Analysis of the internal and external environment of Educational Affairs in University of Mazandaran based on strategic planning

The purpose of this study was to investigate the status of key indicators of the education field in University of Mazandaran by assessing the external and internal environment in order to propose suitable strategies. In this research, the combined method of exploratory sequence design has been used. The statistical population in the qualitative section was composed of ten people with theoretical knowledge about strategic planning and those who were proficient in the university's situation. Through structured interview with them, the components of the questionnaire used in the quantitative research, compilation it turned out. Statistical population the quantitative part of this research consists of faculty members of University of Mazandaran, which is 356 people. The sample size of the study is 120 people and a relative stratified sampling method has been used, which ultimately contributed 102 people. A qualitative research tool was used for research, interview and review of documents and library study, and in the quantitative section, a researcher-made questionnaire was approved with a reliability of above 0.9. For data analysis, descriptive statistics and internal factor evaluation matrix, external factors evaluation matrix, SWOT matrix and IE matrix were used. In the qualitative section of the components of the questionnaire, in other words, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of University of Mazandaran were extracted. The findings of the quantitative section showed that according to the four internal and external house (IE) matrices, education area in University of Mazandaran  is located in the competitive strategy area of ST. Therefore, considering the final score of the internal matrix (3.882), it can be concluded that despite the higher strengths of the field of education in University of Mazandaran, the weaknesses in the final score of the external matrix (2.312) indicate that the threat has overcome its opportunities. In fact, the university is in a position to use opportunities to exploit opportunities and reduce weaknesses and threats.