Iraqi militias admitted to Tehran university without entrance exams

The University of Tehran has announced an increase in the admission of members of Hashd al-Shaabi, the Iranian-backed Shiite militia in Iraq, without the need for entrance exams.

Mohammad Moghimi, President of the University of Tehran, announced Thursday that these students do not receive military training at the university and instead study management though it is widely known that Iraqi militias are trained in Iran.

The Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), was established in 2014 following a religious decree to combat ISIS, which at the time had taken control of four Iraqi governorates and threatened Baghdad.

While the Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization is largely composed of Shia Muslim groups, it also includes Sunni Muslim, Christian, and Yazidi factions with an estimated 128,000 fighters across 67 different armed factions.

The University of Tehran's decision to welcome the militia members without standard academic requirements signals a concerning trend. Official reports last year highlighted a "cooperation and agreement" between the Hashd al-Shaabi and the University of Tehran to facilitate the education of these fighters.

Moghimi disclosed in his Thursday interview with the IRNA news agency that Iraqi officials have expressed dissatisfaction with the "insufficient quality" and low standards of some Iranian universities educating PMF students. To address the concerns, Iraqi authorities have requested the University of Tehran step in and help "repair this reputational damage."

He said the influx of the Hashd al-Shaabi members into Iranian universities, particularly the University of Tehran where admission for Iraqis has doubled, is part of a broader plan.

These students, according to Moghimi, many of whom are relatives of active, deceased, or wounded militia from the so-called "resistance front," are being groomed with the help of substantial Iraqi government funding to assume leadership roles back home.

Moghimi paints a rosy picture of the Hashd al-Shaabi members, describing them as deserving individuals committed to "advancing Islamic ideals."

Moghimi claims that there are also economic benefits behind admitting the Hashd al-Shaabi members, stating that they pay almost 1,200 euros per semester for undergraduate studies, compared to 80 to 90 million rials (130-150 $) for Iranian students.

In late July of last year, a group of student activists at the University of Tehran issued a statement condemning the presence of the Hashd al-Shaabi forces and similar individuals at Iranian universities as a "military invasion of the university."

They vowed to resist such admissions, emphasizing that the university has already been emptied of genuine students through "dismissals, suspensions, and repression," and turned into a stronghold for "so-called affiliated professors and Basij militia members."

Last year, Moghimi dismissed protests against the admission of the Hashd al-Shaabi members as "the anger of traitors." Now, he tries to justify these admissions by pointing out that "the education of individuals, managers, and regional officials" has always been a practice at the university, citing Nechirvan Barzani, the Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region and an alumnus of the University of Tehran, as an example.