Journal of Iranian Higher Education
Year:2008 | Volume:1 | Issue:2|Papers Count:8

The examination of the higher education evolutions and the analysis of the quantitative and qualitative growth and development of the state's academic institutions in recent decades speak of the numerous challenges and insufficiencies which are rooted in the policies and approaches governing the state's higher education system, unrealistic programs and lack of attention to fundamental planning principles in planning the academic courses and fields in the state's higher education centers. Studying the weak points and vulnerabilities of the academic education in the humanities reveals that such a state of affairs in this academic field is relatively more alarming. Meanwhile, the undulant and breathtaking development of information and communication technology as well as the emergence of phenomena such as globalization, the disintegration and omission of some intellectual and philosophical boundaries and the formation of new paradigms have provided the grounds for the consideration of new university models in the third millennium and the emergence of new generations of higher education institutions. Thus, we are encountering with a new series of challenges and vocations along with our current problems and predicaments in our higher education system. These problems cannot be successfully handled except by reengineering our higher education system. In this regard, making changes and reforms in the humanities and its adaptation with the above-mentioned conditions is of high importance. It requires the managers and administrators of the academic centers to make more efforts and take more serious actions. This article attempts to analyze the challenges and insufficiencies affecting the education and research quality by examining the humanities students' views on the status of the discipline in the state's higher education, and suggest guidelines for the improvement of research and scientific activities in the field.

This article presents the major findings of the researches accomplished on the organizational development status of Tehran Universities of the Ministry of Science, Research & Technology. In this research, a systemic conceptual model on university organizational development was first developed based on the current theoretical basics and research backgrounds. Based on this model, the organizational development status of the five universities included in the research sample was then evaluated in three aspects, namely conceptual, structural and functional. The senior managers (n = 132) and faculty teaching staff (n = 310) answered the related questionnaires. The results of the research indicate that I) the senior managers of the universities do not have enough familiarity with the theoretical basics (the conceptual aspect) of university organizational development; 2) the existing structures at the universities do not have the necessary competence for the advancement of organizational development;3) the whole fundamental practices (the functional aspect) of organizational development have not been exercised effectively at the universities; 4) there is no meaningful difference between the status of triple aspects of organizational development in different industrial universities and non-industrial universities; 5) there is a very wide gap between the current status and the desired (expected) status of organizational development at the universities; 6) the triple aspects of organizational development of the universities do not correlate with each other.

The main purpose of the survey was to investigate the relationship between job and attitudinal characteristics of university employees with their job satisfaction. The study method is a descriptive, and correlation one 120 employees in Teacher Training University of Sabzevar were selected in the form of simple random sampling from 176 employees. To measure Attitudinal Characteristics of employees, Researcher --Made Questionnaire and to determine job satisfaction, Brifild and Roth Questionnaire was used. Results indicated that there is significant relation between job characteristics of university employees with their job satisfaction. This relation was more significant in the kind of faculty than the other characteristics. Results indicated that there is significant relation between attitudinal characteristics of university employees with their job satisfaction. This relation was more significant in behavioral dimension than the affective and cognitive dimensions. Moreover, no significant relation was observed between attitudinal characteristics of university employees with their sex and job experience while there was significant relation between attitudinal characteristics of university employees with their certificate.

Nowadays, the emergence of new competitive discussions in many universities of Iran has engaged them in a change process. According to this view universities try to provide their clients and students with more satisfaction. This article presents an appropriate model for conceptualization and evaluation of quality services provided by state universities. To this end, a conceptual framework for the examination of the qualitative characteristics in the higher education sector has been presented in the first step using the Kano model. This framework classifies the students' and clients needs into three levels, namely obligatory, one-dimensional and attractive. In the next step, it ranks the characteristics included in each level using the TOPSIS model, and finally it offers guidelines for the improvement of the higher education sector. The model introduced in this article has been used with the students/clients of Yazd University. The results show that the professors and students' rapid and adequate access to computers and the internet, the introduction of graduates to the job market, and giving the students the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities are amongst the most important factors. The most important and obligatory factors included in the one-dimensional level are: the development of graduate programs including MAIMS and PRO in different fields, the adequacy of the number of faculty staff and professors, and the allocation of special and adequate time for tackling the students' problems and difficulties by the professors. The most important factors included in the in the one- dimensional level are: the faculty's communication with industrial and official environments and the students' familiarization with these environments, the provision of special services for the new students, and the tidiness and appropriateness of the faculty's rooms and classrooms. Finally, this article offers various suggestions for the improvement of the quality of services in the graduate and postgraduate levels in each aspect.

Accessibility to higher education is a part of citizen's right to knowledge especially in the economy of science and society of the learner. Qualitative and quantitative indicators for accessibility to higher education reveal a deep gap between the present situation in our country and that of the developed countries regarding the process of development. Meanwhile, inclination of the fourth program to net/pure enrollment in higher education requires facing challenges for providing new sources and increasing the capability from one hand and determining targets and long term qualitative activities on the other, so that quantitative growth will not result in reversed outcome. To this aim, issues such as diversity of financial resources, developing infra structure for E-learning, developing the quality of evaluation and accepting system, quality of human resources and academic staff, institutionalizing evaluation and assessment, competitiveness of higher education, tri lateral interaction Of university, state and agencies seem as necessary.

In the present research, patterns for desirable teaching in Gilan University has been discussed and analyzed bases on student's opinions in different faculties. As the first step, forty freshmen were asked to express their ideas on desirable teaching methods. Next, a number of 365 students were selected from among the total population of 7000 students in university using cluster sampling. Through questionnaires, the mentioned students who comprised about 5% of the whole population were asked to assign a rank to effective factors on desirable teaching methods and determine whether the factors and minor of major. Also, differences and contradictions between importance and specialty of teaching methods for the whole sample and six different faculties were taken into account. Although, the subjects held different stances on the grounds of their majors and experiences they were generally unanimous on their idea. Ranking the analyzing factors also led to the conclusion that desirable teaching pattern has been paid attention to by the students based on learning centered and teaching-centered general factors.