Identifying Dimensions and Components of Islamic Azad University Students' persistence

Over the past few decades, especially since the second half of the twentieth century, students' persistence longevity in university centers has become one of the most important research topics. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify the dimensions and components of the Islamic Azad universities students' persistence. On the main stage of the research, first, the under investigated aspects and components were identified through a comprehensive study of theoretical foundations and research background, and then, the results were approved by experts in this field employing a semi-structured interview. Subsequently, in order to confirm the identified dimensions and components approved in the first phase, 500 students from Islamic Azad universities of Tehran province were selected using stratified random cluster sampling method in three undergraduate, postgraduate and postgraduate degrees and completed a researcher-made questionnaire. The results of the study showed that 71 items in the format of 10 dimensions and 39 items for effective factors in the format of 8 dimensions were identified. The findings revealed that university students' persistence was formed out of two dimensions, contextual and individual factors, and there was a significant positive relationship between the financial, supportive, educational and consulting factors with Azad university students' persistence.