Identifying and Analyzing the Impact Drivers of the Future of Higher Education with a Focus on Blockchain Technology

Today, higher education is considered one of the most important bases for the development of societies. Today, higher education is considered one of the most important bases for the development of societies. Blockchain technology affects many areas, one of these areas is education and universities. Therefore, the current research seeks to identify and analyze the effective drivers of the future of higher education with a focus on blockchain technology.

The current research is applied in terms of orientation and is post- positivism in terms of philosophical foundations. Fuzzy-Delphi and Marcus methods were used in this research. The theoretical community of the research, the educational managers of the large public universities of Iran, and the judgmental sampling method and the samples were selected based on the expertise and experience of experts in the fields of higher education and blockchain technology and the sample size was equal to 10 people. Data collection tools are interviews and questionnaires.

At first, through background review and interviews with experts, 18 drivers were extracted, 14 of which were from the background and 4 through interviews. In the following, they were screened by distributing expert questionnaires and fuzzy Delphi method. 9 drivers were considered as final drivers. The final drivers were prioritized by the Marcus method.

3 drivers, the approach of universities towards new technologies, the coordination of the educational system with the systems and infrastructures of other universities, and the support of the senior managers of the universities were the highest priority respectively.