Payame Noor University

Payame Noor University/Payame Noor University
Dāneshgāh-e Payam-e Noor
Payame Noor University/Payame Noor University
Motto	تحصیل برای همه، هر کجا و هر زمان
Motto in English	Education for all, every where and every time
Established	1987
Type	Public , Conventional , Semi-Conventional and Open University^[1]
Chancellor	Abolfazl Farahani^[2]
Vice-Chancellor	Abdollah Motamedi
Academic staff	1,345 ^[3]
Students	1,101,182^[4] total
Location	Tehran, Tehran, Iran 35°48′3″N 51°30′9″E / 35.80083°N 51.50250°E / 35.80083; 51.50250Coordinates: 35°48′3″N 51°30′9″E / 35.80083°N 51.50250°E / 35.80083; 51.50250
Campus	Urban
Athletics	? teams
Colours	Light Blue
Website	www.pnu.ac.ir/

Payame Noor University is a public university and one of the largest universities in Iran, with its headquarters based in Tehran, 31 provincial centers, 485 local study centers, other campuses all around the country, and one International Study Center located in the headquarters in Tehran. Established in 1988, is a legal body under the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.

PNU took its first intake at 5 study fields at 28 local study centers. Presently, the university has 3,500 academic members and 1,101,182 national and international students.

Its name means "The message of Light" in Persian.

History

Payam-e Noor University (Payame Noor University = Payam Noor University) is one of the largest universities in IRAN, 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) and actually accepted the first group of students in Mehr 1367 (September 1987). After the founding of the university, it began its educational activities by accepting the first group of students in five branches and in the remaining 28 centers of the University of Abu Rayhan and Iran Free University. The development of new branches and departments came from the people and local aids and provided by the board founder.

One of the pillars of the scientific development of the country is expanding education, which result social development along with the blossoming of talents, and prepare human creativities. Conventional and current training alone is not sufficient to establish this important point. So new methods of education and training programs, such as training contents, open, remote or virtual education, to achieve development objectives, is necessary.

Courses

Undergraduate Course

Bachelor Degree Programs

Business

Accountancy
Business Administration

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
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)
Ethics (Philosophy of Ethics and Ethical Philosophy)
Executive Administration
General Linguistics
General Psychology
Geography (Rural Planning)
Geography (Urban Planning)
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
Social Sciences (Sociology)
Theology and Islamic Studies (Koranic Sciences and Hadith, Jurisprudence and Basics of Islamic Laws, Philosophy and Islamic Speech)
Theoretical Physics
General Chemistry
General Biology

Ph.D Course

Ph.D Degree Programs

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

International Students

International Student information

In 1990, the Faculty of Overseas of PNU was established to meet the demands of new categories of applicants for Persian Language and Literature programs of study worldwide at Bachelor, Master and specialized Ph.D Degree Levels. The aims of these programs are the development of the rich culture and literature of Iran among Iranians. Nationals of other countries, too, will be able to have a better understanding of the depth of the Iranian manner of thinking, culture and art through the Persian Language and Literature programs.

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. Currently, the Center has 1182 students admitted through encompassing different 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 encompassing degree programs at three levels of Bachelor, Master and Ph.D.

International applicants will be admitted at this university on the basis of their high school GPA or their encompassing programs exams results. This center also enrolls students provisionally on the basis of their secondary school or their Bachelor degree GPA at two levels of Bachelor and Master degrees subsequently. The final exams of students of the Center are administered by the assistance of the Iranian consulates and embassies around the world. Having acquired necessary scores at the exams of encompassing semester (first semester), and having 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:

Level	Duration
Basic Persian	4 months
Advanced Persian	4 months
Academic Persian	4 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.^[5]^[6]

The controversy specifically focused on Payame Noor when an official university letter^[7] confirmed the expulsion as government policy.^[8] Over 30 Baha'i students have been expelled under the policy.^[9]

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.^[10] (See Iranian Arabs).

Departments and Faculty

Department and Faculty of Humanities

Dean: Dkosari

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

References

External links

Official website, in Persian and English