NCRI

Iran’s Massive Brain Drain and Mullahs’ Role in It

Mansoureh Galestan
Under the rule of the mullahs, Iran has become a record holder in elite students leaving the country
Under the rule of the mullahs, Iran has become a record holder in elite students leaving the country

Since the mullahs’ regime took power in 1979 in Iran, it devastated the country and its people. Besides plundering the national wealth, oppressing people, and pushing them in the swamp of poverty, the mullahs’ wrong policies have caused massive brain drain.

The regime has put the elite students and experts under such pressure and poverty that they have no option but to leave the country. Iran’s brain drain is increasing yearly. Between 150,000 and 180,000 elites and specialists leave the country every year, and in terms of brain drain, Iran, under the mullahs’ regime, ranks first in the world. University professors and experts are among the elites leaving Iran.

This crisis has reached a point where the regime’s state-run media and officials are forced to acknowledge some aspects of it.

During the parliament’s open session on March 7, on the government’s budget for the Persian New Year of 1400, Reza Monadi, MP from East Azarbaijan and the chair of Education and Research Commission, acknowledged the brain drain crisis in Iran.

“From March 2019 to March 2020, some 900 professors left Iran. A professor with 40 years of experience receives 140 million rials [$560 with the free marker dollar exchange rate] each month. However, a member of the [university] managing board receives 500 million rials [$2,000] a month. How could be possible to compare the two?” Monadi said.

Hadi Beiginejad, another MP of the regime, referred to a report which the Minister of Education had shown to Mohammad Bagher-Nobakht, head of Iran’s Budget and Planning Organization recently, which stated, “Several hundred university professors have left the country in the past few months.”

“I would like to draw the attention of my colleagues to the massive brain drain and emigration of youth from the country. This is one of Iran’s serious problems currently. We are facing the devaluation of the national currency. Thus, despite reaching [top academic] heights after 20 years of experience, their income is less than $1,000. Yet, our neighboring countries offer between $10,000 and $15,000 to faculty members of universities and elites,” said Anoushirvan Mohseni-Bandpei, another of the regimes MPs.

“Lack of support for faculty members has led to an increase in brain drain and emigration of professors from all universities. Some departments in the country’s universities, such as mechanics and computers, have lost more than 30% of their professors, which is very dangerous. Ferdowsi University is no exception, and in some groups, it is really worth considering and the situation is difficult,” wrote the semi-officials ISNA news agency on January 25, quoting the Vice Chancellor for Finance of the University of Mashhad.

“Countries with the largest Iranian population (people born in Iran) are the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Turkey, Sweden, Australia, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Qatar, France, Norway, Austria, Denmark, Italy, Iraq, Switzerland, and Belgium. Statistics for 2019 show that a total of 1,301,975 Iranians have migrated to these countries, while in 1990 the number of Iranians migrating worldwide was 631,339. Global statistics also show that the majority of Iranian migrants are educated and experts. This figure has doubled from 2011 to 2020, when in recent years, due to economic problems, there is massive brain drain,” wrote the state-run Khabar Fouri website on January 21.

Countless economic problems are among the most important reasons for professors leaving the country and for the general brain drain. Many of elite students or professors have been forced to into driving taxis and peddling due to lack of employment.

In addition, the regime systematically oppresses the intellectuals. Amir Hossain Moradi and Ali Younesi, two elite students at Sharif University, have been in detention for over a year. They have been subjected to psychological and physical torture.

Another form of oppressing professors in Iran is the regime’s interference in their teaching.

Uneducated regime officials or affiliates in the management of universities sabotage the work of independent professors through inappropriate and unprofessional interference. Those who comment on professors’ performance do not have scientific competence themselves, or if they do, use other criteria as the reason for assessing the professor. Therefore, the main reason for the professors’ departure from the country is [the regime’s] interference.

Livelihood, political and social pressures on university professors and other specialists in Iran are in a situation where the doors of Western universities are open to them. In this way, their departure from the country is in the interest of those countries and to the detriment of the Iranian people.

Their emigration not only causes the loss of many skilled and specialized forces but also affects the country’s capital, which is spent on training this skilled force. This wasted fund, is equivalent to tens of millions of dollars in damages, which is a major blow to the country annually.

Many of the Iranian elites, who remain in the country, have turned to secondary jobs to make ends meet. This will definitely affect education in universities and higher education institutions.

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