The Massification of Higher Education and the Challenge of Vacant Seats in Iran: A Phenomenological Study

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Researcher, National Research Institute for Science Policy (NRISP), Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

One of the key implications of the growing trend of higher education in Iran has been the devaluation of university education and its emergance as a phenomenon of vacant seats. Therefore, the question of this study is how the massification of higher education in Iran led to the formation of empty seats? For this purpose, the qualitative method of phenomenology was used. The community of participants in this approach included 14 higher education experts who were purposefully selected with the criterion of having lived experiences in the field of mass education of higher education and Semi-structured interviews and content analysis were performed using spiral qualitative analysis. In the context of this analysis, the framework of understanding how the phenomenon of vacant seats was formed during the mass higher education period in Iran was understood and created. This framework shows that the four key factors include the dominance of government interventionist thinking in higher education with different political, economic, justice-seeking logics, science-evasive academic management system, Academic processes incompatible with a changing social environment and a transformative quality-seeking society underlie the failure of mass education in Iran. This study can help to rethink the mass flow of higher education in Iran for Facing the phenomenon of empty seats.
 
 

Keywords

References

]1[ Teichler, U., & Yağcı, Y. (2009). Changing challenges of academic work: Concepts and observations. Higher education, research and innovation: Changing dynamics, 83-146.
[2]. Mardiha, M., & Paknya, M. (2018). Elite University, Mass University. Tehran: Institute for Cultural and Social Studies. [In Persian].
]3[. Altbach, P. G., Reisberg, L., & Rumbley, L. E. (2009). Trends in global higher education: Tracking an academic revolution. Brill.
]4[. Booth, C., Bowie, S., Jordan, J., & Rippin, A. (2000). The use of the case method in large and diverse undergraduate business programmes: problems and issues. International Journal of Management Education, 1(1), 62-75
]5[. Trow, M. (2007). Reflections on the transition from elite to mass to universal access: Forms and phases of higher education in modern societies since WWII. In International handbook of higher education (pp. 243-280). Springer, Dordrecht.
]6[. Islamic Council Research Center  (2004). Law of the Fourth Economic, Social and Cultural Development Plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Tehran, Iran. [In Persian].
]7[. Islamic Council Research Center  (2010). Law of the Fourth Economic, Social and Cultural Development Plan of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Tehran, Iran. [In Persian].
[8]. Fereidouni S, Rouhani S. (2019). Higher education expansion policy in Iran and its impact on educational justice. Journal of Research and Planning in Higher Education. 25 (2) :1-21. [In Persian].
]9[. Manei, R., Mehrparbar, M., Rohani, S., kamali, H., Syfipoor, Z. (2021). Performance of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in the Eleventh and Twelfth Governments. Institute for Planning in Higher Education. [In Persian].
]10[. Manei, R., kamali, H. (2019). Analysis of supply and demand gap in Iranian higher education. Institute for Planning in Higher Education. [In Persian].
[11]. Fereidouni, S., & Rashidi, Z. (2019). Cultural consequences of higher education expansion in Iran, Future Studies, 4(1), 29-49. [In Persian].
]12[. Kraak, A. (Ed.). (2000). Changing modes: New knowledge production and its implications for higher education in South Africa. HSRC Press.
]13[. Becker, G. S. (2009). Human capital: A theoretical and empirical analysis, with special reference to education. University of Chicago press.
]14[. Jones, C. (1998) Introduction to Economic Growth. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
]15[. Nelson, K., Creagh, T., & Clarke, J. (2012). Social justice and equity issue in the higher education context. Queensland University of Technology. Australian Government Office for Learning and Teaching, Queensland. 27p.
]16[. Goastellec, G. (2008). Changes in access to higher education: From worldwide constraints to common patterns of reform?. In The worldwide transformation of higher education. Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
]17[. Danaeifard, H,. Molavi, Z. (2021). Faculty members 'mental patterns about the consequences of students' quantitative growth policy. Public Policy, 6(1). 115-132. [In Persian].
]18[. Islamic Council Research Center  (2010). Executive regulations of the law requiring the admission of eligible individuals to use the quota of veterans in universities and higher education institutions of the country. Tehran, Iran. [In Persian].
[19]. Hemmati, R., Ghasemi, V., & Mansourinezhad, E. (2020). Higher Education and Economic Development: A Comparative Study of the Selected Countries of the World. Journal of Applied Sociology, 31(3), 75-96. [In Persian].
[20]. Fereidouni S. (2018). Higher education expansion with emphasis on social impact: a grounded theory approach. Journal of Research and Planning in Higher Education. 23 (4) :69-96. [In Persian].
[21]. Gharon, M. (2015). Higher education expansion policies in recent years: capacity development or resource wastage?. Journal of Management and Development Process. 88(2). [In Persian].
]22[. Sohelsarv, M., Garibi, G., Karami, G,. Entezari, A. (2018). The relationship between higher education development policies and social demand. Journal of Welfare Planning and Social Development, 11(41), 33-72. [In Persian].
]23[. Moghadaspour, S., DanaeeFard, H., Fani, A., & Khaefelahi, A. (2020). The Antecedents and Consequences of Market-Based Higher Education Policy in Iran. Journal of Science & Technology Policy, 12(1), 55-72. [In Persian].
]24[. Creswell, J., Goodchild, L., & Turner, P. (1996). Integrated qualitative and quantitative research: Epistemology, history & designs. In: J. Smart. (Ed.). Higher education: Handbook of theory and research. Vol. XI, New York: Agathon Press.
]25[. Petty, N. J., Thomson, O. P., & Stew, G. (2012). Ready for a paradigm shift? Part 2: Introducing qualitative research methodologies and methods. Manual therapy, 17(5), 378-384.
]26[. Flick, U., von Kardoff, E., & Steinke, I. (Eds.). (2004). A companion to qualitative research. Sage.
]27[. Bryman, Alan (2001), Social Research Method ,Oxford University Press. Haberaman Michael A . and miles, Mathew B (2002), The Qualitative researchers companion, sage Inc.
]28[. Beheshti, B., Safaei Movahed, S. & Bagheri, Kh. (2021). Inefficiency of Humanities in Iranian Universities, Based on Students' Lived Experience; A Phenomenological Research. Journal of Science & Technology Policy, 14(2), 67- 80. [In Persian].
]29[. Abedi, H, (2010), Application of Phenomenological Research Method in Clinical Sciences, Cultural Strategy Quarterly, No. 54, pp. 207-224. [In Persian].
]30[. Silverman, D.(2001) Interpreting Qualitative Data, 2 (ed) edn. Sage, London.
]31[. Riege, A. M. (2003). Validity and reliability tests in case study research: a literature review with “hands‐on” applications for each research phase. Qualitative market research: An international journal.
]32[. Morse, J.M.(1997). “Perfectly healthy, but dead”: The myth of & inter-rater reliability. [Editoriat] Qualitative Health Research, 7. 445-447.
]33[. Salehi Omran, E., Ebrahimi, Gh., & Hoseinzadeh, M. (2010). Study of factors and motivets of expansion of universities and none profit and none govemental higher education institutions in Iran. Case Study: Mazandaran Province. Journal Iranian Social Studies, 11(3), 83-108. [In Persian].
 
 

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics