By Kayhan Life/Kayhan London Staff
Iranian students are leaving their homeland in unprecedented numbers, statistics show. More than 110,000 Iranian students are currently studying abroad, according to figures compiled by destination countries and data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), as cited by the Amirkabir Newsletter.
Statistics compiled by the newsletter show that the number of Iranian students enrolled at educational institutions abroad has nearly doubled since 2020. The favored destination is North America and Western Europe, where more than 60,000 students were based in 2023, according to UIS.
Turkey, Canada, Germany, Italy and the United States are the leading countries where students head for study abroad, according to the statistics.
Describing the trend as structural rather than cyclical, Bahram Salavati, former head of the Iran Migration Observatory, warned that return rates among student migrants were extremely low. He characterized the process as largely one-directional, resulting in a loss of talent.
The exodus of Iranian students is driven mainly by Iran’s economic crises, poor job prospects, and a desire for better opportunities. The drivers are cumulative and familiar: runaway inflation and poor job prospects; heightened security pressure on universities following the 2022 protests; declining academic credibility; and a chronic lack of research infrastructure.
The exodus is no longer confined to students. Officials have acknowledged a parallel departure of academic staff. Recent statements from the Ministry of Science’s research arm indicate that a significant number of professors and researchers have left over the past five years and taken up posts abroad.
Sociologist Parviz Ejlali explained that the link between political-economic policy and migration was direct. When income, opportunity, and professional pathways were systematically blocked at home, people gravitated toward functioning labor markets and credible career ladders elsewhere. Iran now has a large cohort of capable graduates who have reached mid-career without securing stable or appropriate employment—making them an attractive pool for international recruitment.
Ejlali also pointed to a long-running quality problem within higher education. Universities, under financial strain, admit students in large numbers. The lack of stringent standards in post-graduate studies has resulted in an oversupply of students and their underemployment. As such, the system pushes high-performing students to view foreign education as an exit strategy from the country, with no prospect of return.
