TEHRAN-- The variety of foreign trainees will double in the Iranian universities by the next 3 years, Hashem Dadashpour, the Iranian deputy science minister has said.Universities should increase their interactions and clinical exchanges in order to bring in international trainees and accelerate internationalization in the area and the world, he highlighted.Iranian universities achieved good ranks at the worldwide level and based on the evaluations of the worlds most distinguished institutions so that there is the capability to draw in international trainees, he said.He mentioned holding the cultural and sports Olympiad for global trainees as a way to make them more aware of Irans capabilities, ISNA reported.By the next three years, the variety of foreign students from 120 countries will increase by two times in the universities of the country, he predicted.Some 108,000 students from 117 countries have registered in Iranian universities for the existing scholastic year (begun September 23), Mohammad Mohammadi Masoudi, an official with the Ministry of Science, has said.Leading in bring in international studentsIran is among the 15 successful nations in attracting global students, according to Mohammad Javad Salmanpour, the deputy head of the Organization for Student Affairs.The education of foreign students in Iran has grown considerably compared to previous years, even last year, it has doubled, he said.However, it is far from the wanted position; Because Iranian universities have greater capacities in all respects than the universities of local or European nations, he noted.Iran has the ability and capacity to have more than 250,000 foreign trainees by 2026, he stated.Currently, almost 100,000 foreign nationals are studying in Iran, more than 90 percent of whom are from Iraq and Afghanistan and the rest are from other countries.These students are studying in different fields of science, research study and technology, health and medical education, and also in the fields of liberal arts, Islamic sciences, Persian language and literature, law, principles of Islamic law, management fields, economics, psychology, social sciences, as well as engineering, farming sciences, animal sciences, and basic sciences.Foreign nationals constitute 1.64% of studentsCurrently, foreign nationals make up 1.64 percent of the countrys trainee population, which has to do with 0.14 percent higher than the goal set by the Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2016-2021), Mohammad Javad Salmanpour, the deputy head of the Organization for Student Affairs, stated in April.Twenty-five percent of the foreign students studying in Iranian universities are Afghan nationals, he added.Afghan students participate in Iranian universities in 3 ways; some enter the university by taking part in the nationwide entrance test of Iran, and some others get admission from universities that have non-Iranian trainee licenses.

The third group likewise attended the countrys universities through scholarships, he explained.Health insurance coverage, longer residency, shorter visa processing time, and granting excellent trainees are amongst the conditions offered foreign nationals studying in Iran.FB/ MG