TEHRAN -- As the first Iranian academic center, Shahid Beheshti University will cooperate with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Shahid Beheshti is the fifth international contributor to the institute -- a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Shahid Beheshti University was primarily a private university until 1979, a year after the Islamic Revolution. Since then it has become a state funded university. The university was called The National University of Iran until 1983. It was subsequently renamed Shahid Beheshti University.
Located in north of Tehran, the university offers 57 masters and 29 PhD degrees in different fields of study.
The MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological research.
The institute enrolled 4,172 undergraduates, 6,048 postgraduate students, and employed 1,008 faculty members in the 2007/08 school year. Its endowment and annual research expenditures are among the largest of any American university. A number of 73 Nobel Laureates and 47 National Medal of Science recipients are currently or have previously been affiliated with the university