Journal of Iranian Higher Education
Year:2018 | Volume:10 | Issue:2 |Papers Count:7

The entrance exam is an essential topic as one of the most important educational, cultural, and social events for participants. The role of the examiner in determining the future and destiny of people on the one hand, and the lack of entry facilities for some fields, student experiences and their efforts from the months and years ahead, and the use of resources and facilities to prepare for entrance exam, make this competition a severe matter for students, families and schools. The purpose of this research was to investigate the experience of living in individuals after one or two companies in the entrance exam. The method used in this research was a qualitative data approach of the Grounded Theory (GT) that was used to extract the underlying factors, causality and interventional process in the entrance exam experience and its outcomes. The participants were 11 current state and non-governmental students who had one or two year’ s experiences in the entrance exam. After the interview, there were 118 sub-themes that were categorized into 18 main themes. These 18 main themes were categorized into six groups: underlying factors, causality, meddler, main phenomena, process, and outcomes. The results of this study showed that based on the experience of individuals, family, personality characteristics, and a prepared class of entrance exams, friends, social atmosphere, school, and field were the underlying and meddler factors. Academic planning, psychological characteristics, unwanted factors, and reading method were the causative factors in the entrance exam. Planning, effort, self-knowledge, and to get help in process factors and satisfaction or dissatisfaction and stress are the outcomes of the entrance exam. The results of this study indicate that the entrance exam is a complex phenomenon from the viewpoint of the participants, in which various factors are effective. Stress as a negative consequence in the exam is a subject experienced in all individuals, whether successful or unsuccessful.

The purpose of this study was to identify and prioritize the factors that influence the implementation of Iran's higher education policies. The mixed-method was applied using semi-structured interviews in the qualitative phase. Interviews were codified by open, axial, and selective factors of the contextual and effective factors. In the quantitative section, a researcher-made questionnaire was used utilizing a hierarchical analysis of 50 faculty members and experts in higher education to prioritize the effective and contextual factors. The findings of the interviews with the experts and literature review showed that the research on the factors behind the implementation of higher education policies resulted in the extraction of six main concepts in the form of 60 variables, the main concepts are classified based on ranking: legal, political, economic factors, technological, cultural and social. Also, the factors affecting the implementation of higher education policies are classified into eight main concepts in the form of 90 variables. The following main concepts are ranked as following: factors related to policy formulation, administrative, structural and bureaucratic factors, supportive factors, Factors associated with the executive bodies, the experiences, and skills of the facilitator, the supporting factors, the choice of appropriate policy tools, environmental factors and geography. These factors directly influenced the implementation of higher education policies.

The sense of belonging to a place is a meaningful relationship between feeling, recognition, and perception of people and space that can create positive feelings and consequences on social, psychological, and physiological factors. Therefore, this research was conducted to investigate the factors affecting the sense of belonging to academic spaces. It is applied research which is done by a descriptive method. A cross-sectional survey method has been used to collect the data. The statistical population includes all students studying in Tehran city, and a cluster sampling method was used for the selection of 170 students from five universities (Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran University, Science and Industry University, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University and Islamic Azad University-Research sciences Branch). A researcher-made questionnaire with 61 questions was used as a data gathering. The validity of the questionnaire was considered and verified by a survey of professors in the fields of architecture and psychology and its reliability using Cronbach's alpha (α = 0. 941). Data analysis was performed using exploratory factor analysis and correlation coefficient. In the results of the factor analysis, in addition to the factor of belonging to the university, eight other factors were extracted which had a high correlation with the sense of belonging to a place, and totally, about 54% of the total variance of this scale was covered by these eight factors. Results showed that environmental design factors (spatial organization, site and campus, the quantity and quality of classes and the quantity and quality of furniture), human factors (the behavior of teachers and staff with students) and individual factors (participation in scientific, cultural, social activities And importance to academic assignments) had the most correlation with the sense of belonging to the university, and it is necessary to consider the design of the environment and educational programs of teachers, staff, and students.

The present research was conducted with the aim of analyzing self-leadership strategies of master's degree students. Research is exploratory. The study strategy in the qualitative section is the data theory and in the quantitative part is the Exploratory Factor Analysis. The research method is qualitative and quantitative. The statistical sample in the qualitative section was composed of 20 faculty members and experts who were selected in a purposeful and theoretical way. In the quantitative part, from the 6088 graduate students of Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tarbiat Modares University, with the Multi-Stage Stacking Sampling Method, five hundred and eighty samples were selected. In the qualitative section, to use new ideas and creative concepts as well as general background information about the subject of self-management of students, and literature review, open questions, and focal groups were used. In the quantitative part of the research, for measuring variables, a researcher-made self-administered questionnaire was used to examine the literature by making corrections and fitting with the self-driving characteristics of the Students. In the qualitative section, after analyzing all interviews and studying thematic literature, 64 first codes were identified that after the refinement was converted into 23 Categories, 7 factors, and 2 main components. To analyze the findings, quantitative research was used from exploratory factor analysis. Considering factor analysis on the 57 items of the questionnaire, 13 Factors were identified as the main factors, and the results showed that these factors are self-governing strategies used by Tarbiat Modarres students and Azad University.

Despite the importance of the higher education system, dimensions and components of dynamic and static system of higher education remain unknown. Therefore the main purpose of this paper is to identify the dimensions and components of the dynamics and static system of the higher education and to identify the influential components of it in higher education and public universities. To do this research, in addition to the documentary study, thematic analysis technique with MAXQDA12 software has been used to identify factors and components. Semi-structured interviews with university experts in 1397 were conducted as open, axial, and selective codes and used to determine the effective and effective components of Interpretative Structural Equation (ISM). According to semi-structured interviews, 401 open source and 102 pivot codes were extracted for dynamism and static. Finally, 13 main components for higher education were identified. Then, according to the matrix questionnaire of interpretive structural equations, teacher's components, educational approach, economic factors, socio-cultural factors, curriculum planning content, and political factors are influential factors. Students, organizational goals, standards, structure, leadership-Management, staff, and type of organization are influential factors. The components and sub-components expressed in this research show the applied factors in the dynamic system of higher education as well as the static components of the status quo in the academic community. The component of educational approaches has been expressed from the perspective of the most influential factors in the dynamics of the academic system.

Two cases of the challenges in universities in the 21st century are internationalization and language selection for developing international relations. Multilingual education with using indigenous, national, and international language is a response to this problem. This research was done to investigate MLE in South Africa, the United States, Belgium, Malaysia, and Australia. To attain the purpose, concept, perception of MLE, macro policies, linguistic situation, MLE programs, functional problems, educational technologies, solutions, and practical outcomes of MLE were investigated. The research method is a comparative study. Choosing countries was based on purposive sampling and achieving maximum information. With the purpose of deep understanding of MLE, documents and existed articles were investigated using George Beredy method in four stages of description, interpretation, juxtaposition, and comparison. Results showed that using MLE, critical competencies of language learning and internationalization purposes are attainable. MLE educational programs align in conserving, indigenous, national, and international languages. Problems with accessing qualified instructors, financial resources, appropriate curriculum are solved through group cooperation. Multimodal technologies, social networks, computers, the internet should be used in MLE. Solutions for removing attitude, legitimate, and structural obstacles are offered. Results of this research are suggested for producing necessary knowledge for administrators, for administering MLE in universities and using offered experiences about MLE. Researchers can embark on doing an exact and detailed investigation of MLE through functional researches and international study opportunities.