The Current Pattern of Religious Education in Islamic Azad University: A Theory-based Approach

The aim of the present study is to investigate the current pattern of religious education in the curricula of Islamic Azad University students. This research was conducted with a qualitative approach and a data-based method. The statistical population included all the professors, students and managers of the educational groups of Islamic Azad University in Razavi Khorasan province, who were selected through purposeful criterion-based sampling. The data was obtained through semi-structured interviews with 22 professors, students and managers of educational groups. In order to analyze the data, open, axial and selective coding method was used. Lincoln and Cuban criteria were used to ensure validity and reliability. The results of the research revealed 25 core concepts that, in the form of a paradigm model, included the ineffectiveness of the educational system in internalizing religious values ​​as a central category and causal conditions (the inability of the university in interdepartmental cooperation, weak religious identity of students, lack of attention to the system religious-oriented university education), contextual factors, facilitating intervention conditions (university networking with institutions in charge of religious education, credibility of teaching resources, professors' expertise), facilitating and intervening factors (methodical challenge, insight challenges), and finally strategies and consequences.