Wednesday, September 03, 2014
رفتار بهانه جویانه و تبعیض آمیز دولت نروژ با دانشجویان ایرانی
Norway's shame: educational discrimination against Iranian students
POOYAN TAMIMI ARAB 2 September 2014
Iranian students are being systematically discriminated against by the
Norwegian government. This is a closed minded approach that goes against
long term European interests.
For several months now there have been disheartening reports from Norway
that Iranian students are being denied residence permits and visas due to
international sanctions, even though their areas of expertise do not appear
to pose any security threats to European interests.
The same happened two years ago in the Netherlands. In response, I argued
that Iranian students should not be seen as posing a threat, that those
accepted in European and American graduate degree programs include the
brightest minds from Iran, and that the international sanctions imposed on
Iran did not even include the option of such blatant educational
discrimination. Iranian students in the Netherlands were not merely targeted
because of the sanctions, but found themselves caught up in a broader,
xenophobic political context that fed bias against them.
Fortunately, though to no avail for those who lost scholarships or hard
earned savings, the Dutch government responded positively to criticisms and
a Supreme Court ruling that confirmed allegations of discrimination.
In Norway, unsurprisingly, bias against Iranian students has grown since the
2013 rise of a new conservative government. Such allegations of
discrimination go against the international image of Norway as an open,
inclusive society. Rather than going through similar legal procedures as in
the Netherlands, the Norwegian government should reassess its interpretation
of its implemented policy concerning the admittance of Iranian students.
When it does reject students’ applications, this should be based on
transparent and concrete reasoning. A secretive attitude of the immigration
authorities will only reinforce accusations of arbitrary discrimination.
A glance at the students’ Facebook page, Stop Educational Discrimination
Against Iranians (SEDAI), shows massive academic support for their cause.
Among the supporters are the usual critical academic superstars, such as
Noam Chomsky: “We call upon the Norwegian government to withdraw the unjust
decision and to put an end to discrimination in education”. But also Gunnar
Bovim, rector of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU),
who has said that “We may lose the battle for the best brains”, because the
PhD students whose visa applications were rejected are “the best qualified
applicants for their positions”. That this is not an exaggeration is clear
from the many prestigious positions in western universities and companies
occupied by Iranian migrants over the past decades.
For example, among the studies that the Norwegian Security Police Service
(PST) has concerns about is mathematics. Is training students in graduate
level mathematics really that dangerous? Imagine that because of fear and
bigotry, rather than genuine security threats, a European country turns away
the next Maryam Mirzakhani, born and raised in Iran and since this year the
first woman ever to win the prestigious Fields Medal (often said to be the
Nobel Prize of mathematics). Such would be a loss for all, and this from the
country which is famous for the most prestigious award in natural science.
In addition to being supported by a wide variety of academics, the students
have gathered support from Norwegian citizens as well. On 20 August, two
copies of over twelve thousand signatures were submitted to the Norwegian
government, to a political adviser at the office of Prime Minister, as well
as to a Member of Parliament. On Facebook, the SEDAI campaign requested “the
Norwegian authorities change the unfair decisions limiting the educational
opportunities for Iranian nationals and to care about so many people in
Norway and abroad who gave their signatures to the petition and keep
watching the developments closely.”
Europeans must not underestimate the negative publicity caused by their
governments’ discriminatory policies. The Netherlands, for example, has
again welcomed Iranian students to its universities, allowed their
employment after graduation and grants citizenship to those with five years
of work experience. Many take advantage of these excellent opportunities,
but there are also badly needed and brilliant young scientists and scholars
who choose to leave. For example Kambiz (pseudonym), who graduated in one of
the most complex areas of expertise at Delft Technical University, told me
that among his reasons for leaving the Netherlands after several years were
a closed minded attitude towards migrants.
In the Netherlands, Kambiz felt, he would never be really respected for his
talents and achievements, perpetually remaining an outsider. And all of this
despite this young man’s very open attitude towards the country, its people,
places, language and achievements. Other European countries such as Norway
should reconsider how toxic such discrimination policies are, pushing away
potential contributors to their societies and unnecessarily feeding
resentment.
That the sanctions are indeed being disproportionately applied to students,
by which I mean that there is no relation with nuclear weapons technology,
is clear from the many stories available on SEDAI’s Facebook page. The page,
which currently has three thousand likes, has posted information about
various cases of Iranians who appear to be rejected by immigration
authorities in an arbitrary manner. Take for example Vahid Rasoulzadeh, a
student working on offshore technology, who had to appeal a decision by the
Norwegian Directorate of Immigration to be able to pursue his educational
goals. In the meantime, he had to wait for over a year in Norway without
being allowed to work and was not able to travel to visit family.
In the case of Hamideh Kaffash, the appeal made by her Norwegian university
(NTNU) was rejected. According to SEDAI, this was “without a concrete
reasoning”. Kaffash’s story, that she has not been allowed to pursue a PhD
in material engineering, was covered by BBC.com, which cites her saying that
her research project is aimed at “reducing CO2 emission in ferromanganese
production … It’s a project which will benefit the environment and is now
being applied in Iran.” Jostein Mardalen, head of the Department of
Materials Science and Engineering, was quoted saying that the decision of
the Department of Immigration “is baseless and wrong.”
Not only are visa applications rejected, the current situation is also
applicable for all Iranians who migrated with their families to Norway and
already have a permanent residence status. Mahtab Emamy Frooshany, for
example, who is living in Oslo with her family, failed to be admitted for a
master’s program solely due to her nationality. Her university education
department informed her that she was “not considered eligible for admission
to the Master in Systems Engineering with Embedded Systems because you are
an Iranian citizen”.
She appealed twice and received a final rejection letter from the Ministry
of Education in June, stating that “Internationalization of higher education
is high on the agenda in Norway, and we are pleased to welcome Iranian
students to Norway. However, universities and university colleges have a
duty to prevent illegal transfer of knowledge relevant to the proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction.” The letter adds that these “regulations are
applicable also for students with permanent residence in Norway.”
What was so dangerous about her following a master’s program in embedded
systems engineering? First of all, this particular branch of engineering is
indeed used for developing control systems for rockets, and this could be a
reason to deny certain types of knowledge to certain students or
researchers. But embedded systems engineering is also used for everything
ranging from pacemakers, cell phones, and airbags. Would a graduate student
really acquire information and training so sensitive that it would
facilitate creating weapons of mass destruction? Moreover, as the Dutch
courts recognized earlier, in a globalized world any citizen can sell
information to another nation’s government. Discrimination based solely on
citizenship is highly questionable as an effective strategy of protecting
security interests.
What are the broader implications of treating Iranian students with so
little courtesy? Over the past years, the economic sanctions imposed on Iran
by the United States and the European Union due to worries over Iran
acquiring a nuclear weapon have slowed down the progress and emancipation of
young Iranians seeking to broaden their horizon. In their country, the
middle class is becoming ever more an aspiring middle class that has the
spirit required for real cosmopolitanism but not the cash nor the visas
required to increase its freedom of movement.
Having struck the Iranian currency hard, in some cases evaporating life
savings and dreams of pursuing higher education outside Iran, ordinary
citizens have become victims of political power struggles. Students as far
apart as the United States and Malaysia have had to give up their studies,
sometimes when only one semester was left to be completed, returning to
their country with empty pockets and without a degree. That these bright
students should in addition continuously worry about visa applications and
residency permits rubs salt in their already badly hurting wounds.
These people do not only come to countries like the Netherlands and Norway
for work and study, but also for their cultures of tolerance. As I wrote
earlier, it is imperative that the door for exchange of good intentions,
beyond technical know-how, stays open. Education and cultural exchange are
among the best ways to establish such meaningful ties. Of course, very
complex political problems remain outstanding, but burning bridges between
Iran and the western world will help no one face the challenges that lie
ahead. We merely need to recall the very long history of European-Iranian
educational relations to realize the fundamental transformations of the past
decades.
During the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, the great Iranian
statesmen Amir Kabir created the first modern Iranian college and sent out a
few dozen students to bring back western knowledge to Iran. Today, thousands
of students travel to Europe and North America every year and thousands more
dream of doing so. Their purpose is no longer mere imitation, bringing back
(potentially sensitive) knowledge and not adding anything of major
significance. Today, they are excellent contributors to European
universities and often after graduation to European companies as well. Such
a time requires going beyond simplistic prejudiced thinking in ‘us’ and
‘them’ categories, letting go of fears and instead engaging with each other
in dialogue, exchange, and in the process also transformation.
For the sake of a safer and more stable world, Iran and the West must
transcend mutual enmity and fear. Appreciating Iranian students is a modest
starting point for us here in Europe to help achieve that historical
milestone.
About the author
Pooyan Tamimi Arab studied Art History and Philosophy in Amsterdam and New
York. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Cultural Anthropology
department of Utrecht University, writing a dissertation on the use of
loudspeakers for the Islamic call to prayer in the Netherlands.
Related Articles
Stop sanctions against Iranian students in the Netherlands
POOYAN TAMIMI ARAB
Subjects
Norway
POOYAN TAMIMI ARAB 2 September 2014
Iranian students are being systematically discriminated against by the
Norwegian government. This is a closed minded approach that goes against
long term European interests.
For several months now there have been disheartening reports from Norway
that Iranian students are being denied residence permits and visas due to
international sanctions, even though their areas of expertise do not appear
to pose any security threats to European interests.
The same happened two years ago in the Netherlands. In response, I argued
that Iranian students should not be seen as posing a threat, that those
accepted in European and American graduate degree programs include the
brightest minds from Iran, and that the international sanctions imposed on
Iran did not even include the option of such blatant educational
discrimination. Iranian students in the Netherlands were not merely targeted
because of the sanctions, but found themselves caught up in a broader,
xenophobic political context that fed bias against them.
Fortunately, though to no avail for those who lost scholarships or hard
earned savings, the Dutch government responded positively to criticisms and
a Supreme Court ruling that confirmed allegations of discrimination.
In Norway, unsurprisingly, bias against Iranian students has grown since the
2013 rise of a new conservative government. Such allegations of
discrimination go against the international image of Norway as an open,
inclusive society. Rather than going through similar legal procedures as in
the Netherlands, the Norwegian government should reassess its interpretation
of its implemented policy concerning the admittance of Iranian students.
When it does reject students’ applications, this should be based on
transparent and concrete reasoning. A secretive attitude of the immigration
authorities will only reinforce accusations of arbitrary discrimination.
A glance at the students’ Facebook page, Stop Educational Discrimination
Against Iranians (SEDAI), shows massive academic support for their cause.
Among the supporters are the usual critical academic superstars, such as
Noam Chomsky: “We call upon the Norwegian government to withdraw the unjust
decision and to put an end to discrimination in education”. But also Gunnar
Bovim, rector of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU),
who has said that “We may lose the battle for the best brains”, because the
PhD students whose visa applications were rejected are “the best qualified
applicants for their positions”. That this is not an exaggeration is clear
from the many prestigious positions in western universities and companies
occupied by Iranian migrants over the past decades.
For example, among the studies that the Norwegian Security Police Service
(PST) has concerns about is mathematics. Is training students in graduate
level mathematics really that dangerous? Imagine that because of fear and
bigotry, rather than genuine security threats, a European country turns away
the next Maryam Mirzakhani, born and raised in Iran and since this year the
first woman ever to win the prestigious Fields Medal (often said to be the
Nobel Prize of mathematics). Such would be a loss for all, and this from the
country which is famous for the most prestigious award in natural science.
In addition to being supported by a wide variety of academics, the students
have gathered support from Norwegian citizens as well. On 20 August, two
copies of over twelve thousand signatures were submitted to the Norwegian
government, to a political adviser at the office of Prime Minister, as well
as to a Member of Parliament. On Facebook, the SEDAI campaign requested “the
Norwegian authorities change the unfair decisions limiting the educational
opportunities for Iranian nationals and to care about so many people in
Norway and abroad who gave their signatures to the petition and keep
watching the developments closely.”
Europeans must not underestimate the negative publicity caused by their
governments’ discriminatory policies. The Netherlands, for example, has
again welcomed Iranian students to its universities, allowed their
employment after graduation and grants citizenship to those with five years
of work experience. Many take advantage of these excellent opportunities,
but there are also badly needed and brilliant young scientists and scholars
who choose to leave. For example Kambiz (pseudonym), who graduated in one of
the most complex areas of expertise at Delft Technical University, told me
that among his reasons for leaving the Netherlands after several years were
a closed minded attitude towards migrants.
In the Netherlands, Kambiz felt, he would never be really respected for his
talents and achievements, perpetually remaining an outsider. And all of this
despite this young man’s very open attitude towards the country, its people,
places, language and achievements. Other European countries such as Norway
should reconsider how toxic such discrimination policies are, pushing away
potential contributors to their societies and unnecessarily feeding
resentment.
That the sanctions are indeed being disproportionately applied to students,
by which I mean that there is no relation with nuclear weapons technology,
is clear from the many stories available on SEDAI’s Facebook page. The page,
which currently has three thousand likes, has posted information about
various cases of Iranians who appear to be rejected by immigration
authorities in an arbitrary manner. Take for example Vahid Rasoulzadeh, a
student working on offshore technology, who had to appeal a decision by the
Norwegian Directorate of Immigration to be able to pursue his educational
goals. In the meantime, he had to wait for over a year in Norway without
being allowed to work and was not able to travel to visit family.
In the case of Hamideh Kaffash, the appeal made by her Norwegian university
(NTNU) was rejected. According to SEDAI, this was “without a concrete
reasoning”. Kaffash’s story, that she has not been allowed to pursue a PhD
in material engineering, was covered by BBC.com, which cites her saying that
her research project is aimed at “reducing CO2 emission in ferromanganese
production … It’s a project which will benefit the environment and is now
being applied in Iran.” Jostein Mardalen, head of the Department of
Materials Science and Engineering, was quoted saying that the decision of
the Department of Immigration “is baseless and wrong.”
Not only are visa applications rejected, the current situation is also
applicable for all Iranians who migrated with their families to Norway and
already have a permanent residence status. Mahtab Emamy Frooshany, for
example, who is living in Oslo with her family, failed to be admitted for a
master’s program solely due to her nationality. Her university education
department informed her that she was “not considered eligible for admission
to the Master in Systems Engineering with Embedded Systems because you are
an Iranian citizen”.
She appealed twice and received a final rejection letter from the Ministry
of Education in June, stating that “Internationalization of higher education
is high on the agenda in Norway, and we are pleased to welcome Iranian
students to Norway. However, universities and university colleges have a
duty to prevent illegal transfer of knowledge relevant to the proliferation
of weapons of mass destruction.” The letter adds that these “regulations are
applicable also for students with permanent residence in Norway.”
What was so dangerous about her following a master’s program in embedded
systems engineering? First of all, this particular branch of engineering is
indeed used for developing control systems for rockets, and this could be a
reason to deny certain types of knowledge to certain students or
researchers. But embedded systems engineering is also used for everything
ranging from pacemakers, cell phones, and airbags. Would a graduate student
really acquire information and training so sensitive that it would
facilitate creating weapons of mass destruction? Moreover, as the Dutch
courts recognized earlier, in a globalized world any citizen can sell
information to another nation’s government. Discrimination based solely on
citizenship is highly questionable as an effective strategy of protecting
security interests.
What are the broader implications of treating Iranian students with so
little courtesy? Over the past years, the economic sanctions imposed on Iran
by the United States and the European Union due to worries over Iran
acquiring a nuclear weapon have slowed down the progress and emancipation of
young Iranians seeking to broaden their horizon. In their country, the
middle class is becoming ever more an aspiring middle class that has the
spirit required for real cosmopolitanism but not the cash nor the visas
required to increase its freedom of movement.
Having struck the Iranian currency hard, in some cases evaporating life
savings and dreams of pursuing higher education outside Iran, ordinary
citizens have become victims of political power struggles. Students as far
apart as the United States and Malaysia have had to give up their studies,
sometimes when only one semester was left to be completed, returning to
their country with empty pockets and without a degree. That these bright
students should in addition continuously worry about visa applications and
residency permits rubs salt in their already badly hurting wounds.
These people do not only come to countries like the Netherlands and Norway
for work and study, but also for their cultures of tolerance. As I wrote
earlier, it is imperative that the door for exchange of good intentions,
beyond technical know-how, stays open. Education and cultural exchange are
among the best ways to establish such meaningful ties. Of course, very
complex political problems remain outstanding, but burning bridges between
Iran and the western world will help no one face the challenges that lie
ahead. We merely need to recall the very long history of European-Iranian
educational relations to realize the fundamental transformations of the past
decades.
During the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, the great Iranian
statesmen Amir Kabir created the first modern Iranian college and sent out a
few dozen students to bring back western knowledge to Iran. Today, thousands
of students travel to Europe and North America every year and thousands more
dream of doing so. Their purpose is no longer mere imitation, bringing back
(potentially sensitive) knowledge and not adding anything of major
significance. Today, they are excellent contributors to European
universities and often after graduation to European companies as well. Such
a time requires going beyond simplistic prejudiced thinking in ‘us’ and
‘them’ categories, letting go of fears and instead engaging with each other
in dialogue, exchange, and in the process also transformation.
For the sake of a safer and more stable world, Iran and the West must
transcend mutual enmity and fear. Appreciating Iranian students is a modest
starting point for us here in Europe to help achieve that historical
milestone.
About the author
Pooyan Tamimi Arab studied Art History and Philosophy in Amsterdam and New
York. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Cultural Anthropology
department of Utrecht University, writing a dissertation on the use of
loudspeakers for the Islamic call to prayer in the Netherlands.
Related Articles
Stop sanctions against Iranian students in the Netherlands
POOYAN TAMIMI ARAB
Subjects
Norway
*
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