The International Center for Persian Language Teaching (AZFA Center) of Shahid Beheshti University (SBU) is one of the leading centers in Iran, which was established with the aim of teaching, expanding and promoting Persian culture, language and literature all over the world. In this center, Persian learners from different countries learn Persian language under the supervision of the best experts.
Referring to the history of the establishment of the AZFA center since 2014, Dr. Mahinnaz Mirdehghan Farashah, head of the center, said: “Since its establishment, the center has graduated many language learners. During these years, the language learners of this center, in order of number from the highest to the lowest, are from the countries of Iraq, China, Syria, Turkey, Senegal, Yemen, India, Lebanon, South Korea, Bahrain, Hungary, Pakistan, Armenia, Palestine, Switzerland, Canada, Vietnam, Afghanistan, England, Uganda, Italy, America, Brazil, Tajikistan, Romania, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco and Nigeria.”
She added: “In continuation of the growing trend of the center and from the beginning of a new round of activities since the summer of 2023, various courses have been offered to Persian learners. These courses are planned both face-to-face and online, according to the interest, academic field of Persian learners and the specialized content they need.”
She went on to discuss the designing of various courses in the center, including "semester", "single-skill" (listening, speaking, writing, reading, grammar and vocabulary), "Persian for speakers of special languages" (including Persian language teaching for Chinese speakers), "Persian for special purposes", "need-oriented intensive courses of Persian language education" and "preparation course for participation in SAMFA” (Standard Persian Language Proficiency Test).
Referring to the goals and missions of the AZFA Center, Dr. Mirdehghan stated: “The AZFA Center of SBU aims to bring the center to its true position at the global level with macro policies in four fields of education, research, implementation and evaluation.”
Enumerating the programs of the AZFA Center, the faculty member of the Faculty of Letters and Human Sciences added: “In order to reach a prestigious international position, various programs are being implemented in the center. Among these programs are scientific and fundamental education of Persian language with general and special purposes for non-Persian speakers, providing applied research in order to compile educational resources and educational assistance according to the curriculum of the center with the aim of improving the scientific and international level of the university and the country, providing educational services to various departments of the university and the country in order to increase the international capabilities of the university in order to respond to the needs of Persian learning in accordance with the specialized field of the center and expanding the communication of the center with AZFA centers in Iran and other countries.”
The head of the AZFA Center informed about the internal evaluation of the center and the use of its results in order to improve the performance of the center as much as possible and pointed out: “This has been planned with the participation and employment of experts of PhD and master levels in teaching, preparation and compilation of educational resources and other goals, and is being implemented with the cooperation of the respected officials of the university.”