Tahqiqāt-e Târix-e Eqtesâdi (Economic History Studies of Iran)

The Economic and Educational Policies of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company and the Experience of Apprenticeship in the Oil Industry during the Interwar Years (1921–1945)

Articles in Press

Document Type : .

Authors

Robabe Motaghedi
Mohamad Javad Abdollahi

Assistant Professor of History, National Archive & Library of Iran

10.30465/ehs.2025.52785.2060
Abstract
This study examines the educational policies of the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company during the interwar period (1921–1945). In these years, the growing need for skilled labor in the nascent oil industry, combined with pressure from the Iranian government to employ local workers, led the company to establish technical schools. Drawing on archival sources and historical documents, the study investigates the formation of this educational system, the company’s rationale for developing it, and its impact on the training of skilled Iranian labor. The findings indicate that while these schools contributed to workforce training in Iran, the company’s economic and political interests—particularly cost reduction and greater control over labor—played a decisive role in shaping these policies. The research also highlights how systematic discrimination between Iranian and foreign workers, poor working and living conditions, and the absence of meaningful career advancement opportunities for Iranians generated dissatisfaction among both workers and graduates of these schools. Ultimately, the study evaluates the short- and long-term consequences of these policies for the oil industry and Iranian society.

Keywords

Apprentices
Technical Schools
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company
Occupational Discrimination
Labor History

Subjects

Tahqiqāt-e Târix-e Eqtesâdi (Economic History Studies of Iran)

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 03 November 2025

  • Receive Date 02 September 2025
  • Revise Date 03 October 2025
  • Accept Date 03 November 2025

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