Ablutions? AI? Pick Your Field of Studies at Iran’s Seminaries

Some 4,300 students have been admitted to 244 specialized religious and jurisprudential centers in Iran in the 2023-2024 academic year, Iran Open Data cited official statistics as showing.

These statistics, extracted from documents published by the Office of the Educational Deputy of the Religious Seminaries, do not include the seminaries in Khorasan and women's seminaries, the collaborative initiative says.

According to the website of the Deputy for Educational Affairs of the Management Center of Religious Seminaries, specialized religious and jurisprudential centers offer education programs in a total of 410 fields and specializations – ranging from traditional jurisprudential, ablutions and hadith (a collection of reports about the sayings and doings of the Prophet Muhammad) to medicine, economics, banking, aerospace, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, computer games and social networks.

The students, upon completing their educational program, are recognized as specialized clergymen with qualifications equivalent to bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees.

Meanwhile, the National Organization for Educational Testing announced that only 1,300 candidates would be allowed to join this year the national program that trains specialized physicians in the fields of cardiology, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology and pediatrics.

The total capacity for the program is 4,600.

***

Click here to read Iran Open Data's article in Persian. 

Founded in 2016, Iran Open Data (IOD) strives to make Iran’s official data accessible, available and re-usable. Not only does IOD collect and process raw datasets for researchers and experts, it also publishes exclusive data-driven articles and digital stories for the general public. Additionally, IOD conducts public data calls and surveys on often neglected or taboo issues that are rarely addressed by the government. Follow IOD for all the data-stories concerning Iran.