The Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS) was established in 1991 under the auspices of the then Ministry of Culture and Higher Education. Its goal is to bring about an atmosphere for creative education and dynamic research in which high-level teaching of the basic sciences would go hand-in-hand with fundamental and applied research.

The IASBS is a degree granting institution with Master's and Doctoral programs only. Since September 2000, however, it has started a new program in physics for a nationally selected group of distinguished high school graduates. The program, a first attempt at the national level, will train these select group of students over a period of seven years, granting them a Ph.D. degree in physics if they meet the required criteria for that degree.

The Institute also endeavors to engage in scientific, technical, and cultural cooperation with other educational institutions and the relatively young local industry, and to make a deliberate effort to have scientific and cultural impact on the region.

According to its articles of association, the Board of Trustees of the Institute consists of the Minister of Science, Research and Technology, the Head of the Planning and Budget Organization, the Director of the Institute, and four eminent scientific and cultural personalities of the country.

The director of the Institute, selected out of outstanding scientific figures in the country, in cooperation with the Scientific Council of the Institute, directs the Institute towards its lofty goals.

The International Advisory Council of the Institute is composed of a host of internationally well-known scholars and scientists. The late Professor Abdus Salam was a member of this council. Members of the Council assist the Institute in delineating its general themes of research, establishing new disciplines, attracting prominent researchers and evaluating its scientific achievements.