Iran Academia, formally known as the Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities (ISSH), has been operating since 2012 as an alternative, online, multi-platform, tuition-free university dedicated to expanding access to high-quality, free, and critical education for Persian-speaking communities inside and outside Iran. Focused on removing barriers to education in the social sciences and humanities, the institution has, over the years, worked through its academic programs, knowledge platforms, and scholarly networks in an international setting to sustain learning, research, and intellectual exchange under conditions of censorship, repression, and restriction.
The CIES conference—organized by the Comparative and International Education Society, a leading forum for research, practice, and the advancement of comparative and international education—is one of the most important international gatherings in the field. It brings together researchers, academics, and education practitioners from around the world to discuss experiences, ideas, and emerging models related to education, justice, peace, inequality, and global transformation. Iran Academia’s presence in such a setting was a significant opportunity to present the Iranian experience of independent and transnational education in the face of repression and restrictions on academic freedom.
