Cultural Consequences of Higher Education Expansion in Iran

All higher education function have been rooted from in social transformations. However paying attention to relationship between university and industrial and economical institution has been more important than relationship between university and society in different levels and cultural transformation especially during more than one decade that higher education has experienced significant expansion all over Iran. It seems that the introduction of universities into different contexts has brought about cultural changes that cannot be easily overcome.The purpose of this study was to reflection the cultural cconsequences of Higher Education Expansion in Iran

This research was conducted in an interpretive paradigm with a qualitative approach and a data-theoretic approach. In this study, 54 participants from three groups of faculty members, students and social activists from three provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan, Qom and Guilan were selected by purposeful sampling strategies with maximum diversity. In-depth unstructured interviews were used for data collection and three-stage coding (open, axial, and selective) was used to analyze the data.

of the present study show that according to participants' views changing in cultural capital through 'improving education, awareness, as well as making new cultural needs', culture of transparency, accepting cultural diversity, changing on fertility trend, cultural defeating, cultural deconstruction, changing in cultural needs without answering as well as changing in female life style, is the most significant cultural transformation in the given context.

Considering the cultural consequences and their footprint on women's lifestyles transformation, changes in social norms, new cultural demands, and some new needs which are rooted in new world, challenges to past traditions and new world-related values and factors are some important sources that should be considered more than ever.