Allameh Tabataba'i University actively cooperates with Russian universities

Report by the Directorate for International Academic Cooperation –

Allameh Tabataba'i University's International academic partnerships are expanding and developing daily at a transnational level. In this regard, a meeting was held on 15 June 2022 between officials from Allameh Tabataba'i University and Kazan Federal University, Russia, and the grounds for cooperation were reviewed at different levels.

During this meeting, Dr Timirkhan Alishev, Vice-Rector for International Affairs at the Russian University, met Dr Seyed Jalal Dehghani Firoozabadi, Vice-President for Research, and Dr Seyed Jalal Faraji, Director of International Academic Cooperation at Allameh Tabataba'i University.

At the beginning of the meeting and following his brief introduction of the city of Kazan and the history of Kazan Federal University from 1804 to 2021, Dr Alishev said that the university is one of the ten federal universities in Russia. He went on to introduce the structure and programmes of this comprehensive university and added, "Kazan University consists of 16 institutes, two campuses, two high schools, one school, a kindergarten and a university clinic with different programmes including natural sciences, physics, mathematics, communication technology, social sciences and humanities, and primary and pre-school education".

Dr Alishef then reviewed the strategic projects at Kazan Federal University on the horizon of 2030 and pointed out that over 10,500 international students from 101 countries, including Iran, are studying at this university. He added that in the academic year 2021-22, 618 Iranian students studied at Kazan University at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

He also presented an overview of the joint academic partnerships conducted between Iranian universities and Kazan Federal University, including the joint publications in the areas of physics, astronomy, engineering, social sciences, and materials sciences. The two universities have also cooperated in teaching the Persian language and establishing Iranian studies in 2001 at Kazan University. He also mentioned the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Sharif University of Technology, University of Tehran, Islamic Research Foundation of Astan-e Quds Razavi, and Allameh Tabataba'i University as the major Iranian partners for academic cooperation with Kazan Federal University.

In the next part of the meeting, Dr Dehghani Firoozabadi, Vice-President for Research at Allameh Tabataba'i University, added, "Allameh Tabataba'i University is the largest humanities and social science-oriented university in Iran. The university consists of eleven Faculties and six Research Institutes. Five Faculties are located at the main campus, and the remaining six are distributed in different locations of Tehran".

He then said that given the MoU previously signed between the two universities, we have to operationalise the MoU in the form of joint degree programmes in the fields of legal studies and education, exchange and mobility of students and professors, short-term study visits, cooperation in the publication of books and research works, joint conferences, roundtables, workshops, other events, and conducting joint research projects.

In the end of the meeting, Dr Seyed Jalal Faraji, Director of International Scientific Cooperation at ATU, noted that apart from academic interactions, the expansion of research partnerships with non-academic institutions and organisations can provide the basis for further interactions and collaborations. This can motivate our professors and students to participate in international activities, and its effects can be well observed in the academic community.