Journal of Educational Planning Studies
Year:2012 | Volume:1 | Issue:1|Papers Count:8

This paper aimed to prioritize the relevant mechanisms of public-private sector participation in Iran’s educational system. To do so, the views of ten key informant scholars in the field of economics of education were sought. The data were collected using a questionnaire developed by the researchers based on the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) within which public-private participation mechanisms, i.e., managerial services contracts, operational contracts, instructional services contracts, supporting and professional contracts and infrastructure contracts. We also sought their evaluation criteria, i.e., the freedom of choice, efficiency, equity, and quality of education and community cohesion. In addition, we examined the superiority of the mechanisms, using the above criteria. The findings revealed that among the criteria, freedom of choice and efficiency were given the highest priority followed by equity, quality of education and community cohesion as other important criteria. The final analysis of the most appropriate mechanisms for public-private participation showed that contracts for educational services and managerial contracts are among the most appropriate and the most important contracts. Besides, operating contracts, infrastructure contracts, and support and professional contracts were found to be other less important contracts.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effective factors in not employing the graduates of educational management and planning in chaharmahal va bakhtiari province in specialized and managerial positions from the viewpoint of the lecturers, educational managers, and the employed graduates of the major. Descriptive-analytical and survey method was employed in the study; the sample consisted of 65 lecturers, 123 educational managers, and 62 of the Chaharmahal va Bakhtiari Province’s management and planning graduates. A researcher-made response-dependent questionnaire (with the likert scale of 5) was constructed to collect the required data. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts, and the reliability was calculated 95% through Cronbach Alpha. The findings showed that 46.1% of the respondents took individual, 57.8% organizational, 49% executive, and 37.4 educational factors to be effective, in an order of increasing amounts, in not benefitting from the services of the graduates in specialized positions. Moreover, there was a significant difference between the lecturers' and graduates’ viewpoints in terms of individual factors and between the lecturers' and managers' opinions in terms of organizational factors.

Interdisciplinary is a sign of crisis in traditional approaches to the science, conventional models of planning and curriculum, and in customary academic departments. This article aims to examine the grounds for the appearance and development of interdisciplinarization, its driving forces, capabilities, limitations, vulnerabilities and requirements with the emphasis on planning in higher education. The research method is qualitative meta-analysis. Eight factors have been studied as follows: 1.functional and structural changes in science, 2. paradigmic evolutions, 3.changing information and communication technologies, 4. change of external expectations in science, 5. changes caused by demand pull, 6. globalization, 7.institutional changes and 8. technology factor.Capabilities and limitations of disciplinarity and Interdisciplinarity have been compared. Based on the findings of the study, frontier science seems to be a forerunner approach to the development of the social world based on knowledge, this being not possible without interdisciplinarity paradigm and network view. Despite this, interdisciplinary fields have been found to have numerous efficiencies, which we ought to consider due to its vulnerabilities. According to the study, there also seem to be seven strategic requirements for educational and research activities together with their executive mechanisms. Finally, the interdisciplinarization seems to require a complex approach in the philosophy of science in order to synthesize the similarities and the differences of sciences.

Geography is a discipline that enjoys its own scientific structure in universities across the globe. In recent years, numerous new tendencies of the discipline have evolved across the world. Also, due to the role of the geographical science in development, spatial justice, peace and security, most countries are taking the discipline, its education and planning more and more seriously.In Iran, "The Committee for Planning Geographical Science" established in the Scientific, Research, and Technology Ministry is responsible for planning and promoting the quality of education and research of the geographical science in universities in Iran. Members of the committee consist of the prominent and well-known geography faculty members. Benefitting from their own experiences and those of others, the members plan the curriculums of geography courses in the country.During the last five years, the committee has undergone numerous shakes-up in terms of its planning and functions. In this paper, we have tried to review the changes with special emphasis on the results and conclusions reached. The finding of the analyses revealed that, firstly, the totality of the geography curriculum has been reviewed and updated. Besides, a number of curriculums have been set up employing modern approaches and trends. All these can, no doubt, contribute to the development of the country in terms of improving the situation, stable growth of the ecosystem, optimization, productivity, and the management of areas and regions.

The present study aims to identify and rank order the personnel training needs. To do this, all the 145 personnel of southern Khorasan governor-general office were invited to participate in the study. Upon reviewing the related literature, we interviewed experts employing a researcher-made questionnaire. Topsis technique was employed to determine and rank order the factors involved in personnel training. Then, the fuzzy Dematal technique was applied to determine the cause and the effect factors in this regard. The findings show that such factors as, being up-to-date and keeping abreast of the current knowledge ranked the highest. Also, factors such as enhancing the expert competence of the personnel, general knowledge development, reduction of the employees’ errors, and promoting job motivation stood 2 to 5in rank respectively. Dealing with clients properly, and proper employees’ well-beings assumed one to the last and the last ranks in that order, other factors standing in between. Besides, the fuzzy Dematal analysis of the data show the following thirteen factors to be the causes: being up-to-date, enhancing the expert competence of the personnel, increasing the personnel’s skill, proper connection with colleagues, public knowledge growth, reduction of personnel’s faults, enhancing the personnel’s motivation, familiarity of the personnel with official rules and regulations, familiarity with the personnel’s professional rights, promotion of the spirit of collaboration, organizational acculturation, familiarity of the personnel with the goals and responsibilities and adding to the work quality of the personnel in decreasing order of importance from 1 to 13. On the other hand, the following factors, i.e., 14 to 24, comprise the effects: enhancing the work security of the personnel, increasing the productivity of the personnel, promoting the spirit of accountability, professional promotion and development, enhancing the social spirit of the personnel, proportionality of the professional knowledge with work skill, promotion of moral virtues, adaptation with the workplace, increasing the professional peace, appropriate economic condition of the personnel, and proper dealing with the clients in decreasing order of importance.

In recent years researchers have tried to reflect interdisciplinarity from the framework of different theories. However, its dimensions have not been appropriately investigated in the scientific society. This study aims at conceptualizing the development of interdisciplinary programs from the perspective of Complexity System theory. This is a qualitative study in which the Focus Group method has been employed. The statistical sample includes seven experienced faculty members with considerable research activities. Quality content analysis, particularly theme analysis, open coding and axial coding methods are employed for the analysis of the data. The results show that from the functional dimensions the following factors influence the development of interdisciplinary programs: 1.interdisciplinary thinking, 2. disciplinary maturity, 3.formal attention, 4. needs assessment and problem finding, 5. Integrated knowledge production, 6.Networking. Also, from the structural dimension, the influential factors are 1.instituationalization, 2. the structure of the curriculum, 3. organizational factors and 4. The cognitive structure of the individual. Besides, the results of the study show that not only is interdisciplinarity the product of complication but also the partial development and the continuation of interdisciplinary activities play a critical role in providing the complicated capabilities in the academic system.

The current study is a survey-descriptive one in which the statistical population includes the experts working at Technical and vocational Training Organization and its subordinate offices, experts working in the industrial section, faculty members and scientific centers. The required data for this study were collected through researcher-made questionnaires and check lists. Analytic Hierarchy Process was employed to help choose the best courses and skills from four different perspectives (needs of job market and industry market, attention to entrepreneurship development, attention to job creation for university graduates and equality of priorities). The results showed that the priorities from the perspective of choosing the skills based on the need of the job and industry market are as follows: the first priority is the skills of repair and maintenance of gem spectrometer, the second one is assigned to the skills of working with gem spectrometer, the third priority belongs to the skills of repair and maintenance of X-Ray emission spectrometer, the forth one is the skills of repair and maintenance of gas chromatography-gem spectrometer and the last priority is the skills of working with X-Ray emission spectrometer. From the viewpoint of attention to entrepreneurship development the priorities are as follow: the first one is related to the period of working in chromatographic laboratory as a user having the skills of working with gas chromatography-gem spectrometer, the second priority is having the skills of a furnishing mill user, having the skills of working with furnishing mill, the third priority is the skills of X-Ray user having the skills of working with X-Ray emission spectrometer, the forth one is the skills of repair and maintenance of visible-ultraviolet spectrometer and the fifth priority is the skill of working with refract meter. From the perspective of attention to job creation for university graduates the priorities are as follows: the first one is the skills of working with the device of sedimentation in vacuum with fire vaporizer, the second priority is the skills of repair and maintenance of gem spectrometer, the third priority is the skills of working with gas chromatography-gem spectrometer, the forth one is the skills of repair and maintenance of nuclear magnetic resonance-immediate transfer and the fifth one is the skills of working with chromatography of provided liquid. From the perspective of equality of priorities, the result showed that the first priority is the period of working in the spectrometric laboratory as a user having the skills of repair and maintenance of gem spectrometer. The second priority is assigned to the period of working as a user in the relevant chromatographic laboratory having the skills of working with gas chromatography-gem spectrometer. The third one relates to the period of working in the spectrometric laboratory as a user having the skills of working with gem spectrometer. The forth priority is the period of working as a user of X-Ray spectrometer having the skills of working with X-Ray emission spectrometer and repair and maintenance of it.