Analyzing the Detrimental Effects of the Divergent Policymaking Institutions in Iran's Higher Education System

The position of decision-making and planning in Iran's higher education system is not well defined. Hence, there is a lack of understanding between the policymaking and decision-making institutions regarding the mission of universities and governance in Iran's higher education. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to analyze the detrimental effects of the divergent policymaking institutions in Iran's higher education system. To achieve this aim, a qualitative approach by the case study type was used. The participants in the study included 15 connoisseurs from universities and research institutes in Iran, who were selected using purposeful sampling by snowball method and theoretical saturation in the findings. The data collection tool was a semi-structured interview. To analyze the interviews we used the inductive content analysis method. To check the credibility of the findings, we used two strategies; member checking and peer checking.The findings obtained from the inductive content analysis of the interviews showed that the detrimental effects of the divergent policymaking institutions in Iran's higher education system are created by parallel work between the policymaking institutions due to the lack of clear boundaries of duties and missions, the absence of a single policymaking authority in Iran's higher education system, the dominance of political and party orientations in the approaches of policymaking institutions, the lack of long-term policies in the field of science and technology due to the instability of management caused by the change of governments and finally priority of Institutional interests and policies over national interests and approaches.