Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education

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The Bahá'í Institute for Higher Education (BIHE), popularly known as the Bahá'í Open University, is a university in Iran designed and managed by the Bahá'í community for Iranian Bahá'ís who are excluded from access to higher education in their country. Founded in 1987 and offering 17 degree programs, the BIHE offers academic programs of learning and research in the sciences, the social sciences and the arts. The university is staffed by hundreds of volunteer professors and works with an affiliated global faculty (AGF) that includes accredited professors from universities outside Iran who assist BIHE as researchers, teachers and consultants.

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[edit] Context

While the Bahá'í Faith is the largest religious minority in Iran, members of the religions have been persecuted under the Islamic Republic and their human rights have been severely curtailed. Iranian law treats Bahá'ís as "heretics" rather than members of an independent religion, since Bahá'ís recognize the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh as messengers from God that appeared after Muhammad.

After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the new Islamic government fired Bahá'í professors from all universities and expelled Bahá'í students. The government established a new university admission system where only individuals who identified themselves with one of the four religions recognized by the Constitution of the Islamic Republic were given admission.

The BIHE was established in 1987 to allow Bahá'í youth an opportunity to obtain a university-level education. The New York Times called it "an elaborate act of communal self-preservation." Initially, Bahá'í teachers and professionals offered a variety of subject courses primarily through correspondence. More recently, advances in Internet technology have allowed the BIHE to offer a number of online courses to students throughout Iran.

[edit] Curriculum

BIHE offers Bachelor, Graduate and Associate degrees in the following subjects administered by five university departments:

The Institute offers more than 700 courses each term with many of them being offered online.

The BIHE was the first Iranian member of the Open Courseware Consortium (OCW).

[edit] Faculty

The 275-member volunteer faculty at the BIHE largely consists of professionals who once held teaching positions at government-run universities in Iran but later lost their jobs because of their affiliation with the Bahá'í Faith. Professors are also responsible for the development and implementation of the university curriculum which now consists of 17 degree programs (14 undergraduate and 3 graduate).

As the online capabilities of the BIHE expand, so too does its Affiliated Global Faculty (AGF), a growing body of volunteer professors that hold doctoral degrees and who work and reside in North America, Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. The Affiliated Global Faculty was created in response to the emerging needs of the BIHE including increasing numbers of courses offered in English and the desire to achieve internationally accepted educational standards.

[edit] Locations

Courses at the university were originally offered principally via correspondence; for specialized scientific or technical courses small groups assembled in private homes. After some time, the university was able to establish a few laboratories in privately-owned commercial buildings near and in Tehran. Due to the increasing number of courses being offered online, students are now able to participate in classes via the internet.

[edit] Raids

In 1996 the Iranian authorities conducted raids against BIHE sites, and confiscated records and equipment, but they did not close the university. Between September 29 and October 3, 1998 the members of the Iranian Government's intelligence agency, the Ministry of Information, started a massive crackdown, when officials raided over 500 Bahá'í homes, and confiscated textbooks, laboratory equipment, photocopying machines, computers and other teaching materials. They also arrested 36 faculty members, and closed the university.

Most of those who were arrested were released soon afterwards, but four were given prison sentence ranging from three to 10 years. The faculty members who were arrested were asked to sign a document declaring that BIHE had ceased to exist as of September 29, and that they would no longer cooperate with it, but all refused to sign the declaration.

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