JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PLANNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Year:2020 | Volume:25 | Issue:4 |Papers Count:6

The phenomenon of the theses and dissertation ghost writing is based on a number of conditions, overlapping procedures, conjuncture of policies and all kinds of policies, legislation, and practices in the academic institution. In this study, first, the growth trend of universities and academic institutions in the last two decades and then, the transformation in the policy of promoting professors was examined, and mass student entry policy was discussed. Along with the increase in the number of students, the rules for defending graduate dissertations and the new promotion rules for faculty members became a factor in emphasizing the status of the article in Iranian universities. All of these factors should be seen in addition to the development of a number of scientific research journals. Because of policy of the independent article has been transformed into the co-writing of articles extracted from theses and dissertations. In this article, we will show that over the past two decades, articles published in journals have often been extracted from student dissertations. Thus, the policy of promoting professors, resumes reinforcement through chairing and co-chairing of more dissertations, enabling students to defend their theses and dissertation, or continuing their education by publishing an article extracted from theses and dissertations, has led to this change. Therefore, the articles extracted from the theses and dissertations have found both financial and legal value for promotion and status. Because of such a situation, the theses and dissertation and their related products have become a valuable commodity for the black market outside the university.

The purpose of the present qualitative phenomenological research was to explore the perceptions and experiences of the doctoral students on supervisors' responsibilities in the role of research mentors. In order to collect the research information, semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-one doctoral students who were selected by using purposive sampling with maximum variation. The content analysis was used to analyze the data. Analysis of interviews was performed using the thematic analysis method and 38 basic themes were extracted and classified into 7 organizational themes. Analysis of the perceptions and experiences of doctoral students indicated that the role of research mentor by the supervisor from the perspective of doctoral students requires the fulfillment of research mentoring responsibilities in form of 7 components (organizational theme), research support, scientific-research mentoring, development interventions, Professional support, communication support, psychological support and personal support. The findings of the present study could be an introduction to further attention and understanding of the research mentoring responsibilities of doctoral students by supervisors and the improvement of the current situation.

The purpose of this study was to explain the relation between scientific sociability and formation of university student' identity. This research was a social survey. Questionnaire combined with interviews, and documentary method were used to collect research data. The statistical population included all graduate students of public universities in Isfahan province in 1396. A total of 320 individuals were selected as sample size. The reliability of the research variables was examined and confirmed using composite reliability coefficients and Cronbach's alpha. The research findings indicated a significant and positive relationship between each of the variables of academic sociability, membership in scientific communities, interaction with friends and the participatory atmosphere of the college, respectively (r= 0. 635, 175, . 233, . 570) with student's identity. Also, in evaluating the structural model using PLS software, the volume of the effect of academic sociability (F2= 0. 143) was in moderate level and other variables were low. A value of Q2 equal to 0. 405 indicates that, in general, the predictive power of the model is high. According to the findings, although the components of scientific acceptability have been able to explain the student's identity in the statistical population to a large extent, but the main challenge regarding student's identity has been identified in just focusing on internal university factors alone and insufficient attention to external academic factors in this regard.

The faculty promotion system, due to its special nature, is recognized as one of the prominent policy tools in the field of higher education. The criteria and principles for rank promotion represent the missions, policies and programs of the academic system. Therefore, authorities try to better organize the promotion system. Due to these characteristics, academic and scientific policymakers have considered the bylaws for the scientific rank promotion level in recent years. In this regard, the comparative studies, as one of the ways to achieve existing knowledge, can improve the perspective of scientific and academic policymakers. The present study comparatively examined the promotion criteria in some selected universities in the world and the region. For this purpose, the top 9 universities in the world (from the United States, Britain, Canada and Germany) and the top 6 universities in the region (from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Turkey, and Malaysia) were reviewed and criteria related to teaching, research and services were extracted. Then, in a comparative way, the criteria were matched with Iran's promotion bylaws' criteria and important findings were discussed.

With the expansion and diversification of the process of international displacement as a factor affecting the national development of countries, the arena of migration studies needs to be reconsidered. The rising trend of external migration in recent years has been identified as one of the challenges in the policy area and requires comprehensive pathology. This study was conducted to understand and analyze the lived experience of returning specialists from the integration process in Iranian higher education. This research is trying to show what capacities encourage them to stay in the country and serve in the institution and how higher education as the most important area of recruitment does, address the human capital of returning migrants. A qualitative research method was chosen for this study. Data collection was based on 65 semi-structured interviews with specialists returning to the country with doctoral degrees and higher. In order to provide a comprehensive projection of policymaking, 12 specialized interviews were conducted with the academic department chairs and related authorities in the public and private sectors. The questions of the Scientific Committee on Approval of the Faculty, approved by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology to understand the challenges of returning migrants were also analyzed. It seems that the approach of the higher education institution to the promotion of the human capital of returning specialists is in a limited and short-term format and the long-term integration within the process of recruitment faces many challenges such as predominance of technical view over educational system, abandoned of the humanities, incompatibility of the specialty and skills of returning migrants with the stated needs of the country's universities, the quantity centered university evaluation system, the inadequate distribution of resources, the lack of infrastructure needed to achieve the immigrant expertise, the loss of academic support networks, and different standard of making resume at home and abroad.

The higher education system is recognized as one of the most important factors of any society for development and progress. The main purpose of this study was to design and validate a model for social-cultural structure of universities. The research method was applied and developmental in terms of purpose and explanatory sequential mixed and modeling type in terms of data collection method. The initial theoretical framework was developed and validated in three stages using multiple data matching methods. In first stage, in order to identify the components of the social and cultural structure of universities, 46 study units were selected and studied. In the second stage, the interview was conducted in a semi-structured and purposeful manner with 16 experts and informants in this field. In the third stage, using stratified sampling method, 378 educational and non-educational staff were selected from 8 different universities. In the first stage, categorization document content analysis method was used for data analysis. In the second stage, categorical content analysis method was applied and in the third stage, Partial Least Squares, PLS adopted to validate the model through SMART PLS 3 software. The research results showed that the social and cultural structure of universities includes 12 main components including trust, shared norms and values, mutual understanding, group dynamics and participatory actions, information channels and network communication, risk-taking and innovation, leadership and management, structure, evaluation, honor and dignity, mission, independence and freedom. Therefore, the identified components of this research can be a good basis for evaluating, understanding and improving the social and cultural structure of universities by higher education policy maker institutions in Iran.