Designing an Expert Model of Financing Mechanism of Humanities Discipline

As policy interventions in financing higher education system in Iran lacks the adequate effectiveness and efficiency, it is necessary to redefine the role of government and other actors in higher education industry. In this study, based on the individual utility and social utility of disciplines, an expert model was developed to determine the appropriate financing mechanism for humanities in bachelor degree. Using the experts’ knowledge along with the literature and fuzzy inference system, an expert model was designed by MATLAB software 2020a. Priority of the field in the “comprehensive scientific map of Iran” and indicators of social and individual utility of disciplines (extracted by research team) were used as inputs of model. A software was developed which presents the final model to determine mechanism of financing disciplines. Study of two sample disciplines resulted in “Market” group mechanisms for Law and “Government” mechanisms for Persian Language and Literature. The results show that simultaneous attention to individual and social utility of disciplines can improve prioritization and policy-making in financing. It can also increase the productivity of investment in higher education. Therefore, using this approach, it is possible to redefine the role of government and regulate the relations between actors in the higher education industry in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of government investment in higher education, implement Development Programs, keep a balance in higher education market, extend market-oriented disciplines, avoid mass production of graduates, and prevent the excessive development of universities and higher education institutes.