UNIVERSITY officials are understood to be checking their files amid confusion over the Scottish academic credentials of newly elected Iranian president Hassan Rouhani.

Reformist-backed cleric Mr Rouhani, who secured more than 50% of the vote, had originally stated his qualifications came from Glasgow University, before correcting this to Glasgow Caledonian University in recent weeks.

In January, the website Iran Election Watch first published a story that expressed doubt about Dr Rouhani's claim to have a PhD from Glasgow University.

Last week an election campaign film is said to have changed his alma mater after the same website quoted a Glasgow University spokesman as having "no record of anyone of his name" ever attending the institution.

The half-hour campaign broadcast – shown on Iranian television – instead stated that Mr Rouhani went to Glasgow Caledonian University.

"He went to England [sic] and graduated with a MA and a PhD in Glasgow Caledonian University," the narrator says, accompanied by footage of the university campus.

While the film does not give a date for his studies, the narrative is said to imply they were during the 1970s, when he was an active political opponent of the Shah, the ousted former Iranian monarch.

Glasgow Caledonian University was established in 1993 after a merger between Glasgow Polytechnic and The Queen's College.

A link to The Herald archive showing a Hassan Feridon – Mr Rouhani's birth name – graduated from the university in 1999 has been widely disseminated on the internet.

Iran Election Watch claims the link was first sent to them by the Center for Strategic Research (CSR) in Tehran.

Glasgow Caledonian University confirmed yesterday that in 1995 an MPhil was awarded in the name Hassan Feridon, graduating in November 1996. The thesis was The Islamic legislative power with reference to the Iranian experience.

In 1999, a Doctor of Philosophy was awarded in the same name. The thesis title was The flexibility of Sharia (Islamic law) with reference to the Iranian experience.

According to Mr Rouhani's CV on the CSR website, he gained a MPhil in Law and PhD in Constitutional Law from Glasgow Caledonian University, but no dates are given.

The period that Hassan Feridon studied at Glasgow Caledonian University would appear to coincide with Mr Rouhani's tenure as president of the CSR, a post he has held since 1992.

It also falls into the same period as his 16-year stint as secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council from 1989-2005 and the 13 years, including 1989 to 1997, that he served as national security advisor to the president.