Iran students protest Majlis bill

Iran students protest Majlis bill

Hundreds of Iranian students have staged a demonstration in front of the Parliament in protest at a bill passed by lawmakers regarding the Islamic Azad University.

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The bill allows the University to donate its property worth $200 billion dollars for public purposes. The government says the bill violates the articles of association of the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution.

The body, chaired by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, supervises the country's universities. The ongoing controversy between the government and the Azad University started after the government decided to take control of the university.

However, according to Khabar Online news service, Majlis members voted for the public endowment of the university's properties under the condition that the premises belong to the university's board of trustees.

The Islamic Azad University, founded in 1982, is the country's largest private chain of universities that consists of 357 branches and satellite campuses throughout the country and an enrollment of 1.4 million students.

In terms of enrollment, the university is the third largest university in the world after India's Indira Gandhi National Open University and Pakistan's Allama Iqbal Open University