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 275 volunteer faculty and works with affiliated global faculty that includes accredited professors from universities outside Iran who assist as researchers, teachers and consultants.
Contents |
After the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the new Islamic government fired Bahá'í professors from all universities and expelled Bahá'í students.[1] The government established a new university admission system where only individuals who identified themselves with one of the four religions, Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism, recognized by the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, were given admission.[2]
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."[3] Initially, Bahá'í teachers and professionals the courses primarily through correspondence; more recently, BIHE also offers a number of courses online.
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.[4]
The 275-member volunteer faculty at the BIHE largely consists of professionals who once held teaching positions at government-run universities in Iran but lost their jobs because of affiliation with the Bahá'í Faith. Professors are responsible for the development and implementation of the university curriculum which now consists of 32 degree programs (5 associate,17 undergraduate and 10 graduate).
As the online capabilities of the BIHE expand, so too does its Affiliated Global Faculty (AGF), a body of volunteer professors with doctoral degrees who work and reside outside Iran. 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.
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.
Between 1987 and 2005 the Iranian authorities closed down the university several times.[1] In September 1998 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.[5]
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.
A second raid of BIHE educators took place on 22 May 2011. Officials from the Ministry of Intelligence entered the homes of at least 30 of the academic staff of the BIHE, seizing books, computers and personal effects. A total of 16 educators were arrested. Some of those arrested were transferred to Evin prison. The buildings used as laboratories and for academic purposes in Tehran have also been closed. The searches or arrests took place in Tehran, Zahedan, Sari, Isfahan and Shiraz.[6] According to CNN, nine of those arrested have since been released.[7]
The Iran Daily, an official government newspaper, reported that "The BIHE university was a cover for the propagation of the Baha'i faith and was used to trap citizens in the Baha'i spy network and to gather information from within the county". It stated that ""Authorities have discovered Baha'i propaganda, CDs and books in the possession of those who have been arrested."[7]
Teachers and staff of the BIHE have vowed to continue the BIHE's activities.[8][9]
On October 13, 2011, the UN Secretary General issued a report on "The situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran",[10] specifically citing the arrests of the educators teaching at the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education.[11]
The Daily Telegraph, on October 13, 2011, carried an article critical of the arrests.[12]
Nobel Laureates Desmond Tutu and José Ramos-Horta wrote an open letter calling for the immediate release of the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education professors.[13]