of Engineering officially started its mission by admitting 30 students in the Electrical Engineering major and 30 students in Mechanical Engineering.
Courses are offered in B.Eng., M.Sc., Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Computer Engineering, Materials Engineering and B.Eng., M.Eng in Chemical Engineering, Industrial Engineering. Electrical Engineering group of Ferdowsi University has many prominent research labs such as integrated System Lab., corrosion and coating Lab. etc. According to Iranwatch in 2011, research on solid propellant combustion, air-to-air missile fuse electronics, robust controller design for a missile's yaw-channel, coastal missile defense systems as well as remotely piloted vehicle's guidance, navigation, and control computer system is being done in the university.

Faculty of Architecture, Urbanism and Islamic Art

In July 2005, faculty of Architecture was founded in Ferdowsi university of Mashhad which consists of two distinct departments, Architecture Engineering and Urban planning. Each department offer Courses in B.Eng and M.Eng.

Research Institute of Biotechnology

Institute of Biotechnology was established in 2006 for the promotion of biotechnological research of the university. The following groups are active:
SARI institute was founded in October 2010, for research in the field of Renewable energy. This institute has achieved many goals such as design and manufacturing of 100 kW Wind turbine. At the present time, this institute focuses on the development of different types of wind turbine and assessment of Solar panels and solar machines as a future plan.

Admissions

The admission rate range is 40–50%, making this Iranian higher education organization an averagely selective institution. However, considering the strong efforts to improve the higher institutions in religious cities after the Islamic Revolution, undergraduate admission to Ferdowsi is limited to the top 10–20% of students who pass the national entrance examination administered yearly by the Ministry of Culture and Higher Education and could not be admitted in University of Tehran, Sharif University of Technology, Amirkabir University of Technology, Iran University of Science and Technology and Shahid Beheshti University. To attract top students, the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad has tried to use the scholarships so that after the increasing decline in admission rate in sciences, which was considered a serious threat to the university, additional scholarships are to be dedicated to all disciplines.
There are 12645 undergraduate students including 8,398 females and 4,247 males in the university.

Foreign students

The Ferdowsi University of Mashhad is regarded as the first institution in attracting foreign students, mainly from Afghanistan, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain, Central Asian republics, after the efforts made during the presidency of Ahmadinejad who declared Mashhad as "Iran's spiritual capital". Currently, more than 1,300 foreign students have enrolled in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, which form one twentieth of the university students. According to the head of the University, more than half of the foreign students studying at the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad are from Afghanistan and have were admitted at the university by using scholarships, through participating in the National entrance examination and as independent students.
According to a deputy president of Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, most of the foreign students studying in Iran are from Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, and Turkey. According to Iran's Minister of Science, Research, and Technology, many efforts were underway to attract as many as 25,000 by 2015 during the presidency of Ahmadinejad: "The improvement of the quality of universities has paved the way for the enrollment of foreign students. Fourteen thousand foreign students from 92 countries are currently studying at Iran's universities. And if we include the 12,000 foreign students studying at Al-Mustafa University, a total of 26,000 foreign students are studying at higher education institutions in the country".

International interactions

The university has been described with weak connection to other institutions. As the head of the University said, "less than 10% of our colleagues have international interactions in Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, showing a bad situation on the connection between our academics and the universities abroad so that in order to improve the cooperation with Russian universities, the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad pays the entire cost of any joint project that each of university professors have with a Russian university or a professor."

Publications

FUM publishes 48 peer-reviewed scientific journals covering almost all fields of sciences and humanities. Some national notable journals are, Journal of Cell and Molecular Research, Iranian Journal of Health and Physical Activity, Iranian Journal of Animal BioSystematics, Iranian Journal of Electrical Systems, Iranian Journal of Veterinary Science Technology, Iranian Journal of Numerical Analysis and Optimization, etc.

International rankings

Times Higher Education World University Rankings :

2018: 801–1,000
2017: 801+
Academic Ranking of World Universities :
2017: 701–800
U.S. News:

2018: 868
2017: 820
CWTS Leiden Ranking:

2018: : 478

2017: : 509

2016: : 537
SCImago Institutions Rankings:

2017:490

2016:572

2015:558

Famous events

After the controversial appearance of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at Columbia University on 25 September 2007, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad invited President Bush to travel to Iran and speak on campus about a range of issues, including the Holocaust, terrorism, human rights and U.S. foreign policy. The invitation asked Bush to answer questions from students and professors "just the same way" that Ahmadinejad took questions "despite all the insults directed at him." The White House said that Bush would be willing to travel to Iran, but under different circumstances: "President Bush looks forward to traveling to a democratic Iran, an Iran where its leaders allow freedom of speech and assembly for all of its people and an Iran where the leaders mourn the victims of the Holocaust, not call for the destruction of Israel," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
Some Iranian educational institutions such as Ferdowsi University of Mashhad have also been building their presence in Afghanistan. As Iranian officials announced in February 2009, the university opened a campus in Herat —the efforts that allow Iran to engage directly with Afghanistan's population and develop close ties with religious and ethnic minorities.
In 2011, Ferdowsi University's Department of Engineering in Mashhad said it would segregate students by gender in nearly 50 courses. One year before, a few general courses at Ferdowsi, such as general mathematics and physics, imposed separate classes for men and women. The disciplinary restrictions imposed on students, particularly female students, had been on the rise since June 2009, in many cases accompanied with insults and degradation of students.

Professor's Basij Organization (PBO)

The emergence of Mahmud Ahmadinejad in the 2005 presidential election brought a new force to Iran's political power, namely, the Professor's Basij Organization. PBO offices were established at a few large universities, including Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. The military, Basij, and IRGC veterans teaching at these universities welcomed the establishment and inauguration of the Basij bureaus at universities, as most of them were already enrolled in such bureaus in other settings.
The number of the registered members of the Professor's Basij Organization in Razavi Khorasan is 2 thousand and 500, most of whom belong to the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad. According to the head of Razavi Khorasan's PBO, the number of Basiji professors is much greater than the number of the registered PBO members.
4,000 students of Mashhad's universities have registered in the Basij Organization.

Notable alumni