The arrangements for the establishment of Torbat Heydarieh University have started with the commissioning of Torbat Heydarieh Technical College in 2005 and it was upgraded to Torbat Heydarieh Technical and Engineering Faculty with the approval of the Higher Education Development Council of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.
Considering the significant growth of higher education in the country and the potentials in the region and the urgent need for the independence of the only public university in the city, in 2010, Torbat Heydarieh Technical and Engineering Faculty has received its independency in financial and administrative terms from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad receiving the consent of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, and Ferdowsi University of Mashhad.
Considering the expansion of the field of study and recruiting new faculty members and developing educational and administrative spaces and follow-up of school officials and people's representatives in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Higher Education Development Council of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology agreed to upgrade the college to a higher education complex on December 25, 2011. In addition in this year, the complex of higher education was moved to its current location. Initial land for the construction of the campus on the current site of 5 hectares plus a sport salon of 3000 square meters was donated to the complex by the benefactors of Torbat Heydarieh University in year 2005, and along with the intent of the university's construction officials, the educational building was established along with the laboratory and workshop complex at the university campus.
The complex was finally upgraded to Torbat Heydarieh University with the final approval of the Higher Education Development Council of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology on January 26, 2013. Torbat Heydarieh University now has more than 5,000 square meters of educational, research, administrative, cultural and sporting facilities including educational, cultural and welfare complex (including library and documentation center with more than 7,000 volumes of books, informatics center with over 130 Computers, prayer's room and restaurant), equipped with two sport complexes, 2 amphitheaters, meeting rooms, equipped workshops and laboratories, greenhouse and research farms.
Currently, the university has 24 majors in continuous Bachelor's Degree program, non-continuous Bachelor's Degree program, Associate Degree program and Master's Degree program in form of two forms of the Faculty of Engineering and the Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources with 11 disciplines in the Departments of Plant Production, Medicinal Plants and Nature, Agricultural Economics, and Biotechnology with facilities such as specialized laboratories, edible mushroom cultivation workshops, more than 110 hectares of agricultural land and 420 sq.m research greenhouse in the continuous Bachelor's Degree program, non-continuous Bachelor's Degree program, Associate Degree program and Master's Degree program.
The Faculty of Engineering admits students in 11 disciplines in the departments of civil and architectural engineering, computer, industrial, mechanical and electrical engineering with advanced educational equipments in the form of specialized laboratories and workshops, in continuous Bachelor's Degree program, non-continuous Bachelor's Degree program, and Associate Degree program.
Other fields of study at the university include Bachelor's Degree program in archeology and political sciences.
Considering the strategic location of the city in terms of saffron production, this university has established the saffron research institute as the only specialized research institute with the aim of promoting the existing knowledge in the specialized fields of saffron and advancing major goals in the development of the country's saffron industry, as well as supporting and resolving the problems of the regional farmers. The research institute started working in year 2012 and currently operates with six independent research and building groups with three educational, research and cultural departments.
On the other hand, with the aim of supporting indigenous ideas with a focus on comparative advantage in the region, the city center with the support of Torbat Heydarieh University was set up at the saffron research institute in 2014.
The university's research activities include the publication of scientific papers in accredited domestic and foreign journals by university professors and students, the publication of books, the implementation of research projects and the holding of national and international scientific conferences. Other scientific activities of this university include the publication of prestigious scientific journals such as Saffron Agricultural and Technology Journal and Rural Development Strategies Scientific Journal.
The university has entered into an agreement with other leading universities, including Lund University of Sweden, the University of Parma and Tuscany University of Italy, to expand its international scientific activities. The university's student participation in the Flying Robots' Competition of ROC University of the Netherlands in 2017 as the only non-European team and obtaining the fourth place in the competitions are among the university's international scientific activities.
Collaborating with world-renowned universities from the Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal, Germany, Greece, Lithuania and Iraq in the framework of the EU Erasmus Plus project, actively attracting € 200,000 budget from the European Union to implement Apatel and Geonet C programs, and the continuing the relationship of students and the instructors of the faculty with the European universities, are other international activities of the university.