The Cultural Revolution (1980–1983; Persian: انقلاب فرهنگی: Enqelābe Farhangi) was a period following the Iranian Revolution, when the academia of Iran was purged of Western and non-Islamic influences (including traditionalist unpolitical Islamic doctrines) to align them with the revolutionary and political Islam. The cultural revolution sometimes involved violence in taking over the university campuses, as higher education in Iran had many secular and leftist forces who were opposed to Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic state in Iran. The official name used by the Islamic Republic is "Cultural Revolution".

Directed by the Cultural Revolutionary Headquarters and later by the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, the revolution initially closed universities for three years (1980–1983) and after reopening banned many books and purged thousands of students and lecturers from the schools. The resistance against Islamists' control at many universities was largely unsuccessful. How many students or faculty were killed is not known.

The government's process of censoring foreign influences has not been without consequences. In addition to interrupting the freedom, education and professional livelihood of many, and striking "a major blow to Iran's cultural and intellectual life and achievement," it contributed to the emigration of many teachers and technocrats. This loss of job skills and capital weakened Iran's economy.

In the early years of the revolution, cinemas were either burned or shut down, and both Iranian and Western pop music were banned (although Iranian and Western classical music, as well as Iranian folk music, were allowed). Public spaces became strictly segregated by gender, and dress codes were enforced for both men and women, with women facing much stricter restrictions. Censorship was strictly implemented, and schools were required to prioritize religious education, with recognized religious minorities permitted to include their own faith teachings.

Since February 1979, and prior, universities in Iran had been important sites for political and ideological debates. Upon his return, Ruhollah Khomeini praised student activists for their opposition to the Shah. In the early months following the revolution, the Islamic Republic Party (IRP) held significant influence within the universities, winning a dominant position in student elections. However, by early 1980, leftist groups including the MEK had replaced the IRP in these elections.

During the electoral campaign, the Revolutionary Council identified the universities as centers of counter-revolutionary activity. Khomeini asserted that "all the major problems of the last fifty years" could be linked back to the universities, which, he claimed, had been a breeding ground for the "gharbzadegi" (Westernization) virus, spread by academics, "liberals, and other intellectuals." On April 18, 1980, after Friday prayers, Khomeini gave a speech harshly attacking the universities.

We are not afraid of economic sanctions or military intervention. What we are afraid of is Western universities and the training of our youth in the interests of West or East.

His remarks are thought to have "served as a signal for an attack that evening on the Tehran Teachers Training College" by his supporters, the Hezbollahi. One student was reportedly lynched, and according to a British correspondent, the campus was left looking like an "a combat zone." The next day, Hezbollahis ransacked left-wing student offices at Shiraz University. Some 300 students required hospital treatment. Attacks on student groups also took place at Mashad and Isfahan Universities." Attacks continued April 21 and "the next day at the Universities at Ahwaz and Rasht. Over 20 people lost their lives in these university confrontations. The universities closed soon after the April confrontation for Islamization. They were not to open for another two years."