مجله آموزش عالی ایران
سال سوم شماره 1 (پیاپی 9، تابستان 1389)

This paper focuses on the best ways of improving the Iranian higher education and research system. Common related problems are covered in discussion of methods and approaches. These methods are discussed in three parts. Firstly, common methods and mechanisms including attitudes and cultural approaches, policymaking, infrastructures, laws and trends, and manpower, in pre-university education are deliberated. The second part, dedicated to higher education, discusses educational policy making and planning. The third part of this paper explores the mechanisms of research. Here, issues relating to research policies and infrastructures, laws, and trends have been analyzed. Although the paper is not the result of a field study, every effort has been made to take advantage of field studies. The author has paid more attention to the field of humanities, though most discussions also apply to areas other than humanities. The conclusion lists major problems with the Iranian higher education and research system while proposing the best methods for improvement of the current situation from a viewpoint different to the viewpoint put forward in the body of the paper.

Academic autonomy has enjoyed fluctuating trends in the past seven decades in Iran. Currently, the fourth phase of vesting authorities in Universities, according to phrase A of article 49 of the Fourth Development Plan, is being implemented, but the full implementation of its contents faces obstacles. Thus, it is important to know the views of science centers managers about a complex issue like academic autonomy and its implications. Firstly, in this study, based on an opinion survey, the building blocks variables of academic autonomy concept are identified in 4 groups: financial independence, administrative autonomy, academic freedom and independence of national and international relationships. Then, the views of 3 groups of science centers managers about these variables and their importance are measured. Finally, after identifying the effects and implications of academic autonomy in Iran (19 cases) by using binomial test, the respondent's views on the factors considered as implications are stated.

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors influencing knowledge sharing. Sample population for the study composed of all 23 academic staff of the Faculty of Education at Ferdowsi University. Based on the literature, thirteen factors were recognized as the most important factors influencing knowledge sharing. However, based on the matrix factor, nine factors (communication, perceived IT, perceived usefulness of IT, Teamwork, Strategy, Trust, Self efficiency, Sentimental commitment, and knowledge nature) were inferred. According to the results of multiple regression test, factors such as strategy, trust, and self efficiency were the three essential factors that impacted greatly on explanation of knowledge sharing behavior.

The main objective was to analyze and determine how various psychological and social factors in foreign language acquisition apply to Iranian students. This study is based on Gardener & Lambert’s work. Motivation and attitudes are undoubtedly major factors in foreign learning success and has been extensively investigated. Attitude is defined as a disposition to respond favorably or unfavorably to an object, person, institution, or event. Motivation, on the other hand refers to the combination of efforts plus desire to achieve the goal of learning plus favorable attitudes towards learning the languages. Gardener & Lambert first made the famous distinction between two types of motivation, instrumental and integrative. A total of 400 university students participated. For obvious reasons, university students were chosen. Children, especially in school, are more ambivalent in regards to job objectives. Furthermore, they may not have a genuine interest in acculturation. The questionnaire given to students was developed in English, then translated into Persian and consisted of the two items: questions eliciting demographic data and a set of attitudes and orientations scales. The number of respondents reporting a middle level of proficiency was striking. The students were found to be both instrumentally and integratively oriented in English-language learning task. In addition, the results showed that instrumental orientation is a significant predictor for the integrative orientation of the selected sample and it explained 15% of the total variance of integrative orientation. Overall, the respondents showed modestly favorable attitudes toward learning English and have positive attitudes towards foreign languages learning. The students showed a moderate motivation and desire to learn English. Finally, there were positive and significant correlations between psychological and social factors and student's self-rated proficiency in English marks and orientation toward learning English.

This research was implemented to analyze personal and psychological factors influencing job related learning among agriscience students in the Karaj campus of the University of Tehran using a survey method. Statistical population of the study consisted of 1103 agriscience senior BSc and postgraduate students, out of which 201 Student were selected as the sample based on Cochran’s sampling methodology. Stratified proportionate random sampling technique was used to reach the respondents for interview. The research instrument consisted of three parts. The first segment included questions and scales relating to demographic characteristics of the respondents. The second part consisted of the job related learning scale as a dependent variable. The third segment was concerned with psychological scales. Validity of the questionnaire was approved by a panel of expert judges and the reliability coefficient was calculated for the main scale of the questionnaire using Cronbach's alpha (α=0.89). Path analysis was the predominant Statistical method used for analyzing the data. SPSSWin15 was employed to process the data in this research. The results of the research showed that interest in the course, belief in competency of faculty members, trust in mutual relationships, ability to create and experiment new opportunities and information- seeking ability had important roles in the prediction of variation in the dependent variable. In total, these variables explained 79% of the variance of “job related learning” among agriscience students.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between cognitive self evaluation skills of faculty members, and quality of students evaluation among public universities in the city of Isfahan in the academic year 1387-88.The subjects of the study were 82 faculty members (59 males and 23 females) and 820 students(468 males and 352 females). The instruments used were the Met-cognitive Awareness Inventory(MAI) which was distributed among faculty members, and the Teaching Performance Questionnaire(TPQ) which was completed by students of the selected faculty members. The results showed that there were significant correlations between the cognitive self-evaluation scale scores and the evaluation of students scale scores (P<0/01). The difference between faculty members of public universities in the city of Isfahan was also significant in both the cognitive self-evaluation and evaluation of students scales (P<0.01). In addition, results of the regression analysis showed that cognitive self-evaluation scale scores explain 0/013 percent of variance in evaluation of students (P<0.01).

The Purpose of this study was to design a tool for evaluation of faculty members’ performance in the Agricultural College of Razi University using a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods. The population sample of this study included students, instructors, managers and specialists of Agricultural college of Kermanshah at Razi University. 280 students from all over the Agricultural College (N=1076) were selected by using the Cochran formula. For data collection a questionnaire containing 20 questions was distributed among the sample population (Likert Scale). Validity of this instrument was determined by Razi University faculty members, and reliability was measured by Cronbach’s Alpha (0.72). The Delphi technique was used to gather data from faculty members, managers and specialists.17 persons (n=17) were selected by purposed sampling method in this study that included 10 faculty members and Heads of Department and 7specialists. Delphi technique was performed during 3 rounds. Results were integrated into a “Faculty Members Performance Evaluation” (FMPE) pack. This pack contains different parts that can evaluate faculty member by using quantitative and qualitative methods.