Obstacles to the privatization of higher education in Iran and presentation of appropriate strategies for their removal

In the past two decades, such reasons as reduced costs, optimal allocation of resources, increased performance, the emergence of knowledge-based economy and the changing demographic composition of applicants for entry to universities have accelerated the trend toward privatization in the higher education sector. In Iran, the growth of privatization of higher education was introduced and proposed in the Third Development Plan, but has faced some limitations. This paper aims to explore the challenges and obstacles to the expansion of private higher education. In this study, after expressing the theoretical framework, attempts are made to answer the following questions: first, what main challenges are encountered by the Iran's privatization of universities and second, what strategies can be used to overcome these problems. This exploratory study research was carried out by means of interviews with relevant experts and questionnaires (both open and closed questionnaires). Research findings extracted 26 problems related to the privatization of universities of which the following were considered by the experts as of the greatest importance: absence of laws supporting private investment, low purchasing power of people, lack of ability to pay fees by students, structural problems in higher education management systems, lack of academic freedom in universities and government’s domination of social and cultural affairs of universities. The second question is answered toward the end of the research paper where strategic proposals to eliminate or reduce problems is presented.