Mick Hartley

If you were wondering how the Iranian authorities would react to the unrest in their universities, well, here's how:

Iran is set to Islamise humanities studies in universities after supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei charged that Western teachings make students question religion, state news agency IRNA reported on Sunday.

"The Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies was tasked by the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council to revise the human sciences curriculum," the agency said.

"In our country a large part of the syllabus… is not in line with our Iranian-Islamic culture. This calls for a revision," it quoted institute head Hamid Reza Ayatollahi as saying.

He said the body would revise the syllabus "based on the supreme leader's recommendations."

During a meeting with academics last week, Khamenei criticised human sciences taught in the Islamic republic's universities.

"If we teach a copy of what Westerners have said and written to our young people, then we are conveying to them both doubt and disbelief in Islamic principles and in our values," he said.

"Most human sciences are based on materialistic philosophies that see the human being as an animal," charged the all-powerful supreme leader.

He said he was "worried" that nearly two million students are currently majoring in human sciences.

Doesn't look so good for biology, then – though no doubt when the Ayatollahs themselves need medical treatment they'll manage to find someone who's still aware that human beings are animals.