Right

I have actually done this program and to be honest, I would strongly disencourage anyone to take it. We were a group of 15 students when we started off the first year but the course is so bad that 13 students in total quit after the first and second semester. I think now only two eastern european girls in need of an MA have finished it. The course coordinater, Ahouie, is an absolute douchebag. Completely egocentric and indifferent to the students. He does absolutely anything NOT to help you. When we entered there wasnt enough accomodation available. We had that too and a few students were stranded in tehran without any help at all, only to be allocated (after months) an extremely expensive dorm with low quality that they could not afford. The guy in control of the dorms, Zangui, is a pervert doing anything to walk into the girls dorms and even into your room just to get a glimpse of a bit of your uncovered body. If you get angry at him, he might kick you out of the dorms. Then the quality of the program: absolutely terrible. The course is supposed to be about 'international relations' and once you arrive you ll see how hollow their interpretation of that is. You will not have to read a SINGLE book throughout the year (or you get to have the completely free choice to write a book review on whatever you want, with no supervising or coordination). In fact, the first semester is a waste of time, you will only go to dekhoda every morning, and the classes at the uni are a joke, with professors who have major difficulty speaking english. After one semester you ll be hoping, even if ur persian isnt that great, to have all the classes in persian, to just have the slightest challenge. Then: there are only two professors who will teach 70 % of the course, samiei and ahouie. Samiei is alright, but ahouie is just a joke. All the students of my class were extremeley dissappointed and, like me, they left. Even the students who stayed just wanted to finish and get over the whole thing as quickly as possible. If you want to study in tehran and have the exotic experience, I advise you to simply apply for an Persian language MA, like literature or whatever cuz the quality will be much better, the content much more interesting, and you ll be surrounded by other foreigners (irakis, turks,..) who also are trying to cope with the language difficulty. These courses will also be very hollow (it is still education at Iranian levels) and you will not be required to do anything, but at least you get to talk to loads of interesting people and challenge your language skills. Additionally, you will probably get a scholarship from the university. In the Iranian Studies MA there is only 1 scholarship available I think (going to someone from a poor country) but if you register via the University itself, you ll have access to merit based scholarship and what not. I have one friend who switched programs and is on such a scholarship now. Conclusion: Dont do the MA in Iranian Studies at the University of Tehran. It is an absolute joke and you will be left frustrated on your own.