Ilam University Opens Kurdish Language and Literature Department
According to an official announcement, the department has been assigned code 11759 in Iran’s university admission guidebook and will admit 25 male and female students in its first intake from across the country.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Iran’s Ministry of Science, Research and Technology on Tuesday officially authorized Ilam University to establish a Department of Kurdish Language and Literature, making it the second university in Iran to formally offer academic studies in the Kurdish language.
According to an official announcement, the department has been assigned code 11759 in Iran’s university admission guidebook and will admit 25 male and female students in its first intake from across the country.
All academic units within the department have been approved by Iran’s Supreme Council for the Development of Higher Education, while its degree program has received accreditation from the country’s Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.
The four-year program will cover classical and modern Kurdish literature, as well as the diversity of Kurdish dialects, including Laki, Hawrami, Fayli, Kalhori, Kurmanji, and Zazaki. Central Kurdish (Sorani) will be the primary language of instruction.
The move follows the establishment of Kurdish language studies at the University of Kurdistan in Sanandaj, making Ilam University the second Iranian university to formally admit students to a Kurdish Language and Literature program.
Linguists and observers say the establishment of the department could pave the way for similar programs at other major universities in Eastern Kurdistan, particularly in Kermanshah and Urmia.