The Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch (, ''Daneshgah-e Âzad-e Eslâmi-ye Vahed-e Tehran Mirkâzi'') is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

research Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

located in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

, Iran. Founded in 1982, Central Tehran is the flagship institution of the universities affiliated with

Islamic Azad University The Islamic Azad University (IAU; , ''Dāneshgāh-e Āzād-e Eslāmi'') is a Private university, private university system Headquarters, headquartered in Tehran, Iran. It is one of the largest comprehensive systems of university, universities in ...

system. The university is the oldest, the largest and the top university among all branches of

academic organization, established in 1982, originally as the Islamic Azad University of Tehran. The university campuses rest on of various districts of Tehran. It offers approximately 488

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education, usually in a college or university. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, ...

and

graduate degree Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor ...

programs in a wide range of disciplines such as

sciences Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture, including Philosophy, certain fundamental questions asked by humans. During the Renaissance, the term "humanities" referred to the study of classical literature a ...

and

social sciences Social science (often rendered in the plural as the social sciences) is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among members within those societies. The term was former ...

History

Establishment

Islamic Azad University Central Tehran Branch is the very first branch established under the

university system A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

which is known as

, so the history of this branch can be traced back to the foundation of the university.

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Akbar Hashemi Bahramani Rafsanjani (25 August 19348 January 2017) was an Iranian cleric, politician and writer who served as the fourth president of Iran from 1989 to 1997. One of the founding fathers of the Government of Iran, Islamic Republic, ...

sought to establish a

private university Private universities and private colleges are higher education institutions not operated, owned, or institutionally funded by governments. However, they often receive tax breaks, public student loans, and government grants. Depending on the count ...

to address the challenges posed during the early years of

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution (, ), also known as the 1979 Revolution, or the Islamic Revolution of 1979 (, ) was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979. The revolution led to the replacement of the Impe ...

-such as

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

- and to meet increasing demands of secondary-school graduates for higher education in Iran. On the sidelines of an

Islamic Republican Party The Islamic Republican Party (IRP; , also translated Islamic Republic Party) was formed in 1979 to assist the Iranian Revolution and Ayatollah Khomeini in their goal to establish theocracy in Iran. It was disbanded in 1987 due to internal confl ...

conference, Rafsanjani mooted the idea with Abdollah Jasbi, who supported and developed the plan to establish ''Islamic Azad University''. Islamic Azad University Central Tehran Branch is the very first branch established under the

which is known as

. In its early days, the university lacked sufficient funds and facilities to operate, sorely relying on donations made by people and government. The initial endowment was about 100,000 Rials. Jasbi rented No. 155 building in Forsat Shirazi St., while Nassir Shekarriz and Mahmoud Latifipour – who were in charge as Chancellor and Vice Chancellor respectively – rented the sixth floor of a building located in Enqelab St., Felestin St. in order to hold an entrance exam in 1982. This university began as the Islamic Azad University of Tehran when it opened its doors to about 200 students, offering six majors in bachelor's degree and two in associate degree. Soon after, the whole building in Enqelab St. was purchased from Mostazafan Foundation of Islamic Revolution and became the university's first property. (Current Faculty of Arts and Architecture)

Chancellors

Campus

The university has 13 Faculties: The university has three campuses:

Schools and departments

Programs by subject: *Arts & humanities *Clinical, pre-clinical & health (medical sciences) *Life sciences *Social sciences *Engineering & technology *Physical sciences

Enrollments

In academic year of 2023-2024

Faculty of Engineering

Programs and majors

In academic year of 2023-2024: *

Aerospace engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

(BS, MS) *

Biomedical engineering Biomedical engineering (BME) or medical engineering is the application of engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology for healthcare applications (e.g., diagnostic or therapeutic purposes). BME also integrates the logica ...

(BS, MS, PhD) *

Chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

(BS, MS, PhD) *

Civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

(BS, MS, PhD) *

Computer engineering Computer engineering (CE, CoE, or CpE) is a branch of engineering specialized in developing computer hardware and software. It integrates several fields of electrical engineering, electronics engineering and computer science. Computer engi ...

(BS, MS, PhD) *

Electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

(BS, MS, PhD) *

Energy engineering Energy engineering is a multidisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on optimizing energy systems, developing renewable energy technologies, and improving energy efficiency to meet the world's growing demand for energy in a sustainable man ...

(MS) *

Environmental engineering Environmental engineering is a professional engineering Academic discipline, discipline related to environmental science. It encompasses broad Science, scientific topics like chemistry, biology, ecology, geology, hydraulics, hydrology, microbiolo ...

(BS, MS) *

Industrial engineering Industrial engineering (IE) is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, an ...

(BS, MS, PhD) *

Information technology engineering Data engineering is a software engineering approach to the building of data systems, to enable the collection and usage of data. This data is usually used to enable subsequent data analytics, analysis and data science, which often involves machin ...

(MS) *

Materials engineering Materials science is an Interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origi ...

(BS, MS) *

Mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

(BS, MS, PhD) *

Mechatronics engineering Mechatronics engineering, also called mechatronics, is the synergistic integration of mechanical, electrical, and computer systems employing mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, electronic engineering and computer engineering, and also ...

(MS) *

Mining engineering Mining engineering is the extraction of minerals from the ground. It is associated with many other disciplines, such as mineral processing, exploration, excavation, geology, metallurgy, geotechnical engineering and surveying. A mining engineer m ...

(BS, MS) *

Nuclear engineering Nuclear engineering is the engineering discipline concerned with designing and applying systems that utilize the energy released by nuclear processes. The most prominent application of nuclear engineering is the generation of electricity. Worldwide ...

(BS, MS, PhD) *

Petroleum engineering Petroleum engineering is a field of engineering concerned with the activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas or both. Exploration and production are deemed to fall within the ''upstrea ...

(BS, MS) *

Polymer engineering Polymer engineering is generally an engineering field that designs, analyses, and modifies polymer materials. Polymer engineering covers aspects of the petrochemical industry, polymerization, structure and characterization of polymers, properties o ...

(BS) * Sports engineering (BS) *

Textile engineering Textile manufacturing or textile engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful good ...

(BS)

Sub-program

*Department of Electrical Engineering *Department of Biomedical Engineering *Department of Computer Engineering *Department of Nuclear Engineering *Department of Mechanical Engineering *Department of Industrial Engineering *Department of Chemical Engineering

Faculty of Science

*Department of Mathematics, Computer Science and Statistics It offers the following programs: *Department of Biology *Department of Chemistry *Department of Physics

Admissions

The university received 35,317 applications for the Fall 2011 undergraduate class, making it the university with the most freshmen applicants among all branches of Islamic Azad University. In 2013, a total number of 11,789 and 6,061 applications were received for undergraduate and graduate programs respectively.

Rankings

Islamic World Science Citation Database Islamic World Science Citation Database (ISC) is a citation index established by the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research and Technology after it was approved by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. It only indexes journals from the Islami ...

2011: third among

campuses *

SCImago The SCImago Journal Rank (SJR) indicator is a measure of the prestige of scholarly journals that accounts for both the number of citations received by a journal and the prestige of the journals where the citations come from. Etymology SCImag ...

rankings 2012: International rank : 231, National rank : 1
2013: International rank : 87, National rank : 1

Notable alumni and people

File:Zahra Rahnavard.jpg,

Zahra Rahnavard Zahra Rahnavard (; born Zohreh Kazemi; 19 August 1945) is an Iranian academic, artist and politician. Rahnavard is a university professor, artist, and intellectual who was under house arrest from February 2011 to May 2018. In 2009, Foreign Poli ...

, Faculty of Political Sciences File:Sadegh Zibakalam.jpg,

Sadegh Zibakalam Sadegh Zibakalam Mofrad (; born 12 June 1948) is an Iranian academic, author and pundit described as reformist and neo-liberal. Zibakalam is a former professor at University of Tehran and appears frequently on international news outlets including ...

, Faculty of Political Sciences File:Mokhtabad-Wiki2.JPG,

Abdolhossein Mokhtabad Abdolhossein Mokhtabad (, born 21 March 1966) is an Iranian singer and composer of Persian traditional music. He is a Gold Medal Winner of Global Music Awards in 2020 and Silver Medal Winner in 2022. Career Mokhtabad's works are in the classical ...

, Faculty of Arts File:Abbas Araghchi.jpg,

Abbas Araghchi Sayyid Abbas Araghchi (, ; also spelled Araqchi, born 5 December 1962) is an Iranian diplomat and politician, who is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran since August 2024. He previously served as the Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign A ...

, MS (International Relation) File:Siamak Ansari.jpg, Siamak Ansari, BS (Theater) File:Ali-Daei-cropped.jpg,

Ali Daei Ali Daei ( ; born 21 March 1969) is an Iranian Association football, football manager and former professional footballer. A Striker (association football), striker, he was the captain (association football), captain of the Iran national footbal ...

, MS (Physical Education) File:Mohammad Abbasi.jpg,

Mohammad Abbasi Mohammad Abbasi (, born 28 February 1958) is an Iranian politician who is the former minister of youth affairs and sports. He was Minister of Cooperatives in the first and second Cabinet of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from 2005 to 2011. Early life ...

, MS (Management) File:Marzieh Afkham in 2015.jpg,

Marzieh Afkham Marzieh Afkham () is an Iranian diplomat who serves as Iran ambassador to Slovenia since 2025. She also served as the ambassador to Malaysia for four years. She is former spokeswoman and head of the Center for Public and Media Diplomacy in Iran ...

, MS (Political Sciences) File:Hamid sourian.JPG, Hamid Sourian, BS (Physical Education) File:Hanieh Tavassoli in Fajr Film Festival.jpg, Hanieh Tavassoli, BS (Theater) File:Masoud Soltanifar 1394.jpg, Masoud Soltanifar, MS (Political Sciences) File:Faezeh Hashemi.jpg, Faezeh Hashemi, MS (International law) File:Javad Khiabani.jpg, Javad Khiabani, BS (Physical Education) File:VP Mohammad-Reza Rahimi during last government meeting in Mashhad.jpg,

Mohammad Reza Rahimi Mohammad Reza Rahimi (, born on 11 January 1949) is an Iranian politician who served as the fifth Vice President of Iran, first vice president from 13 September 2009 until 3 August 2013. His previous posts included governor of the Kurdistan pro ...

, MS (Sociology)

Faculty

– Iranian Reformist Politician * Mohammad-Javad Haghshenas – Iranian Reformist journalist and Political activist * Amir Mohebbian – Iranian Conservative Politician * Mansour Falamaki –

Iranian Science and Culture Hall of Fame Iranian Science and Culture Hall of Fame or Ever-lasting Names / People (; read as ''čehre-hā-ye māndegār'') is a formal ceremony to honor influential contemporary scientific and cultural Eminents. The title is awarded to those who "will rema ...

r in architecture * Hassan Riahi –

r in music and composer of

National Anthem of the Islamic Republic of Iran The National Anthem of the Islamic Republic of Iran was adopted in 1990, replacing the previous anthem used during the rule of Ruhollah Khomeini. It was composed by Hassan Riyahi, and the lyrics were written by Sayed Bagheri. It is the fourth ...

* Seyyed Bagher Ayatollahzadeh Shirazi – Architect and

r in Heritage site repairs * Homayoun Riahi Chaleshtari – Chairman of

Zamyad Co. Zamyad. (Persian: خودروسازی زامیاد, ''Xodrosāzi-ye Zāmyād'') is an Iranian commercial vehicle manufacturing company. It was founded in 1963 as part of the RENA Industrial Group in Tehran. In 1963, the company began producing Volv ...

(2008–2009) and board member of

Iran Khodro Iran Khodro (, ''Irān Xodro''), branded as IKCO, is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. IKCO was founded in 1962 as Iran National (, ''Irān Nāsionāl''). The public company manufactures vehicles, including Samand, Peugeot and Rena ...

and

SAIPA SAIPA (, ''SAIPA'') is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. The SAIPAC (an acronym for the French ''Société anonyme iranienne de production des automobiles Citroën'' lit. ''Iranian Limited Company for the Production of Citroën Autom ...

* Mostafa Kavakebian, Iranian Reformist Politician and former

parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

representative *

Hossein Allahkaram Hossein Allahkaram () is an Iranian conservative activist, pundit and former military officer. He is head of the coordination council of Ansar-e-Hezbollah and is described as its theoretician. Following Allahkaram’s Ansar-e-Hezbollah’s att ...

Ansar-e Hezbollah Ansar-e Hezbollah''CIA - The World Factbook''
see the "Government" section, "Political ...

activist *

Ali Akbar Saremi Ali Akbar Saremi (Persian: علی‌اکبر صارمی) (28 October 1943 – 21 January 2017) was an Iranian architect. Saremi earned a Masters in Architecture from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, in 1968. He got his doctorate ...

– Architect * Karen Khanlari – Representative of

Iranian parliament The Islamic Consultative Assembly (), also called the Iranian Parliament, the Iranian Majles (Arabicised spelling Majlis) or ICA, is the unicameral national legislative body of Iran. The parliament currently consists of 290 representatives, an i ...

* Karim Zareh – Former representative of

* Hassan Mohadessi – Sociologist * Jahanbakhsh Khanjani – Iranian Reformist Politician * Ali Najafi Tavana – Iran Central Bar Association President * Jalil Maleki – Iran Central Bar Association Board Member * Isa Amini – Iran Central Bar Association Board Member * Elaheh Koulaei – Former representative of

* Ferdos Hajian – Primary school education expert * Mohammad-Reza Rahimi –

Vice President of Iran First vice president of Iran () is defined by article 124 of the Constitution of Iran as anyone appointed by the President of Iran to lead an organization related to presidential affairs in Iran. , there are fourteen vice presidents. The first vic ...

(2009–2013) * Enshallah Rahmati – Journalist and Translator in Philosophy and theosophy *

– Political analyst * Effat Shariati –

representative * Hamid Sajjadi –

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Education and Sport Vice-president * Mohammad-Hossein Farhangi –

representative * Habibollah Sadeghi – Painter * Saeid Kharaghani – Iranian Ministry of Energy Deputy for Research & Human Resources (1998–2005) * Ali Darabi,

Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB; ) or Seda va Sima () for short, formerly called National Iranian Radio and Television until the Iranian revolution of 1979, is an Iranian state-controlled media corporation that holds a monopo ...

Deputy * Shabnam Gholikhani – Actress and Director * Farhad Nazerzadeh Kermani –

r in Arts * Ahmad Bakhshayesh – Representative of

* Hossein Abolhasan Tanhayi – Sociologist * Mostafa Askarian – Pedagogian * Mohammad Reza Sadegh – Senior Advisor to President

Hassan Rouhani Hassan Rouhani (; born Hassan Fereydoun, 12 November 1948) is an Iranian peoples, Iranian politician who served as the seventh president of Iran from 2013 to 2021. He is also a sharia lawyer ("Wakil"), academic, former diplomat and Islamic cl ...

Abdollah Ramezanzadeh Abdollah Ramezanzadeh () is an Iranian academic, writer and politician. An ethnic Kurdish, he is the former spokesman and secretary of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran during the presidency of Muhammad Khatami. Ramezanzadeh is an ...

– Iranian Reformist Politician, governor of the Kurdistan Province under President Mohammad Khatami *

– Musician, Singer, Member of

City Council of Tehran The Islamic City Council of Tehran () is the directly elected council that presides over the city of Tehran, elects the mayor of Tehran in a mayor–council government system, and budgets of the Municipality of Tehran. The council is composed ...

Alumni

As of June 2010, the university has 176,973 alumni which makes it the biggest number among all branches of Islamic Azad University. *

– Iran Minister of Cooperatives (2005–2011) and Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports (2011–2013) * Faezeh Hashemi – former representative of

and women rights activist *

Parvin Ahmadinejad Parvin Ahmadinejad (; born 3 February 1962) is an Iranian politician. She is the sister of former President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (born Mahmoud Sabbaghian on 28 October 1956) is an Iranian Iranian principlists, principlis ...

– former member of

* Mohammad-Ali Pourmokhtar – Representative of

* Mehdi Davatgari – Representative of

* Rajab Rahmani – Representative of

* Rahmatollah Norouzi – Representative of

* Shabnam Gholikhani – Actress and Director * Hanieh Tavassoli – Actress * Shahrokh Razmjou – Archaeologist *

Elnaz Shakerdoust Elnaz Shakerdoost (Persian language, Persian: الناز شاکردوست; born July 7, 1984) is an Iranian Actor, actress. She studied at the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Tehran while pursuing acting in Theatre, theater. She recei ...

– Actress * Kazem Sayahi – Voice actor * Behdad Moghadasi – Guitarist * Akbar Mohammadi Argi – Football coach * Fariba Davoodi Mohajer – Journalist and activist *

– Diplomat, Iranian Ambassador to Finland & Japan, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs * Ali Shoroughi – Writer and Journalist * Laleh Eskandari – Actress * Bahareh Rahnama – Actress * Azita Afrashi – linguist and Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies fellow * Mojtaba Saminejad – blogger and human rights activist * Kambiz Hosseini – co-presenter of '' Parazit'' * Shararh Farnejad – Musician and member of '' Arian Band'' * Mehrab Ghasemkhani – Screenwriter *

Mahdi Pakdel Mehdi Pakdel (; born July 1, 1980) is an Iranian actor. Career Mehdi Pakdel lived in his hometown until the age of 17 when he left for the capital, Tehran, to pursue a career in arts. While studying graphic arts at the Islamic Azad University, ...

– Actor *

– Actress * Houman Haji-Abdollahi – Voice actor and

IRIB The Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB; ) or Seda va Sima () for short, formerly called National Iranian Radio and Television until the Iranian revolution of 1979, is an Iranian state-controlled media corporation that holds a monopo ...

Host * Siamak Ansari – Actor * Abolfazl Shahi – Artist * Arash Dadgar – Theater Actor *

Hamed Behdad Hamed Behdad (; born November 17, 1973) is an Iranian actor and singer. He has received various accolades, including a Crystal Simorgh, a Hafez Award, an Iran Cinema Celebration Award and two Iran's Film Critics and Writers Association Awards. H ...

– Actor

Athletics

Several students have won medals in International competitions while studying at the university. Other notable sportspeople at the university include

, Karim Ansarifard,

Mohammad Mayeli Kohan Mohammad Mayeli Kohan (, born 5 June 1954) is an Iranian football coach and former player. He recently managed Malavan in Azadegan League. Early life He was born on 5 June 1954 in Bandar-e Anzali in Iran. His father was a farmer. He has two ...

, Akbar Mohammadi, Mahmoud Miran and

Arash Miresmaeili Arash Miresmaeili (, born 3 March 1981) is an Iranian judoka and the President of Islamic Republic of Iran Judo Federation since March 2019. World Judo Championships He won the gold medal in two World Judo Championships, the first one in 2001 i ...

References

External links

Official Website

The Public Relations & Information of IAUCTB

IEEE Student Branch Of IAUCTB Website

Sorana automotive design team

Hayyan Cultural Student society Website

Computer Engineering Student society of IAUCTB Website
{{Authority control 1982 establishments in Iran Universities in Tehran Universities and colleges established in 1982 Central Tehran *