Arya International University (AIU) came to being in July 2006 as the first international higher education and research centre in Human Sciences – Oriental Studies par excellence – in the Caucasian-Near Eastern region. Headquartered in Yerevan, the Republic of Armenia, as a private degree-granting institution of post-graduate education, and licensed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Science of Armenia, AIU has also agreements of cooperation and joint education activities with Tehran University, IRI; Georgi Tsereteli Institute of Oriental Studies, Academy of Sciences of Georgia, Tbilisi; Valeri Bryusov State Linguistic University, Yerevan, Armenia AIU continues the best traditions of the Armenian, Russian and European higher education systems, implementing in its activities the fundamental academic principles and high teaching standards. Apart from its local personnel and academic staff, AIU involves the prominent scholars in the field from Iran, Georgia, Russia, and Western Europe. Moreover, in many aspects of its activities AIU closely cooperates with the Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies, Yerevan, particularly, on the project of "Iran and the Caucasus", one of the leading international periodicals in Oriental Studies, published by Brill Academic Publishers in Leiden (see www.brill.nl/ic)-in fact the only peer-reviewed journal in Human Sciences in the whole Near Eastern, Central Asian, and Post-Soviet regions. The teaching languages in AIU are English, Russian, Persian, and Armenian. The students are offered one term of intensive English, and/or Russian in order to acquire the needed level of proficiency. The students can attend summer courses in Armenian, English, and Russian languages. The teaching system is flexible and
includes a wide range of technologies-from full-time tuition to distance education. In November 2007, according to an agreement of cultural and academic cooperation between the AIU and Tehran University a Joint Centre for ECO-BIO Energy Studies in the structure of AIU was established. The Centre offers the following MS programmes: A) Bio-Energy, B) Environmental Design. After two years of study the graduate students will be awarded a joint diploma of the AIU and Tehran University or, upon their request-separate diplomas from each University.