Ghalib University Officials visit Allameh Tabataba’i University

Report by the Directorate for International Academic Cooperation–

On Saturday, 31 December 2022, Allameh Tabataba’i University (ATU) hosted a delegation of professors and high-ranking officials from Ghalib University, Herat and Kabul branches. The meeting, held at Vice-President for Research’s office, was attended by Vice-Presidents, Directors and Office Heads from ATU and a number of Vice-Presidents, Deans, International Relations Director, a Lecturer from the Faculty of Law from the Ghalib University of Herat, and a Faculty Member from the Kabul branch of the Ghalib university.

At the beginning of the meeting, Dr Asadollah Habibzadeh, the International Relations Director at Ghalib University of Herat, reported on the activities carried out since the signature of an MoU in 2017 between the two institutes. Then, Dr Seyed Jalal Faraji, Director of International Academic Cooperation at ATU, presented a welcome speech to the Afghan delegation and highlighted the need to expand international academic partnerships and hold joint degree programmes by the two parties.

In the next part of the meeting, Dr Davoud Hosseinpour, Vice-President for Research at ATU, referred to the development of ATU’s Strategic Plan in the horizon of 2022-2026 as well as the Action Plans for 2022 and 2023 and elaborated on the university’s plan to make improvements in the fields of developing the Humanities, international branding of the university, extending the MoUs and agreements with Ghalib University and other universities, focusing on the issues of shared concern between the two countries, exchanging students, admitting students from Ghalib University to study at ATU, and launching joint research centres by the two countries with a focus on scientific diplomacy.

Subsequently, the Vice-President for Research at the Ghalib University of Herat, Dr Mohammad Taher Tonzai, emphasised the need to extend the existing MoU and set up a joint committee to implement its provisions, and provided suggestions like granting scholarships to Ghalib University students, conducting joint research projects, publishing articles by Ghalib University professors in ATU’s scholarly periodicals, continuing the in-person and online workshops, holding joint academic and research exhibitions, and enriching Ghalib University’s library by ATU.

Dr Mehdi Vahedi, Vice-President for Student Affairs at ATU, then proposed that ATU support Ghalib University in lauching a number of degree programmes at Ghalib University and expanding cultural and social cooperation between the two institutes. In the end of the session, other participants presented their comments and feedback on the proposals and topics presented in the meeting.

It should be noted that in 2016, an MoU had been signed between ATU’s Faculty of Law and Political Sciences and Ghalib University of Herat, and, since then, the two institutes have cooperated in various academic fields. 

The meeting was attended by the following participants:

Participants from Allameh Tabataba’i University
Dr Davoud Hosseinpour, Vice-President for Research
Dr Mehdi Vahedi, Vice-President for Student Affairs
Dr Seyed Jalal Faraji, Director of International Academic Cooperation
Dr Hossein Aslipour, Director of Research Affairs
Dr Hadi Khanmohammadi, Director of Educational Planning, Supervision, and Assessment
Dr Ehsan Ekradi, Head of the Office for Developing International Academic Cooperation

Participants from Ghalib University of Herat
Dr Mohammad Taher Tonzai, Vice-President for Research
Dr Jalil Ahmed Pouya, Vice-President for Student Affairs
Dr Abdul Qadir Ahmad, Vice-President for Administration and Finance
Dr Nasir Ahmad Ebrahimi, Dean of the School of Medicine, Ghalib University
Dr Asadollah Habibzadeh, Director of International Relations (Communications) at Ghalib University
Mr Hamidullah Hanif, Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Ghalib University

Participant from Ghalib University of Kabul
Dr Seyed Hossein Mousavi, Director of Ghalib University of Kabul’s Research Centre