Parliament is investigating the list of students who received bursaries under the ninth and tenth governments, the administrations of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Ghassem Jafari, a spokesman for Parliament’s Education and Research Commission, said education ministry officials have two weeks to hand over the list of students.

ISNA reports that according to Jafari, 3,000 students are now under investigation for allegedly receiving bursaries without meeting the criteria for eligibility.

Jafari emphasized that Parliament has not yet seen any hard evidence of these allegations, and documents are needed to back up such serious charges.

In recent weeks, the head of the Department of Student Affairs at the Science Ministry said there appeared to be certain violations in the bursaries issued to students studying aboard.

The report includes allegations of students being issued bursaries without meeting the grade point average and age criteria for eligibility. Some students allegedly entered into PhD programs without taking the entrance exam.

Top members of Iranian academia have called on the judiciary to seriously prosecute any form of violation regarding student bursaries and university entrance exams in order to redeem the country’s scientific reputation.

Radio Zamaneh