Chinese Ambassador meets with UT President

Prof.  Seyyed Mohammad Moghimi, President of the University of Tehran, today, Monday 26 September, 2022 in a meeting with Mr. Chang Hua ,the Chinese ambassador to Tehran, presented the proposal to form Association of Top Universities of the Member Countries of the Shanghai Pact, and said: creating a common scientific database, awarding scholarships to students of the member countries of the pact, holding joint courses and implementing joint research projects and topics are among the goals of pursuing the implementation of the proposal for the formation of the Association  of Top Universities of the Member Countries of the Shanghai Pact.

The president of Tehran University added: We have done studies on the formation of the union of member universities of the Shanghai Organization, and we will soon send our proposal to the Chinese Embassy in Tehran, as well as to the Secretariat of the Shanghai Organization from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Prof. Moghimi mentioned the history of relations between  University of Tehran and Chinese universities and said: Of course, this level of inter-university relations is not enough and it is necessary to take practical measures to develop university relations between the two countries.

The Chairman of the meeting of presidents of Iran's top universities, while referring to the meeting of the top universities of Iran and Russia as a platform for the development of scientific and academic relations between the two countries, said: "We are ready to strengthen the relations of the top universities of Iran in the form of an Association with the leading universities of China."

Prof. Moghimi announced the holding of the meeting of presidents of the top universities of Iran and Russia at the end of October in Moscow and added: these joint meetings have had good achievements, so we are interested in implementing the same model in relation to the prestigious universities of China, which the embassy China in Tehran can play a very important role in the formation of this summit.

Regarding the establishment of international branches of University of Tehran in other countries, he said: University of Tehran has plans to establish branches in Iraq and Lebanon. If there is a favorable environment for establishing a university branch in China, China will also be included in the list of target countries for Tehran University to establish a branch.

Referring to the position of  University of Tehran in international rankings, the President of University of Tehran expressed his interest in providing a discussion ground for the representatives of the International Vice-President and the Research and Technology Vice-Chancello President  of University of  Tehran with the administrators of the prestigious Shanghai ranking system in order to learn more about the criteria and cooperate with this ranking system.

He mentioned China as one of the countries present in the priorities of Iran's scientific diplomacy and expressed his hope that during the term of Mr. Chang Hua's as the ambassador , ​​a new chapter of academic relations between Iranian and Chinese universities can be established.

Prof. Seyed Mohammad Marandi, the International Vice President of the University of Tehran, emphasized on strengthening bilateral relations at all levels and stated: the will of the government and the University of Tehran is that cooperation with China and its universities are of great significance. 

Mr. Chang Hua, the Chinese ambassador in Tehran, in the meeting with the president of Tehran University, referring to the long history of the Persian language in China, said: The history of friendly relations between Iran and China is more than 2000 years, and we are very interested in teaching the Persian language in China.

In addition to pointing out the aspects of expanding economic relations between Iran and China in the 25-year agreement between the two countries, he also considered this agreement as having the capacity to develop relations between the two countries from a scientific, academic and cultural point of view.

The Chinese ambassador in Tehran also welcomed the proposals of the president of the University of Tehran in the field of holding joint conferences of the top universities of Iran and China, the formation of the association of top   universities of the member countries of the Shanghai Treaty and the expansion of relations between the universities of Iran and China.