The State of Higher Education Evaluation in the Country and the Formulation of Conceptual Framework

In order to formulate a conceptual framework for higher education evaluation the status of higher education was examined. The article explained by means of documental analysis the formative dimensions of higher education evaluation in selected countries. In addition, a questionnaire was designed to estimate the dimensions of higher education evaluation in Iran. The questionnaire was administered to 60 faculty members of education and higher education management in public universities of Tehran and senior managers of higher education evaluation system. The analyzed document indicated that the selected countries in the world actively took the characteristics of CIPPO pattern into consideration. These include: context, input, process, product, and outcome. The results revealed that the Iranian expert body assisting in higher education supervision did not pay sufficient attention to this scheme. The author’s conceptual framework included the establishment of higher education council. The council should conduct higher education evaluation and provide professional support in setting goals, achieving goals, encouraging feedback, engineering mode, and creating data bases.