Cultural Policy of Higher Education during Ahmadinejad's Presidency: A Discourse Analysis

This is a study to investigate the cultural policy towards higher education in the two terms of Ahmadinejad's presidency (2005-2013), and to discuss the aspects of its relationship with the discourse order of the higher education. This paper employs the concept of discourse and discourse analysis as both theory and method to answer a major research question about the extent to which the dominant discourse of cultural policy in higher education in this period is associated with the discourse order of the higher education. This study concludes that cultural policy in the higher education should be in line with academic discourse order prevailing in the arena of academia. In respect of the controversy between the two factors of accessibility and credibility, this study touches upon the focus upon Islamization of the academia and the emphasis over the executive and managerial approaches in the established discourse during Ahmadinejad's presidency. The paper propounds the argument that the discourse in this time period, despite being accessible, did not turn out to be credible in the academic setting.