Identify methods of staff development in higher educational system (Case of study: Islamic Azad University Region 8)

Not only identify and classify dimensions and components of Staff development is important but also identify methods. This study aimed to identify methods of staff development in higher education system. This study was descriptive survey. The study population included all staff of Islamic Azad University in Region 8 in 2016(N=3812) .The sample size were 203 individuals base on Cochran formula by using classified random sampling. The data was collected via researcher-made questionnaire. Cranach's alpha coefficient was used to determine reliability (0.96). The data were analyzed using factor analysis. The findings showed that 5 methods influence on staff development such as Inter-university, extra-University, formal, informal and group method which factors can be explained 67.625% of total variance. The most power to explain was related to informal method (18.02%) and the least power to explain was related to formal methods (10.92%). Higher administrators need to use several methods such as informal, group development, Inter-university, extra-University methods influence.