Studying Effective and Contextual Factors for Implementation Policies of Higher Education in Iran

The purpose of this study was to identify and prioritize the factors that influence the implementation of Iran's higher education policies. The mixed-method was applied using semi-structured interviews in the qualitative phase. Interviews were codified by open, axial, and selective factors of the contextual and effective factors. In the quantitative section, a researcher-made questionnaire was used utilizing a hierarchical analysis of 50 faculty members and experts in higher education to prioritize the effective and contextual factors. The findings of the interviews with the experts and literature review showed that the research on the factors behind the implementation of higher education policies resulted in the extraction of six main concepts in the form of 60 variables, the main concepts are classified based on ranking:legal,political, economic factors, technological, cultural and social. Also, the factors affecting the implementation of higher education policies are classified into eight main concepts in the form of 90 variables. The following main concepts are ranked as following: factors related to policy formulation, administrative, structural and bureaucratic factors, supportive factors, Factors associated with the executive bodies, the experiences, and skills of the facilitator, the supporting factors, the choice of appropriate policy tools, environmental factors and geography. These factors directly influenced the implementation of higher education policies.