Iran, Tajikistan willing to increase academic scholarship quotas
Iran and Tajikistan are stepping up efforts to foster academic cooperation, with officials from the two countries discussing an increase in annual scholarship quotas alongside broader collaboration in higher education, scientific research and Persian language teaching.
Tajikistan’s Minister of Education and Science Rahim Saidzoda and Iran’s Ambassador to Tajikistan Alireza Haqiqian met to discuss ways to enhance educational, scientific and university cooperation, including raising the number of scholarships exchanged between the two countries, IRNA reported on Wednesday.
According to Tajikistan’s Ministry of Education and Science, Iran and Tajikistan currently allocate 50 scholarships each year to one another’s citizens, with most places dedicated to medical sciences.
Both sides stressed the need to raise the quotas to increase academic and university cooperation.
The meeting also covered joint research projects, the preparation of educational and scientific textbooks, expanding cooperation between universities and promoting the teaching of Persian language and literature in Tajikistan where people speak a dialect of the Persian language.
The ministry said both sides welcomed the growing trend in scientific and educational cooperation and described scholarship programs as one of the key drivers of stronger university links and academic exchanges.
The issue of expanding scholarship quotas has been on the table before. It was discussed during meetings in 2024 between Chairman of the National Assembly of Tajikistan, Rustam Emomali, and Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, as well as in 2023 talks between Tajikistan’s education minister and Iran’s former ambassador.
The latest meeting also noted that Persian language teaching is already under way in Tajikistan’s schools, while Persian language and literature are taught at five higher education institutions across the country.
The expansion of Persian language and script education in Tajikistan has gathered pace in recent years with government backing. The trend accelerated after Tajik President Emomali Rahmon instructed schools and universities to broaden the teaching of the Persian script.