Evaluation of the Educational Program of Imam Ali University (Focusing on the Secondary Parameters)

Education is a process and phenomenon to which major parts of material and intellectual resources of most societies are allocated to, since most of them consider such an expense as a long-term investment. So, continuous and academic evaluation of both process and product a country's educational program in general, and their educational and academic institution in particular, is of paramount significance alike the educational program itself. To this end, this study is an attempt to evaluate the educational program of Imam Ali University from the perspectives of its academic staff members (i.e., professors) and students, who expressed their perceptions and beliefs through a 100-item valid and reliable questionnaire accommodating nine main variables of an educational program. As a complementary effort to the study done on the primary parameters (Abbasian, et al. 2013), this paper addresses the program from the five secondary variables (including evaluation system, educational technology and aids, inter-organizational interactions, admission system, and status of the academicians) in terms of compatibility with the common standards. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data confirmed relative satisfaction of the participants with the program evaluation system, but there exist lack of consensus between the two groups as to the quality and nature of the educational technology and aids, lack of coordination in inter-organizational interactions, lack of consensus and expression of negative look towards the student admission system and ultimately dissatisfaction with the status and the nature of interactions with the academic staff members. Therefore, the educational program requires reconsiderations so that it can meet the common scientific, academic criteria and standards.