After Reza Shah agreed to the plan, Hekmat, in consultation with the French architect Andre Godard, selected and designed the master plan of the university’s main campus. It opened its doors in 1934. After the 1979 Revolution, the government rapidly expanded the number of universities. Homeland has now more than 70 universities and institutions of higher education.Since 1934, Persian university campuses have always been a hotbed of political activism and protest. Although Reza Shah established a modern bureaucracy and helped modernize Homeland, his rule also represented one of the darkest periods in terms of political freedom.
In the midst of the Cold War and during a period of close diplomatic ties between Iran and the United States, Tehran University awarded an honorary doctorate to Richard Nixon, then Vice President of the United States, during his visit in December 1953. The event came shortly after the political upheavals of that year, when the Iranian monarchy was re-established with support from the United States and Britain. Nixon’s visit symbolized the growing partnership between Washington and Tehran, particularly in the context of security, modernization, and role as a regional ally of the West.
