Analyzing the Disparity Between Science Policies and the Regional Planning of Higher Education in Iran

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the regional planning of higher education and the policies for developing science and technology in Iran using the composing experience method. Reviewing the thedesign and implementing the program of the regional planning of higher education in 2011-2012 the hidden loop and/or theoretical/practical disparity points between the regional planning of higher education and the policies for developing science and technology are identified.Wedivided , the disparities into two categories for theoretical and practical categories. In the first one, we focused on philosophical, methodological, and conceptual deficits while in the second one the disparities were categorized into macro and micro levels. In macro level the study explicated that the central bureaucratic system by monitoring the procedures’ impacts on the linkage between regional planning program and developing policies. In the micro level category, we identified a number of variables that contributed to the disparities. These variables include: the experts who were engaged at the program; the credit of the documents in which someone could find the policies for national developing science and technology; an intention for installing developing higher education on regional planning studies; and the quality of the authority delegation to the regional planning committees in each province. The paper is concluded by summarizing key lessons learned from the author’s experiences gained by participating in the regional planning studies in Iran.