Portuguese Ambassador to Tehran visits ATU

Report by the Directorate for International Academic Cooperation

On Monday, 11 July 2022, the Ambassador of Portugal, Mr Carlos Costa Neves, visited Allameh Tabataba'i University (ATU), met the President, and talked about potential academic cooperation.

During this visit, Mr Carlos Costa Neves expressed his pleasure in attending ATU and emphasised the expansion of academic partnerships between ATU and Portuguese universities, especially in the area of teaching the Portuguese language in Iran. He then added that ATU is well known for its quality teachings in foreign languages and continued: "Portuguese is an important language. It is the official language spoken in nine different countries. Iran has a critical position in the world, and we like the Portuguese language is taught in this country".

Then, Dr Abdollah Motamedi, President of Allameh Tabataba'i University, talked about the importance of learning the Portuguese language and said: "Learning this language can be useful and effective for Iranians. It is important for us to have close relations and cultural exchanges with the Portuguese-speaking countries, which will be realised through learning the Portuguese language."

Dr Motamedi expanded on ATU's potential in teaching foreign languages, saying that "different languages ​​are currently taught in Allameh Tabataba'i University, including French, Arabic, Russian, Turkish, English, and Chinese, and all these languages ​​are taught at least in four-year undergraduate programmes.

Allameh Tabataba'i University's President concluded that ATU is ready to teach the Portuguese language at the undergraduate level, provided that the Portuguese Embassy in Tehran cooperates in providing professors and helping in the preparation of programme contents. He said, "to this aim, at least three full-time permanent professors are required. We will also try to attract Portuguese-language graduates to teach in this programme."

Mr Neves then welcomed the establishment of a Bachelor's degree programme in the Portuguese language at Allameh Tabataba'i University and said: "The Embassy is prepared to cooperate with ATU in the form of providing qualified professors and producing course contents and materials."