Variable tuition fees for graduate theses are allocated to research activities.

According to the University Group of Student News Agency, quoting Islamic Azad University; Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, President of Islamic Azad University, after the end of the meeting to review the budget of the provinces of Islamic Azad University, referring to the budget of 1398, stated: The budget for next year will be compiled as a five-month supplement due to the fact that the financial year of Islamic Azad University has changed from the solar year to the academic year, and after August 22, 1398, the annual budget of Islamic Azad University will be compiled and approved based on the academic year.

The President of Islamic Azad University, stating that the five-month supplement to the budget of Islamic Azad University will be from March 21, 1398 to August 22, 1398, emphasized: After the implementation of the five-month supplement, from next year, the annual budget of Islamic Azad University will be approved from September 22, 1398 to August 22, 1399.

He, referring to the holding of budget review meetings of the provinces of Islamic Azad University in three shifts, morning, afternoon and night, stated: In these intensive meetings, which are held with the presence of presidents, financial managers and treasurers of the provinces of Islamic Azad University and managers of the central organization, after evaluating the budget performance of the provinces in 1397, the five-month supplement of 1397 of each province is reviewed separately and carefully evaluated, and its defects are announced to the provinces. The provinces are obliged to submit the revised draft to the central organization by the end of Sunday, March 3, 12.

Member of the Board of Trustees of Islamic Azad University noted: Considering the special economic conditions of the country in 1398 and the increase in government employees' salaries based on the budget bill of 1398 of the whole country, Islamic Azad University should also consider these increases in its budget as much as possible, but the noteworthy point is that Islamic Azad University has no increase in revenue in the first 5 months of 1398, because tuition fees are fixed in these 5 months and there will be no change in them; therefore, it should be considered for this issue that the university's revenues are fixed and its expenses are increasing.

Tehranchi, stating that due to the lack of increase in the university's revenue sources from the tuition fees of students in the first 5 months of 1398, the issues raised in the five-month supplement of the 1397 budget are very serious, said: In the budget review meetings of the provinces of Islamic Azad University, which were held yesterday from 8 am to 12 pm and continue today and tomorrow, the budgetary items of the provinces that need to be corrected were reviewed and announced to the provinces so that after removing the defects and correcting the draft, they present the supplement to the 1397 budget so that it can be reviewed and approved in the meeting of the Board of Trustees of Islamic Azad University, which will be held next week.

The President of Islamic Azad University, referring to the research budget situation of the university in the coming year, stated: The economic situation of the country imposes numerous costs on us, and on the other hand, we must provide special solutions, because the past solutions no longer answer the issues of large institutions and companies.

He continued: Islamic Azad University, with the innovation it has in the five-month budget supplement, has removed the research budget from the mandatory state, in which in the previous method, 5% of the total budget was allocated to research affairs. This year, we announced that the total variable tuition fees of master's and doctoral theses will be considered as research expenses.

Tehranchi said: By implementing this method, for units that have more postgraduate students, their research resources will reach more than 10%, and consequently, units that have more students in associate and bachelor's degrees will be allocated less research budget.

Member of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution stated: In the previous method, the difference in the research budget of the units was proportional to their needs and activities, and because the research budget was mandatory, in some cases it was not implemented, but in the new model, the variable tuition fees of students are considered as research budget resources and no unit has the right to violate it. This method will lead to a transformation in the research field in the future.

The President of Islamic Azad University, referring to the special attention of this university to knowledge-based activities, added: The units of Islamic Azad University have assets that receive bank interest from deposits in banks, and this liquidity is getting weaker and weaker, these assets will be directed towards knowledge-based issues in the future budget so that it can be transformative and instead of its value decreasing over time, it can find added value with knowledge-based projects.

Tehranchi concluded: Five months is not a long time and we must try to get the university through this turn and, God willing, good things will happen for Islamic Azad University in the academic year 98-99.