Dive Brief:
- A negotiated nuclear deal with Iran still needs the approval of the U.S. Congress and Iranian parliament, but optimism is flowing in academia about the possibility of a new era of collaboration.
- Inside Higher Ed reports that the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control relaxed restrictions in 2014, opening the door for student exchange programs and the export of other education-related services that are only slowly taking off.
- Without a U.S. embassy in Iran and continued State Department warnings about travel there, students from the U.S. have been reluctant to go and their universities have been hesitant to sponsor them — but conversations over new partnerships and education opportunities are beginning.
Dive Insight:
Before China rose to claim the title, Iran was once the top sender of international students to U.S. universities. In 1979, more than 51,000 Iranian students studied here, according to the Institute for International Education. More recently, during the 2013-14 school year, that number was not even 10,200. Only two students from the U.S. were studying in Iran during the 2012-13 school year. There is much work to be done in rebuilding a relationship that once prospered, but scholars who have continued their research about Iran are ready for the thaw. Restrictions and sanctions have stifled scholarly pursuit for years, preventing the kind of diplomacy that comes with academic cooperation.