Sharif University of Technology. Sharif University of Technology (SUT); (, romanized :  Dāneshgāh-e sana'ti-e sharif) is a public research university in Tehran, Iran. Nicknamed "the MIT of Iran", it is widely considered  to be the nation's most prestigious and leading institution for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Every year, the smartest and the most prospective students in Iran, ranked according to the results of the Iranian University Entrance Exam, choose to study at SUT at Bachelor's, Master's as well as PhD levels. For those students who wish to study STEM related fields, especially the most popular ones such as Computer engineering, Electrical engineering and  Mechanical engineering, Sharif University of Technology is the toughest Iranian university to get admission to.

Established in 1966 under the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, it was formerly named the Aryamehr University of Technology () and for a short period after the 1979 revolution, the university was called Tehran University of Technology. Following the revolution, the university was named after Majid Sharif Vaghefi.

Today, the university provides both undergraduate and graduate programs in 15 main departments. The student body consists of about 6,000 undergraduate students and 4,700 graduate students from all the 31 provinces of Iran. Funding for Sharif University is provided by the government and through private funding. Undergraduate admission to Sharif is limited to the top 800 of the 500,000 students who pass the national entrance examination administered annually by the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.

In the 2013 Academic Ranking of World Universities Engineering/Technology and Computer Sciences rankings, SUT was ranked 5th in the Middle East. It is in the top 251–275 universities in the world and 37th in Asia in the 2014 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. In the 2014 Times Higher Education top 100 for newer universities (less than 50 years old), SUT ranked 1st in the Middle East, 6th in Asia, and 27th in the world. In 2023, according to US News, the world ranking of this university reached 598.

History

The university was founded in 1966 with the name Aryamehr University of Industry by Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi. At that time, there were 54 faculty members and a total of 412 students who were selected by national examination. Also, only four departments were established: Electrical, Metallurgical, Mechanical, and Chemical Engineering.
In 1972, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi appointed Sayyed Hosein Nasr as president of the university with the goal of modeling the school based on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but with roots in Iranian culture. In 1974 a new campus of the university was established in Isfahan. But later that campus became an independent university, named Isfahan University of Technology (IUT). The emblem of IUT still closely resembles SUT's emblem . Following the revolution, the university was named after Majid Sharif Vaghefi, who was one of the People's Mujahedin of Iran group's leaders who was killed by the members of a splinter group (later renamed to Peykar Organization) who had recently converted from Islam to Marxism and were adamant to forcefully change the Mujahedin's organization's ideology to Marxism.

Currently, the university has about 12,000 students and over 700 faculty members in 16 main departments. During the Mahsa Amini protests in 2022, many students participated, with video footage of the protest and subsequent response by Iranian security forces published first to social media and then by major news organizations. Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that at least 37 students were arrested and most were released shortly afterwards.

Campuses

Main campus
The main campus of the university is located in the Tarasht neighborhood, near Azadi Square, Tehran, Iran. It is located close to the Azadi Tower, which is the symbol of Tehran and one of the main transportation hubs. The endowment of Sharif University of Technology has been estimated at $25 million.

International campus

Sharif University also has an International Campus on Kish Island in the Persian Gulf. The International Campus of Sharif University of Technology was established in 2005. Today there are two faculties active in this campus: Faculty of Engineering and Science, and Faculty of Management. The campus is currently admitting students for bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. degrees in engineering courses and a master's degree in management.

Academic profile

Profile
Sharif University was established in 1966 as an Engineering university with departments of Electrical, Metallurgical, Mechanical, and Chemical Engineering.

World rankings
In the 2020 Academic Ranking of World Universities (also known as Shanghai Ranking), the university ranked between 501 and 600 in the world and first in Iran. According to the QS Ranking, Sharif University of Technology has stood in the first place of Iran and maintained its international rank 334th. In the 2022-2023 U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking, the university ranked 598th in the world.

Student life

Political activities
Through the student political movement after the 2nd of Khordad Movement, Sharif students were also actively involved. The major groups with political intentions at Sharif, during 1997–2003, were students Basij and the Association of Muslim students, briefly called Anjoman (Association). Most other smaller groups were allies of either Basij or Anjoman.
Basij was a serious opposer of Mohammad Khatami, the president of the time. Whereas, Anjoman was a loyal follower.
There have been several clashes between member students of the two groups. Free speech tribunes, occasionally end in harsh quarrel-like debates.
However, the major clash between Anjoman and Basij occurred while the student movement was in silence in most other universities. In 2006, a serious controversy resulting in physical tensions, occurred after Basij attempted to bury bodies of unknown martyrs of the Iran–Iraq War at the universities' Mosque court.

Sharif University of Technology Association (SUTA)
This non-profit organization is registered in the state of California, USA and has many chapters and affiliates around the world. Its mission is to enhance professional, academic, and social contacts among its membership, and to strengthen the ties between the association members living outside of Iran and the university.

Faculty and alumni

Chancellors
Mohammad Ali Mojtahedi, 1965–1967
Fazlollah Reza, 1967–1968
Mohammad Reza Amin, 1968–1972
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, 1972–1975
Mehdi Zarghamee, 1975–1977
Alireza Mehran, 1977–1978
Hossein Ali Anvari, 1978–1979
Ali Mohammad Ranjbar, 1979–1980
Abbas Anvari, 1980–1982
Ali Akbar Salehi, 1982–1985
Abbas Anvari, 1985–1989
Ali Akbar Salehi, 1989–1993
Mohammad Etemadi, 1993–1995
Sayed Khatiboleslam Sadrnezhaad, 1995–1997
Saeed Sohrabpour, 1997–2010
Reza Roosta Azad, 2010–2014
Mahmud Fotuhi Firuzabad, 2014–2021
Rasool Jalili, 2021–2023
Abbas Mousavi, 2023–present

Notable alumni
Alumni in academics include the late Maryam Mirzakhani, professor of mathematics at Stanford University and the first woman to be awarded a Fields Medal.

Imprisoned human rights blogger Kouhyar Goudarzi was an aerospace student at Sharif until pressure from state security forces allegedly caused his dismissal. Omid Kokabee, an applied physics and mechanics alumnus, was arrested while visiting Iran during his postdoctoral research in University of Texas at Austin. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for "communicating with a hostile government" and "illegitimate/illegal earnings."

See also
List of Islamic educational institutions
Higher education in Iran
Pardis Technology Park
Shahbal, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed at SUT
Iranian Machine Design Competition

References

External links

Sharif University of Technology's home page 
 Sharif University of Technology - International Campus
 Kish Freezone Organization

 
1966 establishments in Iran
Educational institutions established in 1966
Engineering universities and colleges in Iran