With its young people banned from public institutions of higher education in Iran since the early 1980s, the Bahá’í community of Iran established in 1987 its own Institute of Higher Education, which at one point enrolled more than 900 students. The Institute operated in private homes, as shown above, and by correspondence. In 1998, Government agents raided more than 500 homes across Iran in an effort to shut down the Institute. Some 30 faculty and staff members were arrested and hundred of thousands of dollars worth of books, furniture, and equipment were confiscated