The University of Mazandaran (UMZ) is the most important university in the province of Mazandaran. It was established in September 1979 by merging the former local colleges and institutions. Today, UMZ is supervised and managed by the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology (MSRT) and consists of six faculties, offering undergraduate programs leading to bachelors degrees in thirty nine departments. Twenty six of these programs extend to postgraduate programs and the organization is still aiming to improve its well established postgraduate programs. UMZ has awarded degrees to over 15000 graduates in various fields since its establishment. Many of these graduates are currently lecturing and researching at different universities and academic institutions in Iran and other countries.