فصلنامه پژوهش و برنامه ریزی در آموزش عالی
سال بیست و دوم شماره 3 (پیاپی 81، پاییز 1395)

The purpose of this study was to design a model for faculty development (FD) at the University of Tehran. A mixed exploratory research method was used. In the qualitative phase, semi-structured interviews were employed and in the quantitative phase, a descriptive- analytical method was explored. The results of the qualitative phase showed that the FD has five main components including instruction, research, specialized services, personal, and organizational development and 30 indicators. The results of quantitative phase showed that from the perspective of faculty members, the overall FD at the University of Tehran is above average and relatively favorable but the status of its two components, the development of specialized services and organizational development, are below the average.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the factors effecting career plateau in physical education's faculty members in Iran. A descriptive-survey method was chosen for this study. The statistical population of this research (N=369) included all faculty members in 38 physical education and sport sciences in public universities. Using Cochran's sample size formula, a total of 189 people were randomly selected. In this study, a researcher made questionnaire was used and its face and construct validity were approved by sports management faculty members. Exploratory factor analysis and path analysis were used for data analysis. The results of factor analysis showed that in total 4 factors included about 60 percent of the variances. The results indicated that the biological factors (.512) had the most influence on the creation of faculty members career plateau .Therefore, with respect to the necessity of effective factors on career plateau in physical education faculty members in Iran, it is recommended that subjects related to the biological issues are considered by authorities.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential threshold effects among human capital, R&D and total factor productivity in selected developing countries over the 1996-2013 periods. In doing so, a panel smooth transition regression model was applied. The results indicated a nonlinear relationship among variables under investigation and propose two regime model and a threshold of 3.40. In the first regime, variables namely costs of research and development, human capital and good governance had significant and positive impact and government consumption expenditures and technology exports had significant and negative impact on total productivity. In the second regime, with transition to a higher level of human capital, the cost of R&D, human capital, good governance and government consumption expenditures had significant and positive effect and export of technology had a significant and negative impact on total factor productivity. In fact, with transmission to the higher level of human capital index, the sign of government consumption expenditures is changed and the negative impact of technology exports has been reduced. However, the impact of costs of research and development, human capital and good governance has been increased. According to the results, human capital index had the most significant role in increasing total factor productivity, so this study suggested spending more share of GDP on R&D and human capital indicators.

This study aimed to explain the research-based doctoral program in perspective of internationalization of science and technology scenarios. This qualitative research was conducted through semi-structured interviews with 37 key informants including students and alumnus of human and social sciences and engineering, doctoral research-oriented supervisors, executives and experts from the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in the area of policymakers. Since most recruitment of doctoral research-oriented programs is in research institutions, the sample of the research was selected from institutions affiliated to the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. The result indicated that the motivation behind developing the program is formed based on the interests of individuals, groups, institutions and political parties in order to dominate quantity-oriented higher education. Overcoming these incentives in the benefit system led to the weakness of teaching and research system and student's perception disorder. Based on the current scenarios, within the matrix scenarios of science and technology in the country, the present situation is more focused introvert. Considering the internationalization of research-based doctoral programs and entry to the global open network, the recommendations were proposed to develop infrastructure and increase research and learning capacity, quality of research-based doctoral programs and its products..

In developing countries, one of the challenges of higher education is internationalization followed by using English-medium instruction as one of its factors. Nowadays, applying English-medium instruction has increased about 10 times in a decade, and is one of the concerns of policy makers for higher education policy making. Assuming the importance of this tool in the internationalization of higher education in leading countries and it's per found impact on the success of Europe's higher education is strengthen. Using a comparative study, the purpose of current paper was to find the role of English language in internationalization of higher education and to know which different language learning approaches European countries use in their higher education system. Therefore, European countries were chosen as a sample population based on the developed countries. The stratified purposeful sampling and theatrical saturation was used. Qualitative content analysis of texts and top-level documents were applied utilizing Bereday comparative method. After triangulation of findings, criteria and factors were chosen and a framework was developed. The findings were evaluated in an expert panel to be verified and refined using the feedback provided by experts in the field. The panel of subject-matter experts was used to examine the proposed framework. During the evaluation process, useful recommendations were received and the framework was improved. The findings provided appropriate strategies as well as a testing ground for our country.

Procrastination is one of the effective factors in student's academic performance. This research carried out to investigate the relationship of academic procrastination with metacognitive beliefs, emotion regulation and tolerance of ambiguity. The research method was descriptive-correlational and its population was all students at the University of Isfahan, 120 of whom were selected by multistage simple random sampling method. The Sevari academic procrastination questionnaire (with dimensions of deliberating procrastination, procrastination caused by physical-mental and procrastination caused by disorganization), the Wells & Cartwright-Hatton metacognitive beliefs questionnaire, the Gratz & Roemer difficulties in emotion regulation scale and the Ahmadpour Mobarakeh tolerance of ambiguity scale were used for data gathering. Descriptive statistics including mean, and standard deviation and inferential statistics comprising Pearson correlation, simultaneous regression and independent t-test were used for data analysis. Results showed that there was a significant positive relationship between the total academic procrastination and procrastination caused by physical-mental (more procrastination) with metacognition beliefs (more negative metacognitive beliefs), emotion regulation (difficulty in emotion regulation) and tolerance of ambiguity (low tolerance of ambiguity). There was a significant positive relationship between the deliberating procrastination and procrastination caused by disorganization (more procrastination) with emotion regulation (difficulty in emotion regulation). The emotion regulation significantly predicted the total academic procrastination, procrastination caused by physical-mental and procrastination caused by disorganization. The tolerance of ambiguity significantly predicted the procrastination caused by physical-mental. Also, there is no difference between female students and male students in terms of procrastination, metacognition beliefs, emotion regulation and tolerance of ambiguity.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the tasks of Information Technology specialists; determining their competency for performing tasks and tasks of IT educational programme in order to foster competency, and also evaluating IT undergraduate programme efficiency in Iran. A qualitative case study research methodology was chosen for this study. Research tools included documentary studies and semi-structured interviews. The results showed that IT specialists’ tasks take place in thirty two occupations. Other findings revealed that IT specialists competency in Iran included eighteen elements, some of which are: academic education, knowledge for problem solving, problem analysis, design and development of solutions, modern tool usage, individual and teamwork skills, communication, professionalism, ethics, lifelong learning, cultural awareness, accountability, judging and work autonomy. Results also showed competency should be fostered through two stages, namely an “accredited educational program” and “formative development”, and measured through a “competency test” and be maintained and continued through “continuing professional development”. This process is known as the “engineering competency lifecycle”. A lack or inefficiency of a stage will have undesirable effects on other stages. International reference bodies such as «IEA», «ENAEE» and the «CDIO» project are benchmarking and determining IT international educational standards and criteria for standardization and quality improvement of engineering programs. All IT undergraduate programs in Iran should be developed in accordance with international criteria. Findings showed that IT undergraduate programs in Iran do not meet international criteria and should be modified.