The position of innovative and Entrepreneurial teaching-learning in third generation university and the Status of Iran's universities(Case study: five Iranian universities)

The third generation university is one of the main ideas of the participation of the university institution in the local and national development process in order to play an effective role in the surrounding environment and the world community. The development of entrepreneurship is one of the key strategies for promoting the social responsibility of scientific institutions and achieving the goals of social transformation and sustainable development. What has been wrongly highlighted by the concept of the third generation university in academic circles is that the university is a one-dimensional organization similar to knowledge-based institutions that focuses solely on economic-technical entrepreneurship. In this wrong perception of the third generation university, the main and inherent functions of the university, including educational, research and social cultural functions, have not been introduced in priority. Therefore, this article shows that innovative and entrepreneurial teaching and learning has a special place in the third generation university.

In this research, the state of innovative and entrepreneurial teaching-learning in the five studied universities has been evaluated in a comparative manner based on the "Entrepreneurial University Guide" and the "Framework of Innovative Higher Education Institutions" in European Commission and in Cooperation Organization for Economic Development.

Based on this research, universities with their general and specific mission to move in the path of entrepreneurship should act simultaneously and balanced in at least eight dimensions: 1) reforming and improving the leadership and governance process, 2) strengthening and completing financial and humanistic capacities 3) improving the level of teaching-learning, 4) preparing and supporting entrepreneurs, 5) exchanging knowledge and effective and complementary cooperation with local, regional and national communities, 6) increasing the level of international mobility, 7) digital transformation, and 8) efforts to actualize entrepreneurial tasks and outcomes. In addition, innovative and entrepreneurial teaching-learning should become one of the main and fundamental dimensions of the entrepreneurial university. This is despite the fact that the level of innovative and entrepreneurial teaching-learning in the studied universities is not at the desired and expected level and there is a significant gap between the current situation and the desired situation.

Based on the evaluation of the studied universities, attention to innovative and entrepreneurial education is not enough, and in the process of becoming an entrepreneurial university, more attention should be paid to the value and importance of innovative and entrepreneurial education-learning. Achieving the third generation university should be concurrent with strengthening the function of innovative and entrepreneurial education as the central core of the university institution and ecosystem. Therefore, it is necessary for the managers of the higher education system and universities to pay special attention to the levels of policy making, planning and implementation to improve the level of innovative and entrepreneurial education in the academic community.