Developing market orientation in higher education: constraints and opportunities in Iranian higher education

The present paper aims to examine developing market orientation constraints and opportunities in Iranian higher education. In doing so, mix method was applied. A purposive sample of 10 informants consisting of higher education and marketing experts and deans was selected. After the implementation of interviews, to analyze data, open, axial, and selective coding system was applied. The initial questionnaire was designed, in order to validate components and Based on the findings of qualitative research phase. After verifying the reliability and validity, was conducted on the sample of 120 non-governmental deans of higher education institutions. A quantitative validation component was performed using the software PLS by factor analysis. And eventually, components were ranked using the Friedman test. Results show higher education market orientation constraints in order include economic constraints, institutional, administrative, educational, political, cultural and social; and Opportunities in order include internal efficiency, economic, educational and public.