JOURNAL OF RESEARCH AND PLANNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Year:2017 | Volume:23 | Issue:3 |Papers Count:7

This purpose of this study was to identify factors for developing science and technology diplomacy, assessing current situation and identification of factors and indicators for improving science and technology diplomacy. An applied and mixed research method was chosen for this study. Continuosly qualitative method (semi-structured interview) and a quantitative method (researcher-made questionnaire) were used. A purposive sampling method was chosen for this study. The statistical population in quantitative section was T. N. Toosi University of Technology Faculty members (n=253. A Structural analysis method was used for analysis of interviews. An exploratory factor analysis method was used for analysis of questionnaires data and one-sample t-test for examine current status. The results explained 3 dimensions and 30 components for the development of science and technology diplomacy, and 5 factors and 21 criteria for increasing the impact of higher education system on science and technology diplomacy in Iran. The main suggestion for higher education and foreign policy are developing infrastructure and upgrading the international agreements among universities, finding solution for shared challenges especially among neighbor’ s countries.

The relationship between university, industry and government in all countries, including Iran, is important and complex and the development of each of these institutions without cooperation is useless. The main purpose of this research was to use triple helix model as an index for evaluating the interactions in order to determine the share of university، industry and government as well as investigating the interactions of these three institutions in scientific productions in the field of agriculture reported by Web of Science during 2011-15. An applied descriptive-survey method and content analysis were chosen for this study. The statistical population was all articles published by Iranian researchers in the field of agriculture during 2011-15 and reported by the Web of Science. Results، showed that most Iranian scientific productions in the field of agriculture were made by universities and the least was made by the government organization. In addition, results indicated that the most interactions were made between two institutions of university and industry and the least were attributed to industry and government. The T (UIG) index was calculated-4. 17 for Iran. It showed that although the cooperation level between the triple institutions in Iran was weak, but had a growing trend during recent years. This index was calculated-9. 16 for agriculture during the last 5 years. It suggested that one-fourth of articles jointly published in the field of agriculture by three institutions of university، industry and government during past 5 previous years. The finding suggested that the agriculture field in Iran is as one of the first fields in which the most triple interactions were made.

the main purpose of identifying the determinants of students' academic burnout in Iran's public higher education system and providing solutions for its reduction. The statistical population of the research in the quantitative section included all university and institutes' students of higher education affiliated to the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in Iran. Using a randomized stratified sampling method, 2635 questionnaires were distributed among students. The results of this study indicated that a significant percentage of changes in the variance of academic burnout among the students in public higher education system were due to the ineffective variables of teaching, cultural factor, scientific cheating, economy-oriented education, family problems, faculty academic and behavioral weaknesses, infrastructure related problems, supportive-motivational factors and personality characteristics of students are explained and anticipated. In the second part, Delphi method was used to identify appropriate strategies for reducing academic burnout among students of public higher education system with regard to its determinants. In this section after the implementation of three stages, 32 strategies were identified, of which two thirds of the participants agreed on their importance in reducing academic burnout among the students. The findings of this study provides theoretical and practical achievements to help policymakers, planners, administrators and educators of the public higher education system to reduce the academic burnout among students.

Engagement in curriculum design process and promotion of curriculum design culture contribute to curriculum efficiency and effectiveness. However, it seems that the higher education authorities do not have a clear understanding of the role of curriculum design at universities. This research aimed to define and propose a conceptual framework for the promotion of curriculum design culture in universities and institutions of higher education. This research was a qualitative research type that was conducted using the grounded theory approach. The research population consisted of all curriculum experts, curriculum planners, and policy-makers of the higher education system of Iran. Using qualitative research design and selective sampling, in-depth interviews were conducted with 29 higher education authorities and experts. To establish the validity of the qualitative data, the method of participants checking was deployed. The results of the research indicated that the promotion of curriculum design culture in higher education system acts as the core category, which itself made of three dimensions, namely knowledge of curriculum design, concern for curriculum design and execution of curriculum programs. The development strategies and a final model were proposed based on causal conditions, core phenomena and context conditions.

According to Architecture curriculum, the History of Islamic Architecture Introduction is the only course in architecture curriculum in Architecture Faculties that is about Islamic architecture. The overall objectives of the course are: familiarity with the concept of Islamic architecture, understanding spatial characteristics and special qualities of this type of architecture, being familiar with principles of designing this type of architecture and giving identity to students’ architecture design. Although the course is approved by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology and offered for all architecture students and students are expected to achieve a relative understanding of the concepts outlined in the course, the evidence suggests that the students do not get the common understanding of the content. Thus, program's consensus to achieve its goals in creating Islamic architectural knowledge in architecture students can be questioned. Using an analytic research method, the present study gathered the required information through library studies and questionnaires. For the final evaluation of the operational pattern of research and the determination of the dependency relationship between the variables, a multivariate Structural Equation Modeling was used. The results showed that the diversity of the topics which referred to the topics of curriculum and the lack of perception from the expected concepts of “ Islamic Architecture” are important factors in the lack of complete understanding of students from the expected implications of the program. Based on the results, the review of the content of this course and the emphasis on the historical aspect of the concept of Islamic architecture in the undergraduate architecture seems necessary.

Along with the increase in the young population and students’ population in the country, the social problems and harms they are struggling with grow as well. This issue increases the need to pay attention to young people, especially students, who are the elite and educated of the society. Although there have been macro and micro studies in the provinces and the country, but they were generally cross-sectional and rarely studied the trend of the changes of social problems among students. However, it is necessary to categorize the studies in the field of student’ s social problems in order to provide a clear and distinctive plan that researchers can opt for their research topics that need more analysis. Therefore, current study aimed to recognize the most important social problems of student’ s life in Iran through a systematic review of all previous studies to present a comprehensive and novel approach to identify and analyze the most important social problems of student’ s population that can prevent loss of financial costs and policy-related mistakes. The systematic review included electronic searches in “ Elmnet, Irandoc, Magiran, and SID” during 1996 to 2016 period. The review and analysis of 35 studies showed that most of them didn’ t have an appropriate approach in choosing the most significant social problems among massive social problems. Finally, using a mixed approach, social problems such as citizens’ ethics, life expectancy, life satisfaction, inequality feelings, law escaping, brain drain and high risks behaviors were identified.

Quality of governance in every institution is one of the critical factors for development, efficiency and effectiveness. Higher education system in general and universities and higher education institutions in particular, are affected by governance mechanism of these bifurcated academic and bureaucratic institutions. Accumulated experience of higher education in developed countries indicated a necessity of universities and higher education institutions governance by the board of trustees. The Formation, Duties and Authorities of the Board of Trustees Act and the quality of its implementation could impact and provide success and effectiveness of university and higher education institutions in the long-term. In this study, using grounded theory based on the 15 higher education experts and key informants' opinions, a model for the governance of higher education, particularly public higher education institutions was developed from the perspective of the trusteeship. According to the results, the board of trustees governance has contexts for improvement of diversification of board of trustees organization, appointing and dismissal of academic institution chief, overseeing the performance of the university, mission oriented collective decision-making, community needs decision making and stakeholders, students, faculties, families, communities and employers participation in the process of decision-making and problem solving. In fact, current board of trustees' governance does not provide the maximum benefits. Therefore, it is necessary to improve board of trustees governance continuously.