Identifying the mental patterns and perceptions of education providers about the commercialization of higher education in Iran: an application of Q methodology

The research was carried out following the normalization of economic views and making money from education with the aim of investigating the mental patterns of education providers from the commercialization of education with Q methodology.
A targeted sample size of 60 faculty members of various universities in Isfahan city was selected. The data collection tool was a 66-item questionnaire taken from research literature and interviews with education experts. Q factor analysis was performed in SPSS software.
There were five mental models of justices with a specific value of 31/946%, universally responsible people with a specific value of 12/247%, economic-oriented entrepreneurs with a specific value of 7/604, moralists with a specific value of 3/713 and culturalists with a specific value of 1/513% among the opinions of the participants. The mental model of justices considers the issue of educational justice and the right to public education to be essential. The mental model of inclusive responsibilities considered the issue of employment of graduates to be essential. The mental pattern of economy-oriented entrepreneurs was in complete contrast with other patterns with importance to economic issues and the effect of entrepreneurial universities on financial independence from the government, they were in favor of commercialization of education. The two models of moralists and culturalists had similar paradigms.
The research introduces the dominant mental model and expresses the dimensions of opposition and agreement of the models, and the results can help policymakers in the strategies used in educational commercialization.