Identifying the Factors Hindering International Scientific Cooperation in the Country's Higher Education System and Providing a Solution: a Qualitative Study

Due to globalization and environmental changes that are taking place, few organizations or institutions can be found that survive without connection with the world around them, around them, in thes regards, the higher education system is not excluded from this matter and today the development of International scientific activities has become one of the main concerns of the worldchr('39')s top universities in terms of increasing credibility, quality, revenue generation and branding. The present study was conducted with the aim of identifying the factors hindering international scientific cooperation in the higher education system of the country.

The present study has been done in terms of applied purpose and qualitative approach. The target group of the present study was the managers of the international department of public universities in the country and experts in this field. Participants in the study were 10 managers of international departments of public universities and 4 experts in this field from whom research data were collected using semi-structured. Theme analysis was used for analyzing data.

The research findings indicate that the total number of free codes extracted from the content of the interviews was 126, which after merging similar codes with each other, finally 83 codes were extracted and classified in 10 similar concepts and finally in 5 The main themes were categorized. Structural, cultural, political, linguistic, financial, and physical equipment and infrastructure barriers were identified as the most important barriers to international scientific cooperation from the perspective of international managers of public universities and experts in the field.

One of the reasons that international scientific cooperation in higher education in the country has not been done properly is the lack of sufficient attention of policy makers and decision makers in higher education to the deterrents in this area. Therefore, the findings of this study can be used in higher education policies in order to expand international scientific cooperation in higher education.