Payame Noor University (PNU) is a state distance education university with the headquarters based in Tehran, 30 provincial centers, 485 local study centers and campuses all around the country and one International Study Center located in the headquarters. Established in 1988, PNU is a legal body under the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.  

PNU took its first intake at 5 study fields at 28 local study centers. Presently, the university has 3,500 academic members and 1,101,182 national and international students.

At the time, students’ population of this university is nearly two times of students’ population in all of other public universities, which are under the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology and the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Training. The nature and scale of its operation make PNU the most flexible and cost-effective higher education institution in Iran. The educational developments of the residents of small cities and rural sectors have always been crucially important for PNU.