University & Cultural Policies: The Relation Between Ideal and Reality

After the Islamic Revolution part of the task of strengthening religious teachings, promoting revolutionary values, countering the cultural influence of the West and students' compliance with the goals of the political system of society was assigned to universities. Cultural policymaking in the country's universities, as a part of the ideological system and within the framework of government discourse, became a tool to strengthen the values and ideals of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the present article, an attempt was made to examine the relationship between such expectations and the existing facts. For this reason, based on the method of documentary study, the salient aspects of the cultural ideals that policy makers were considered about the behavior and character of students was explained. Then relying on a systematic review of national surveys; aspects of the reality of students' thoughts and behavior were analyzed. The findings indicated that there is a significant gap between cultural ideals and the reality of students' attitudes and tendencies. This situation may be due to inefficiency of policies or shortcomings in the way they are implemented, or it may be due to ignoring the structural conditions of society and disregarding the social life of young people in today's world. In any case, it is necessary to rethink the cultural expectations of the university towards the student in a more realistic framework.