فصلنامه پژوهش و برنامه ریزی در آموزش عالی
سال بیست و هشتم شماره 3 (پیاپی 105، پاییز 1401)

The purpose of this study was to understand and explain the competencies affecting the performance of university departments in the age of networking, which was done from the perspective of department chairs and with an interdisciplinary approach in the field of educational management and communication sciences. The research method was qualitative and a case study type. The department chairs of Allameh Tabataba'i University of Tehran are the research field of this study to collect information. Purposive and snowball sampling methods were used in sample selection.  Semi-structured in-depth interviews with 10 department chairs was used to collected the required data.  Data were analyzed through open and  axial coding, which identified a total of 5 themes to improve the performance of the departments: "Leadership skills, information literacy, media literacy, digital intelligence and factors related to university strategy of universities and existing socio-cultural platforms in higher education" regarding the qualifications and factors needed to improve the quality of management and performance of the educational departments in the information society were identified. Presence and effective performance of academic elites in media educational environments has created the need for attention and acquisition of competencies related to the age of communication by the leaders of educational institutions. Therefore, higher education and university support programs and futurology studies will be effective to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of educational departments. The findings of this study can be the basis for the development of higher education future programs.

The present study was conducted aiming to investigate the causal relationship between cognitive processes and effective leadership of academic departments’ chairs in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences. Using descriptive correlational study method, 40 academic department chairs in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences were studied by census method. Data were collected through computer-based testing of working memory, cognitive flexibility, problem solving, social cognition, creativity design fluency test, Herbst University Leadership Questionnaire (2003), and Analoui Effective Manager Questionnaire (1995). The findings revealed that working memory, cognitive flexibility, and creativity have a relatively high mean value compared to social cognition and problem solving. Also, there is a significant relationship between working memory and creativity with social cognition.  Consequently, paying attention to the aspect of social cognitive functions of academic departments’ chairs leads to growth and success in the field of executive cognitive functions. According to the findings, the model of predicting effective leadership path of university departments’ chairs a weak fit in terms of cognitive processes. It can be said that cognitive processes do not play a significant role in predicting effective leadership of academic departments’ chairs in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.

The main purpose of this article was to design and validate a model of quality management of teaching activities for university faculty members. This research was done in the framework of qualitative and quantitative approach. In the qualitative phase, 12 university education experts were selected purposefully and with a theoretical sampling strategy and were interviewed in a semi-structured manner. In the quantitative phase, the statistical population was the faculty members of Shahid University (N= 268)). By applying Cochran's sampling formula, 154 people were selected as a sample by stratified proportional sampling method. Thematic analysis technique was used to analyze the data and to validate the proposed model, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with Partial Least Squares (PLS) approach was used. After the implementation of the content of the interviews and their preliminary analysis, the primary codes or concepts were identified and placed in certain categories. For each class, a title that includes all the codes of that class was chosen. As a result of this study, the model of quality management of teaching activities for university faculty members was determined, which, according to academic research experts, it included four dimensions (Background and context, planning, implementation and evaluation, and improvement) and 30 components. The results of quantitative data analysis showed that the research sample evaluated the model of quality management of teaching activities for university faculty members at the desired level and the existence of these dimensions and their related components have been recognized as important. The validation of the designed model showed that all observable variables have appropriate factor loading on their latent variable and according to the PLS indicators, they have the necessary usefulness to measure their corresponding current variable. Also, the findings of the goodness of fit test and other model quality indicators showed that the proposed model of the quality management model of teaching activities for university faculty members has the necessary quality and fit.

The aim of this study was to analyze difficulties and solutions of teamwork in faculty members' research activities. This applied research used qualitative method as the research strategy. The data collection tool was semi-structured interview. For this study, four comprehensive universities in Tehran including University of Tehran, Shahid Beheshti University, Kharazmi University and Tarbiat Modares University were selected. In each university, one faculty was randomly selected for every 20 faculties. Then, within each faculty, all departments were considered. Finally, among the departments, faculty members were purposefully selected and considered as participants in the research (45 faculty members up to theoretical saturation). Open coding and theme analysis methods used to analyze data. To ensure the validity of the research, while trying to control the bias and prejudice of the researcher, some participants reviewed the extracted categories. Also, one of the colleagues was asked to review the findings. To calculate the reliability, test-retest reliability method and agreement for two raters method were used. The results showed that there was a difference between the natures of disciplines for teamwork. There was not any difference between universities regarding team-work implementation.  In addition, to choose an activity to do the work as a team, the nature of that work is decisive and among the research activities listed in Article 3 of the Regulation, no order and priority can be considered for the implementation of teamwork. Finally, teamwork difficulties can be divided into five categories: related to individual, related to the team and team factors, within the organization and within the university, related to the higher education system, and general context and national factors.

The purpose of the current research was to construct and validate an instrument for evaluating social responsibility in Razi University. For this purpose, the sequential exploratory mixed research method was used, and in the qualitative part, the focus group discussion method (n = 27) was utilized. The statistical population in the quantitative section were doctoral students, faculty members and experts of Razi University (N=1425), of which 152 were selected as a statistical sample using stratified proportional assignment sampling.  The external and content validity of the research tool was confirmed by the focus group discussion and the calculation of the content validity ratio and construct validity using the average variance extracted and its reliability through the calculation of composite reliability and Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The findings of the research showed that the activities of the university to fulfill its social responsibility towards society in 9 dimensions including responsibility towards students, responsibility towards staff and faculty members, economic responsibility, responsibility towards partner universities (inter-university cooperation), responsibility towards  the external society, responsibility for the environment, responsibility for quality education, responsibility for cultural development and responsibility for the leadership (management) of the university can be identified.  In total, these dimensions explain 81.518% of the variance of the university's social responsibility. In addition, the findings indicated that the activities of the university in the field of social responsibility do not have the same weight and each one has a different weight and contribution.

The impact of science and technology’s swift changes globally has led to upheavals in all areas of life. Higher education has not been exempted from these changes and consequences, so that technological changes in the last decade have had a great impact on the body of higher education, especially in curricula, as the heart of the higher education system. Curricula, on the one hand, drive change and, on the other, act against change. Therefore, to develop academic curricula as a generator of constructive change, using intercultural experiences and consolidating the achievements of leading universities will be very effective as a cornerstone to develop a comprehensive and practical framework in this field. Accordingly, the current study was conducted to investigate the design and development of curricula in selected universities in order to extract common criteria for achieving this imperative goal. Consequently, in this study, documentary research method was used by using content analysis technique. The documents of five universities were reviewed in terms of purpose, principles, learning outcomes, content, evaluation, planning process and teaching-learning strategies. In conclusion, based on the criteria and sub-criteria in each of the mentioned categories, a framework for designing and developing a curriculum in Iran’s higher education was developed and sent to the universities.

The purpose of this article was to investigate the relationship between education and inequality in countries. Only the relationship between these two variables were considered and the mechanism and its effects was not studied. This research was based on quantitative comparative method between countries. United Nations Development Program data in 2015 related to 5 education indicators including adult literacy rate, expected years of education, average years of education, population with at least secondary education, and inequality in education, and 3 inequality indices including income inequality, gender inequality and human inequality were analyzed. A total of 173 countries were examined. Cluster analysis categorized countries in five education indicators including four profiles of poor, medium, good, and very good education. It also clustered them into three inequality indicators such as four profiles of high, medium, low, and very low inequality. The regression analysis also showed that five education indicators explain 9% of the variance of income inequality, 77% of the variance of gender inequality, and 79% of the variance of human inequality.

The main goal of this research was to identify the components of the model of continuity of learning in higher education by using online education especially for the Corona crisis. This qualitative research was conducted using the six-step method of Sandlovski and Barroso. Through searching in reliable scientific databases inside and outside the country 39 articles related to the subject of the study and were published during 1919-22 were analyzed. The obtained data were analyzed by content analysis method. The findings of the study were the extraction of 15 effective themes which was the basis for designing the conceptual model of learning in higher education by supporting effective forms of online education during the outbreak of Corona. The classification of these factors into four main themes including new missions (optimal development of potential ability, professional training, training for change and development, training for citizenship and political maturity of students), the goals of the teaching and learning process (gathering knowledge, learning new tasks, developing knowledge, skills, attitudes and values, multimodal and text-centered and dynamic education, requirements and contexts (familiarity with computer technologies, infrastructure and access to technology and evaluation approaches (online learning evaluation, offline learning evaluation, and evaluation over time) The results of this qualitative study showed that the continuation of learning in higher education by supporting effective forms of online education during the outbreak of the Corona virus, by recognizing new missions, taking into account the requirements and platforms, paying attention to the goals of the teaching and learning process and evaluation approaches is possible. The awareness of the planners, policy makers and university administrators of the mentioned requirements in the light of paying attention to the components of the conceptual model will lead to the continuity of learning in higher education using online education.

The spread and continuation of the Corona virus has faced the people and the government with hard and terrible days. During this period, irreparable damages and losses were imposed on the country. In this regard, universities, as a scientific and popular institution, play a leading, guiding, informing and facilitating role in the occurrence of crises alongside governments, and they perform their duties in the form of social responsibility. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the social responsibility of universities in times of crisis, especially the Corona crisis in order to explain the dimensions of social responsibility, indicators and measures, and examine and analyze sample' activities selected from Iranian universities. A qualitative method was chosen for the present exploratory research. The data collection tool in the present study was library studies, reviewing the websites of universities. In order to validate and reduce the data, two steps were used from the perspective of 15 faculty members and expert, and  data on 15 universities. The findings showed that each of the universities had different functions in terms of the dimensions and elements of social responsibility, and knowing these dimensions and comparing the functions of each of them can open the way for the basic actions and orientations of the universities.   The dimensions comprised: educational dimension (including student activities, communication activities and educational activities), cognitive dimension (including innovative plans in the production of products suitable for the Corona crisis, research activities and the production of science and knowledge enhancement) the legal dimension (including the establishment of laws appropriate to the conditions of the Covid-19 crisis), the humanitarian dimension (including the support of the affected groups and cooperation with other centers in the fight against Covid-19), the ethical dimension (including the provision of information and attention to the beneficiaries) and the informing dimension (including raising awareness and providing information in the field of prevention, control and management of the Corona virus.