The proposed school's board of trustees, made up of high-ranking Iranian government and public figures, will decide whether to give final approval to the plan within the next two weeks, Leahy said.

Leahy, Keenan and Frederick H. Abernathy, McKay Professor of Mechanical Engineering and another member of the group, said yesterday that they are optimistic that the trustees will approve the joint commission's recommendations.

The group's plan was presented to the Iranian members of the joint commissions last week in Teheran, and is the work of four Harvard task forces of about 20 faculty members and administrators as well as the seven Harvard members of the joint commission.

Twelve members of the group went to Iran about ten days ago, Leahy said.

The task forces were created following a contract between the University and the Iranian government, formalized in November, which authorized Harvard to make a "feasibility study" on a graduate school for Iran.

The Iranian government agreed to pay the commission and task force members about $400,000 as reimbursement for personal expenses, travel and in some cases--such as Leahy's for spending time on formulating the Harvard group's proposals.

Leahy said that a large amount of the $400,000 grant was unused by the Harvard group's members, and would be returned to the Iranian government under the terms of the contract