Institutional autonomy in the Iranian public universities affiliated with the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology

This descriptive and exploratory study is an attempt to recognize the salient features of autonomy in the Iranian public universities affiliated with the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. Data collection was through triangulation which is examining the legal documents, interviews and questionnaires. The sample consists of experts (education, higher education management, public Administration) and senior managers in Iranian higher education system. The results show a significant intervention of the state in seven areas of university autonomy, with the first one being the least affected: (1) the area of Research and Publication, (2) Curriculum and Teaching, (3) Academic Standards, (4) Staff, (5) Governance, (6) Administration and Finance, (7) Students, while the government intervention in these areas was assessed as being too much. Also, research findings indicate that the most important factor in running Iranian universities is among the academic authority, political decisions, administrative regulations and market, are administrative regulations and Iranian university autonomy is mostly “Procedural” rather than “Substantive”.