Baháʼí Institute for Higher Education

The Baháʼí Institute for Higher Education (BIHE), is a unique open university in Iran, which has been portrayed as an underground university, established by the Baháʼí community of Iran in 1987 to meet the educational needs of young people who have been systematically denied access to higher education by the Iranian government. Currently, through a main faculty in Iran and an Affiliated Global Faculty from universities around the world, BIHE offers a total of 40 undergraduate and graduate programs in Sciences, Engineering, Business and Management, Humanities, and Social Sciences. More than 110 universities in North America, Europe, and Australia have thus far accepted the BIHE's graduates directly into programs of graduate study at the masters and doctoral levels. BIHE has a decentralized and fluid structure and uses a hybrid approach of offline and online delivery methods which has enabled it to grow under unusual sociopolitical circumstances. Despite numerous arrests, periodic raids, several imprisonments, mass confiscation of school equipment and general harassment, BIHE has continued and even expanded its operation. BIHE has received praise for offering a non violent, creative, and constructive response to ongoing oppression.

Since its birth in the 19th century, the Baháʼí community of Iran has faced different forms of persecution The Islamic Revolution of 1979 intensified the persecutions and made Baháʼís the largest religious minority of the country the target of a systematic state sponsored campaign of repression. Within this ongoing campaign, over two hundred Baháʼís have been executed; thousands more have been imprisoned, have lost their jobs, been denied their pensions, been expelled from schools and universities, been denied health care, had their personal property plundered, and had their grave sites defiled. The modern persecution of Iranian Baháʼís now continues in its fourth decade. In the 2016 annual report to the UN General Assembly, UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon, refers to the Baháʼí community of Iran as “the most severely persecuted religious minority” of the country.

The denial of the right to higher education is a tool wielded by the Iranian government on many whose ideology contradicts or threatens the authority of the ruling clerics; however, the Baháʼís are the only group to face pervasive class denial of this right. The efforts of the Iranian government to deny Baháʼís the right to education is seen by Baháʼís as part of its coordinated efforts to eradicate the Baháʼí community as a viable group within Iranian society. Shortly after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, large numbers of Baháʼí students, ranging across the entire education system from primary through secondary and university level, were expelled from schools and blocked from continuing their education. Similarly, Baháʼí professors and faculty members were dismissed from all universities and academic institutions of the country. In the 1980s, partly in response to international pressure, primary and secondary school children were allowed to re enroll. However, up to today the government has maintained the ban on the entry of Baháʼí youth into public and private colleges and universities. The official decree barring Baháʼí students from admission to public university was issued in 1981. That year universities established a new admission system where only individuals who identified themselves with one of the four religions recognized by the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran– i. e. Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism – were given admission. The systematic expulsion of students and faculty had become clear to Baháʼís by 1983. In 1991, the government reiterated that policy, in a private memorandum prepared by the Iranian Revolutionary Council and approved by Ayatollah Khamenei which states that “The Government's dealings with [the Baháʼís] must be in such a way that their progress and development are blocked. They can be enrolled in schools provided they have not identified themselves as Baháʼís. Preferably they should be enrolled in schools which have a strong and imposing religious ideology. They must be expelled from universities, either in the admission process or during the course of their studies, once it becomes known that they are Baháʼís." Gradually, the program expanded and took on a more formal character.

As of 2016, the BIHE operates through the services of approximately 700 faculty, who are academic and professionals residing in Iran, and a network of affiliated global faculty that support the university through online courses, curriculum development and other services. Almost all of the professors and administrative staff of BIHE are volunteers who serve without receiving payment. BIHE students and graduates also have published papers in distance learning technologies, materials science, biology, and computer science and civil engineering. Fariba Kamalabadi and Vahid Tizfahm, two members of the arrested leadership in Iran, among the Baháʼís are graduates of BIHE.

The New York Times calls the BIHE "an elaborate act of communal self preservation." The BIHE has received praise as one of the few examples of community sponsored higher education service in a closed society, as well surviving because of international support, community sacrifices, and individual resiliency. Although BIHE degrees are not certified by the Iranian regime, since 1998 more than 80 universities in the North America, Europe, Australia and Asia have accepted BIHE qualifications and have admitted its graduates directly into programs of study at the masters and doctoral levels. The BIHE was the first Iranian member of the Open Courseware Consortium and BIHE developed and implemented a project through them out of MIT. In October 2022 BIHE was awarded LiberPress prize in Spain for its "commendable effort in providing higher education to thousands of Baha'i youth who are deprived of education in 'their own country'". This award has been given every year since 1999 to institutions, organizations and individuals who have tried to deepen the culture of solidarity, shared responsibility and human values. Between September 30 and October 3, 1998, immediately after the first batch of BIHE graduates got admitted into Master's level studies in a Canadian University, Those who had been arrested were asked, while in custody, to sign a document declaring that the BIHE had ceased to exist and that they would no longer cooperate with it. They refused to sign any such declaration. A total of 16 educators were arrested. A second wave of arrests in September 2014 targeted few other professors. Today, a number of them have been released after finishing the terms of their sentences, while others remain in jail. Spokesman for Iran's mission to the United Nations said the raids on BIHE were because it "systematically controlled activities of cult members, and interfered in their private, social and economic lives." He also said the organization had the aim of "entrapping" non Baha'is, in order to eventually create "an extremist cult movement." See Political accusations against the Baha'i Faith. Teachers and staff of the BIHE have vowed to continue the BIHE's activities.

The attempts of the Iranian government to exclude Bahaʼis from higher education and the raids on the BIHE have drawn considerable international attention to the government of Iran's oppressive policies against Bahaʼis. Following the 1990s raids the Canadian Association of University Teachers condemned them. Since the raids in 2011, there has been further and more diverse objections to the attempts of the Iranian government to exclude Baháʼís from high education. and the Union of Jewish Students urged Iran to end its discriminatory educational policies of Baháʼís. Senator Remeo Dallaire of Canada warned of the “genocidal intent of the Iranian state.” A petition in India has garnered support from members of Judicial, Executive and Legislative branches of government, academics, religious leaders, NGOs and business leaders. Another in the States garnered support from 48 Deans and Senior Vice presidents of American medical schools. The chief signatory – Dr. Philip Pizzo, Dean of Stanford University School of Medicine – helped collect the signatures at the annual meeting of the Association of American Medical Colleges' Council of Medical School Deans. In March 2012, the American Physical Society Committee on International Freedom of Scientists reiterated its 2010 support for Baháʼí students not being denied education in requesting the arrested lectures be released.

"Education is Not a Crime" was a worldwide campaign launched in November 2014 by Maziar Bahari, an Iranian filmmaker and journalist to draw attention to the Iranian government's systematic denial of university education to young Baha'is. The campaign was inspired by Bahari's documentary film “To Light a Candle” which was premiered in London in September 2014. Through personal stories, interviews and rare footage, the film unveils decades of social injustice and religious intolerance against the Baha'i community of Iran. Grassroots screenings of the film and panel discussions have been part of "Education Is Not a Crime" campaign and its website featured voices of support from people around the world. Nobel Peace laureates such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Shirin Ebadi, Tawakkol Karman, Jody Williams, and Mairead Maguire have endorsed the campaign. specifically citing the raids, Nobel Laureates Desmond Tutu and José Ramos Horta wrote an open letter calling for the immediate release of the Baháʼí Institute for Higher Education professors and other initiatives This documentary traces the Islamic Republic of Iran's three decade long policy of denying the members of its Bahá´í community basic human rights including the right to attend any institution of higher education. It is endorsed by Amnesty International. The documentary and laureates' letter together form part of university and community activities to address the situation. The campaign's premiere event showing the documentary was co hosted by faculty from Columbia University, Duke University, and Eastern Kentucky University, as well as Amnesty International and the director of the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, on October 28, 2011. A "successful" Kickstarter campaign associated with the documentary was completed and Iran Human Rights held a podcast on the initiative in November 2011. The documentary was shown at the mid February 2012 12th Annual Bellingham Human Rights Film Festival and the 10th Annual University of San Francisco Film Festival in late March.

The campaign's stated goals are: as well as faculty from various Canadian and Australian colleges and universities have signed letters in support of the cause of the campaign which have been released to the public. Screenings of the documentary often with discussions and action agenda items for the campaign have been held or are scheduled for 2012 at a wide number of universities and colleges in the United States, Canada, and Italy. The documentary was also shown at a public library in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, and City Hall at Stratford, Ontario and the Ohio Commission on Hispanic / Latino Affairs hosted an event in Columbus Ohio. The American Friends Service Committee supported two screenings – one at the DePaul University Art Museum, and the other at Northeastern Illinois University's Student Union. David Docherty, President of Mount Royal University recommended the documentary. A Sentinel Project for Genocide Prevention contributor spoke at a screening and discussion in Toronto on the campaign and situation in Iran. The Human Rights, Social Justice and Canadian Complicity with Torture – Criminology and Human Rights Symposium of St. Thomas University in March 2012 hosted a screening and discussion. The campaign has also received televised local news coverage in New York (WNBC), Miami (WTVJ) as well as Houston community radio (KPFT).

Another response to the situation was using QR codes for the website "Can you solve this?" (can you solve this. org) It is an online email campaign system to send letters about the situation to various leaders in several countries was started in August 2011. A related website claims it has sent over 1,700 letters with coverage from the Mashable website. Promoted on the website bahairights. org, the Muslim Network for Baha'i Rights, it is a project by Mideast Youth.

BIHE has been a source of inspiration and subject of a few films. "Education Under Fire" is a documentary produced by Single Arrow Productions and co sponsored by Amnesty International, which profiles the growth, struggle, and spirit of the BIHE. "To Light a Candle" is another documentary film by journalist Maziar Bahari, premiered in 2014, which focuses on the stories of the individuals associated with the attempted shutdown of BIHE. "CopyRight" is a fiction 16mm short film based on the story of volunteers at the BIHE. There are also references to BIHE in other documentary films. For instance, Iranian Taboo, a 2011 documentary film by Dutch film maker Reza Allamehzadeh, which focuses on the persecution of Baháʼís in Iran, has some references to BIHE.