JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PLANNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Year:2013 | Volume:18 | Issue:4 (66)|Papers Count:8

According to the empirical studies, the effect of different levels of education on economic growth is not identical in various countries. The objective of this research was to examine the effects of different levels of education on economic growth in Iran. This study is an applied research and the estimation of the model is done using VAR and VECM approach. The statistical population is Iran and the sample is the quarterly data during the period 1996-2007. The Augmented-Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips and Perron (PP) unit root tests were used to verify the stationary of the variables which indicate that the variables are I (0) or I (1). The analyses were done using Johansen and Juselius and Granger causality tests. According to the results, in the long-run, higher education, lower secondary and primary levels had the strongest effect respectively on the growth of GNP in Iran. The workers with upper secondary and pre-university education levels did not have significant effect on economic growth in the long-run. In the short-run and long-run, there is a unidirectional causal effect from all education levels except upper secondary and pre-university to economic growth and the economic growth does not Granger cause education levels. Overall, the results showed that, in the long-run, development of educational opportunities at higher, lower secondary and primary levels will respectively have the strongest impact on economic growth, indicating growth enhancing role of higher education in Iran. The economic growth will also increase with literacy rate.

Much of the organizational research is dedicated to higher education institutions as an engine for development of modern societies. But the auditing models and methods of quality audits in these institutions have always been a subject for dispute and debate. In this article by using the Fuzzy approach and the utilization of linguistic variables as the modern audit concept, a frame work for evaluating quality in higher education institutions was provided. This framework divides the element of Total Quality Management into two categories of empowerments and results and provides a clear and simple method for their evaluation. This framework was implemented as a case at Yazd University. This study was a survey design where 145 faculty members were selected from a population of 329 people. The reliability of questionnaire was determined by calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.83). The validity of questionnaire evaluated via factor analysis technique.The results gained by using the Fuzzy TOPSIS showed that the quality of education in this university is in a good condition as compared to the other dimensions.

Evaluation in higher education as other areas had great antiquity, and it has numerous applications, including selecting enormous professors. Selection of enormous professors due to different objective and subjective criteria had caused complexity. The purpose of this research was to introduce a model of Multi-Criteria Decision Making in Fuzzy environment in order to evaluate and select enormous professors in University of Gilan. The population of study was 93 College of Humanities’ faculty members. Two questionnaires were used to collect data. The Cronbach's alpha for first questionnaire was found to be 0.886. The second questionnaire was used for paired comparisons between main criteria. First, criteria and sub-criteria were identified in form of four criteria and thirty three sub-criteria by literature review and professors’ perspectives. After calculating cumulative weights for criteria and sub-criteria, our results showed that faculty members’ instructional activities was the most important criteria and after that research activities and cultural activities had the prominent role in selecting enormous professors respectively.

Nowadays, Educational quality and effectiveness are important. Universities and institutions of higher education tend to evaluate the quality of their education and its effecting factors. This study was aimed to investigate the quality of e-learning in Iranian universities based on curriculum orientations and faculty members’experiences. This study was a causal comparative research. By using stratified sampling method, 714 bachelorettes and Master students, and 63 faculty members at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Amir Kabir University of Technology, Khajeh Nasir Toosi University of Technology, and Ollum and Hadith University were selected as the study sample. Information was collected through Curriculum Orientation Questionnaire and E-learning Quality Evaluation Questionnaire. Cronbach's Alpha (.96) was used to assess reliability. Its validity was estimates by Content-related validity and construct validity. Data were analyzed by using MANOVA, Leven's test and Tukey post-hoc tests. Results showed that students participated in virtual courses evaluated quality of e-learning in all courses average and above average. There were significant differences in the role of instructors' curriculum orientations in the quality of e-learning. There were significant difference between e-learning experiences and quality of e-learning offerings. Female students rated the quality of virtual learning more than male students.

Considering the significance of studying universities as a learning organizations and investigating their strengths as well as their weaknesses for the adaptation to the enormous evolutions in the new era, this study is designed to explore learning organization characteristics at Shahid Chamran University Due to its comprehensive and systematic approach, the Marquardt’s learning organization model was employed as the theoretical basis for the current study. The main purpose of this research was to investigate the learning organization parameters from the two perspectives of knowledge and information technology. A descriptive survey design was chosen for this study. The population of this study included all of faculty members of the university. Three hundred faculty members who were selected by the simple random sampling method received a copy of the instrument, and 220 of them completed the questionnaire. Based on the Marquardt’s questionnaire, the literature review and the consultant with experts, a research tool comprising 50 questions rated on a Likert-type scale (5 Points) was developed. The reliability of questionnaire was determined by calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient (existing t condition=./913 and desired condition=./980). The descriptive and inferential statistics (paired t test) were used for analyzing the data. The findings revealed that there was a significant difference between the existing condition and the overall desired condition regarding the learning organization parameters at Shahid Chamran University.

Student loyalty is considered as a critical factor in the long term success of universities and institutions of higher education. The purpose of this study was to examine the direct and indirect effects of relationship marketing elements such as trust, satisfaction and commitment on loyalty of master students. Hereof, a model of casual relationship between the antecedents and consequence of relationship marketing is presented in this research. The present research with regard to the aim is practical and with regard to the data gathering is the descriptive survey. The population of the present research included all students at the master level at the University of Payam-e-Noor, Tehran campus. The total sample number was 442 students. Self-administered questionnaire was utilized for data collection and ultimately the data gathered from 400 students was analyzed. The research validity was confirmed in terms of convergent and discriminate validity. The reliability of questionnaire was determined by calculating the Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Structural Equation Modeling was used to analyze collected data. The research findings indicated an indirect effect of trust on student loyalty via satisfaction and commitment.In addition, trust effected commitment directly and indirectly through satisfaction. Also, the results showed that satisfaction effects student loyalty directly and indirectly via commitment. Finally, the relationship between commitment and student loyalty was confirmed.

The process of students’ major selection can be influenced due to time and place situations. In this article some influential factors in major selections were investigated. The purpose of his study was to evaluate effective factors in students’ major selection at educational sciences and engineering colleges in University of Tehran. A descriptive survey design method was chosen for this study. Statistical population included all students at educational sciences and engineering colleges in University of Tehran. Using stratified sampling method, 414 individuals were randomly selected. A 44 items researcher made survey instrument was developed to measure students views on major selection factors. Questionnaire’s content validity was evaluated by experts and its reliability was examined through exploratory factor analysis. The reliability of questionnaire via Chronbach's Alpha found to be. 89 Data were analyzed through Mann–Whitney, Friedman and single-sample t tests. Single-sample t-test results indicated that economic (3.99) and individual (3.07) factors had above average impact among engineering students, but social factors (2.18), entrance examination (2.37) and the institutional /education (2.74) had below average effects. Findings indicated that economic factors had less impact on education sciences’ students (2.63), but national entrance examination had above average effects on students’ major selection (3.82).Social factors (3.02), institutional/educational (3.09) and personal (2.91) had a moderate effect. The results of factor analysis identified five factors for engineering students: economical, personal, institutional/educational, entrance exam and social-cultural respectively. Factors identified for educational sciences’ students were: entrance exam, institutional, social-cultural, personal and economical in that order. Furthermore, a significant difference was observed between the two groups in five main factors.