Journal of Iranian Higher Education
Year:2018 | Volume:10 | Issue:3 |Papers Count:6

Strategic planning in Iranian universities and institutes of higher education is generally prepared using strategic planning models introduced by experts and other universities. These programs will be published in the form of university strategic planning documents. These documents have such features that can be similar or different than the programming templates used. Existence of the similar properties in documents makes it possible to group them. In this study, we try to use quantitative (Statistical) methods for grouping similar documents into homogeneous groups. For this purpose, the content and formal characteristics of the planning documents of eight different universities, including three governmental University (Tehran, Tarbiat Modares and Ferdowsi), three nongovernmental universities and institutes of higher education (science and culture, Soreh and Ashrafi Esfahani), and two foreign universities (Oxford and The Cornell) has been investigated and the presence or absence of these features has been determined and then Using clustering as a multivariate statistical method, these universities were grouped into 4 different clusters. In order to determine the model which is used in compiling strategic planning documents of the selected universities, the characteristics of 12 different strategic planning models have been studied, and the similarity of each of them with the investigated documents has been determined. The results of this study showed that investigated strategic planning documents were grouped into four groups, and each of these documents probably used a distinctive pattern than the other groups. The result of this quantitative survey can be used as an introduction to the qualitative analysis of the documents under review. In addition, the survey results showed that none of the selected Iranian universities designed their own specific model for strategic planning. In other words, the models used in the planning of the universities under study were generally adaptive and the specific approach for none of the universities was not considered. This matter can challenge the success of universities in the operationalizing of derived planning documents.

This paper seeks to analyze the debate of two models in educational management, the discipline-centered and knowledge-based tradition, with an emphasis on the structural and modality differences between Daneshsar and Farhangian University, according to Michel Foucault's view of discipline and correction policies. In this paper, the qualitative and in particular the Grounded theory are used, and through in-depth and focused interviews, 43 experienced disciplinary teachers have been studied. The findings of this research, on the one hand, emphasize on the cultural, social, historical and academic necessity, the transition from the Daneshsara tradition to the modern academic tradition, suggest the educational planners and practitioners review the teacher education policies. On the other hand, the officials of the newly found university have urged to strive to establish and institutionalize a scholarly academic tradition, especially warn them with regard to the continuation of the Daneshsara tradition in the new university format. This research finally sees the establishment of the University of Farhanfian as a kind of breakthrough in the development of discipline-based knowledge, which itself is rooted in the biological and ontological developments of contemporary Iranian people in the third decade of the Islamic Revolution.

Ambiguity in the philosophy of education and failure to meet the requirements, on the one hand, and the lack of background and anxiety for the institutionalization of educational philosophy in the educational system and the illiterate outbreak of the tendency to develop testing skills in the students on the other hand has risks at the individual and social levels. This study conducted a semi-structured interview with 15 of the top rankings in undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate undergraduate, postgraduate and specialist enrollments by analyzing perceptions and experiences, based on phenomenological method so that the effect of registration in so-called test classes on student performance the exam will be interpreted in a national exam. The findings revealed 4 general themes, the drop in literacy of graduates with 7 sub-themes, low-income elites with 4 sub-themes, the weakening of formal education with 4 sub-themes and the theme of social inequality with 9 subsamples. The results show that, although the use of these classes increases the probability of success in multiple-choice tests, it has led to the formation and intensification of social inequality. In other words, the ill-fated promotion of the use of pre-school classes has paved the way for the ineffectiveness of formal education and, as a result of neglecting the many talents who have no such ability to use these kinds of training for reasons such as material, social and cultural, ability to admit to high-paying and popular courses. It seems that this has led to a neglect of the potential of the community and the intensification of social inequality; it doubles the need for rethinking to prevent the deepening of the hazards enumerated.

The purpose of the present paper was to design the professional consulting model in Iranian universities. The current study was conducted with a qualitative design based on Grounded Theory qualitative method. The statistical population of the research consisted of key informants and experts in five groups: political, managerial, sociology, economic, and specialists. As this research is an exploratory study, the most proper sampling method is purposive sampling. Here, the snowball sampling technique was used. The sample size reached 32 given the theoretical saturation. Due to the novelty of the subject and the lack of adequate theory on the research subject, exploratory interviews were used in this research as a data collection tool. The collected data were analyzed in the form of open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. Then, the desirable model for the professional consultation approach in the university was proposed based on data analysis. According to findings, it was found that categories such as the knowledge-based economy and learning community, university governance, social responsibility of the university, codes of promotion, and communication actions affect consultation approach as the central phenomenon; and using these categories, the professional consultation paradigm model was proposed to achieve the responsive university.

The main aim of this research was to identify effective components on policymaking based on the market-place in Iran's higher education. The research methodology was qualitative and Grounded Theory, and the data gathering tool was a semi-structured interview. The sampling method was purposive and 40 researchers and specialists of technology, research and sciences ministry and universities of Hamedan, Kurdistan, and Sistan and Baluchestan provinces were selected for interviews. The data was analyzed by using themes analysis in the forms of Open, Axial and Selective coding. Policymaking based on market-place in higher education at two dimensions of horizontal and vertical was the central hypothesis of the research. The vertical policymaking based on market-place includes: labor culture-making, modifying the structure of universities and market, need-assessment based on market-place, modifying educational roles (educational, research, faculty) based on market-place, government supporting of internal knowledge-producing and productions, advertising of universities' ideas regarding market-place, macro and micro policy making regarding market-place. The horizontal policymaking based on market-place includes: changing the curricula based on economical approaches, relationship between industry and university, training entrepreneurship students in market-place, policies of training and learning skills, using information technologies in market-place and universities, considering educational issues based on economy, turning Human resources to Human Capital, changing evaluation system. At last, the policymaking based on market-place model was presented by using the research findings.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the current status of Tehran’ s public universities based on factors affecting the development of a sustainable university. An exploratory mixed research method was chosen for this study. In the qualitative section, firstly, through semi-structured interviews with university specialists selected by chain referencing, the components influencing the development of sustainable universities were identified and categorized. In the quantitative section, the statistical population of the study consisted of faculty members of selected universities in Tehran. Using a randomized sampling method, 811 people were selected as participants in the study. To determine the validity and reliability of the data gathering tool (researcher-made questionnaire), the mean value of extracted variance, Cronbach's alpha and combined reliability were calculated by using PLS software. In order to confirm the fit of the structural model, the criterion of the determination coefficient and Aston Kaiser's criterion were used. In order to analyze the quantitative data from SPSS software, descriptive indexes and a one-sample t-test were used. Finally, the model has three main dimensions (teaching, research debate, and social services) based on four factors (tasks, technology, manpower, and structure). The results of the study indicated that the current status of the sample at the (p≤ 0. 01) level in the research-tasks (t= 5. 53, p= 0. 00), research-technology (t= 3. 76, p= 0. 00), manpower-research (t= 8. 93, p= 0. 00) and social services-technology (t= 3. 99, p= 0. 00) were significantly higher than the average level.