Hello and welcome. Thank you for your time. Please introduce yourself first, your center and very briefly, what are the characteristics of your AZFA center compared to other centers and what are the main areas of your activities?

In the name of God, I am Sarah Kiani, President of AZFA Center of Al-Zahra University. I have been working in the field of Persian for about 14 years, both teaching and executive work. Regarding the center, I must say that Al-Zahra University's AZFA Center received its license from the Student Affairs Organization in 2016 and now conducts courses both online and face-to-face. So far, about a thousand language learners have taken courses in our center. We tried to maintain the position of the center, especially in the discussion of the quality of Persian language education.

Regarding the differences between us and other AZFA centers, I must say that Al-Zahra University is actually a university for women. Although the license of the center is for both women and men, but in general there is more luck for women who refer to our center in Persian language education.

Please tell me, what role does your center consider to make Persian the reference language of science in the world which is the strategic goal that the Islamic Republic and the Ministry of Science and our universities are seeking to achieve?

Becoming the language of science requires a series of plans and infrastructures in the first place. We have to make the necessary arrangements first, then think about becoming the language of science. We can say that in terms of position, Persian is special, especially for some fields. Now, if we don't just talk about experimental sciences or technical sciences, we can say that Persian language has a special place in human sciences. For example, in the field of literature, Islamic sciences or philosophy, or sciences such as Orientalism. In my opinion, Persian language has a special place in these areas and people who want to do research in these areas will definitely need Persian language. From the very beginning of teaching, our center indirectly introduces students to the special position of the Persian language in both cultural and religious fields. The resources used in our center are standard resources. We actually use resource pooling. Our goal is to familiarize students with cultural issues from the beginning, and our goal is not only to teach Persian language. Cultural discussions should be taught along with it; Because we believe that the Persian language has the power and strength to be the language of science in the field of humanities. Therefore, I think we should move in this direction and pay attention to the roots of the language. This issue gives us strength so that we can turn this language into the language of science and set goals based on it. Especially if we set a goal in the field of humanities, we can certainly bring the Persian language to a better and more worthy position.

Excellent. Please tell us what your work center is doing to increase the quality and quantity of student recruitment and actually increase the attractiveness of Al-Zahra University for foreign students. Generally, to make studying in Iran and Alzahra University attractive for foreign students.

 With the view that the student affairs organization has had especially in the last two years and I think it is a special view that has happened recently, now, apart from language discussions, cultural discussions have become very important and on the other hand, they are very attractive and in Language learners have been motivated and encouraged to come to Iran not only to learn the language, but also for cultural discussions. They like to know Iran. For this reason, we prepare cultural programs in addition to educational programs. For example, visiting museums or getting to know celebrities, or visiting sightseeing and historical places. Anyway, these are programs that have been held along with educational programs for students, especially in the last few months. Also, mediating these programs is very important. It's not just that we hold a program. We tried to reflect these activities by being on social networks and we tried to even try to attract other language learners and this has happened so far, the same language learners who graduated from the center introduced other friends to the center. We speak and learn Farsi.

As a next question, what is the importance and necessity of participating in international events and international fairs for a Persian language learning centers, and what will it bring to the AZFA center if the right participation in the events and international fairs takes place?

Well, definitely, if this platform is provided so that the centers can be present outside of Iran, it is definitely a good opportunity to be able to showcase our achievements. For example, in Al-Zahra University AZFA Center, two volumes of books have been compiled so far, and one volume has been published. Our work can be seen in international exhibitions. In these exhibitions, we provide a platform where our achievements can be seen in the form of books or in the form of other publications such as magazines or the production of a language teaching software. Or if we have other achievements in the cultural field, for example, a language learner came to our center and now he can read or memorize poems from Divan Hafez, we can show his films at the international exhibition. We can show our strengths in the exhibition and this can definitely have a very good feedback and as a result we can attract students from outside Iran. Also, communicating with language centers or other universities is a privilege that we can achieve at the international exhibition.

Please tell me how you will be present for the first international exhibition of study attractions in Iran, which is going to be held in October at Imam Khomeini Mosque in Tehran. What items will you bring or will you bring your university students? What are your plans to make your presence at the exhibition more attractive?

 Regarding the exhibition of educational attractions, the Student Affairs Organization had made this notification almost two years ago, and now that it has been postponed, the centers can participate in this exhibition in a more prepared manner. We wanted to hold a preliminary event at Shiraz University, but this exhibition was canceled due to the martyrdom of the president. We were fully prepared for this event, so that our language learners from 10 countries studying in our center were supposed to display their cultural items. Now, for the October exhibition, we will definitely have another event, which may be at Al-Zahra University or at another university. Our Persian learners prepared cultural programs to introduce the attractions of their own country, as well as to introduce the Persian language. They are supposed to be active in both fields and prepare themselves. They are going to prepare cultural items, some of which are supposed to be shared between Iran and their own country, and some of them are specific to their own country. There are cultural programs such as the discussion of poetry reading, even the discussion of food or traditional foods of nations that students can provide from their own country and display in the exhibition, as well as the introduction of cultural attractions that exist in their own country, which actually brings their country closer to Iran and maybe Some of them have been ignored until now; For example, some of the traditions that we have in Iran may also exist in other countries, or for example, that there were traditions in our previous generations that could be heard in the conversations of our grandparents, we had these traditions that maybe now in a country like Pakistan is implementing the same customs. Anyway, I want to say that the traditions and roots of the countries, especially our neighboring countries, are very close to each other and we can display these commonalities in the exhibition. Also in the language discussion; The discussion of linguistic commonalities or common linguistic features between countries is one of the other works that we can display in the exhibition, and I think it is very important and effective in terms of appeal.

Thank you very much for your time and if there is anything you need to mention, please let me know:

- In general, this meeting between AZFA centers can result in many synergies and can help the centers. We can hear each other's problems and offer common solutions for problems. The discussion of the exhibition is really necessary. Because it actually makes us offer our cultural products to other countries and take loans from other countries and see what has been done or is being done. Anyway, this interaction can be increasing.

Thank you very much for your time.