Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology (KNTU) (Persian: دانشگاه صنعتی خواجه نصيرالدين طوسی‎), also known as K. N. Toosi University of Technology, is a public university in Tehran, Iran, named after medieval Persian scholar Khajeh Nasir Toosi. The university is considered one of the most prestigious, government-sponsored institutions of higher education in Iran. The university was founded in 1928, during the reign of Reza Shah Pahlavi, in Tehran and was named the "Institute of Communications" (Persian: دانشکده مخابرات‎). It is therefore considered to be the oldest surviving academic institution across the country. (Iran had universities 800 to 2000 years ago from which only the name, ruins and scientific history have survived.) This institute was later expanded with an Electronic and Electrical Power Engineering department. The 50th anniversary of the establishment of this academic institute was celebrated in 1978, and a commemorative stamp was published by the Post of Iran, before the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The department of Civil Engineering was founded in 1955 as an Institute of Surveying. This institute was later joined by the Institutes of Hydraulic Engineering and Structural Engineering. The department of Mechanical Engineering was founded in 1973. These institutes of higher education were formally integrated in 1980 and named "Technical and Engineering University Complex". As a general practice of paying tribute to the scientific and scholastic figures of the nation, the university was renamed in 1984 "Khajeh Nassir-Al-Deen Toosi (K. N. Toosi) University of Technology". It is affiliated with the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology of Iran. As of 2012, the university is planning high-tech projects, including the production of a new satellite called 'Saar' (Starling) as well as radar-evading coatings for aircraft. The university's scientific board are also involved in many industrial projects, including the building of satellite carriers and an indigenous eight-seat helicopter.