Int. j. econ. manag. soc. sci., Vol(3), No (11), November, 2014. pp.

700-702

TI Journals

International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences

www.tijournals.com

ISSN:
2306-7276

Copyright 2014. All rights reserved for TI Journals.

Post-Islamic revolution higher education orientations

Ladan Salimi*
Ph.D. Student of Curriculum Planning, Khorasgan (Isfahan) branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran

Narges Keshtiaray
Department of Education, Khorasgan (Isfahan) branch, Islamic Azad University, Isfahan ,Iran

Kourosh Fathi Vajargah

Department of Education, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran,Iran
*Corresponding author: S.ladan@yahoo.com

Keywords

Abstract

Higher education
Orientations
Qualitative and Quantitative growth
Changes

Higher education as an influencing organization in society has to embed transformation management and all
its elements in the form of a corporate establishment and occasionally, it has to analyze its sum of the
intentions, inputs, processes, outputs and performances in various methods in order to keep its quality
dimension along with its quantity dimension in balance. In the present paper, the higher education
orientation has been analyzed in three early decades of and after the revolution. The study methodology is
historical and efforts have been made to present the goals with an analytical perspective through benefiting
from the available references and documentations. Studying the orientations has been based on the 1 st-5th
plans of the economic, social and cultural development of the country. The data indicate that in Iran higher
education orientations in the 1st and 2nd decades of the Islamic revolution, the dominant approach has been
focus, grandiosity and emphasis on the higher education qualitative growth, though , from the third decade
onwards ,the data suggest that the change in Iran higher education orientation is in the research and
concentration on the role of creating knowledge along with transferring the knowledge and paying attention
to the qualitative growth and decentralizing Iran higher education structure.

1.

Introduction

In the past three decades, Iranian society has undergone diverse transformation and issues in the demographic, social, cultural, political and
technological dimensions and it has got a new form. For instance, it has faced the phenomena like urban growth and development, the growth of
communications media, the rapid information and communication technology, increased demand relative to education generally and higher
education in particular ,generation gap, shrinking family size, population crisis ,increased unemployment rate ,higher brain drain, and
constrained resources and regarding the development standards ,in some cases ,it has progressed and in some other cases, it has regressed[1].
Naturally, these transformations have created some concerns and challenges for various institutions and their officials in the society such as the
ones about identifying the factors and the way to play an effective role under the current conditions that can be observed among the documents
and evidence like declarations, manifestations, regulations, bills and rules related to presenting some appropriate strategies to remove the
drawbacks [2]. What is significantly critical in this discussion is paying attention to basic Iran higher education orientations that can be identified
according to the documents and evidence and views and perspectives of higher education authorities and practitioners in Iran. For this purpose,
we get to study Iran higher education in the three early decades of and after the revolution.

2.

Methodology

The present study is a historical one where it has been tried to use the available resources and documentations in order to represent the
post-revolution higher education curriculum revision trend from an analytical perspective. The historical research analyzes specific issues
at a certain period and the researcher deals with the interpretation and analysis of the obtained data by evaluating the issues' accuracy. In
this respect, the historical research helps the practitioners of education to predict the appropriate programs for future besides perceiving the
existing conditions [3] [4].
The stages performed in this research are compatible with those of a historical study that [3] and [4] also stressed it and it refers to: to
define the study problem, to search the resources and to evaluate them and finally, to represent the subject in an analytical framework. In
the introduction section, the paper has stated the problem. In discovering the resources, the researchers have explored both the primary
resources and the secondary ones. The primary resources employed in this study are: documentation, the committees report and the
codified revision plans obtained from the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, the Cultural Revolution Supreme Council and
the Planning Supreme Council exploited from in order to find out the existing revision trend and the regulations about the curriculum
revision programs. Parallel with tackling the history of the higher education and also some revision experiences inside and outside the
country, the secondary resources have been used including: the Google Scholar search engine and some authentic sites.
In addition to theses, the historical texts and books and the published journals of the universities have been utilized to find out the desired
resources. In the achieved evaluation, the internal and external criticism has been focused on. The external criticism includes clarifying the
authenticity of the origin [4], obtaining the codes and the approvals and the other reliable documentation like the ones by the universities,
ministries and other credible sites. The internal criticism focuses on the meaning, the accuracy and the value of the material included in the
achieved resources based on the curriculum plans revision.

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Post-Islamic revolution higher education orientations

International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (11), November, 2014.

3.

Islamic Revolution1st Decade (1978-1988)

Following the Islamic revolution of Iran, the universities were the field of tough political activities in the form of student councils and
associations. The opposing and supporting political groups didnt tolerate each other and as a result, the instructional, research, educational
activities, scientific, technical, and professional and guild outputs of the university were overshadowed by political, ideological and religious
conflicts [5]. Consistent with this matter in the 2nd semester of 1979-1980,"Cultural Revolution" took place and the universities got closed and
the Cultural Revolution Staff was established and this way, the Islamic student associations affiliated with government-committed religious
groups predominated and perpetuated [6].
Higher education planning unit in the Cultural Revolution Staff has been formed since Mordad (July-August) 1980. The goal behind its
formation was to develop curricular and educational plans. The center of curriculum planning was not in the university groups and the faculty
members and the university and scientific-social life context, rather it was in the centralized headquarters located outside the university and
within the government and the ideological approach overshadowed the professional one in curriculum planning. As a result, after the Islamic
Revolution, the decision making patterns and reasonable and scientific planning have been overshadowed by the government's ideological and
political patterns and caused the scientific and professional institutions and mechanisms and methods in managing the country to be less
emphasized [7].
On the other hand, by another obstacle being added, that is, the imposed war, the normal planning has been delayed in the country. If we
consider that the first post-war 5 year plan has been executed since the imposed ceasefire (1988) and since 1989, then more than one decade
delay in the country scientific management and planning such as the postponement of the higher education planning will be revealed with the
reasonable patterns and through seeking the stakeholders' satisfaction. The data suggest that the dominant approach in the first decade of the
Revolution was focusing on the grandiosity as a result; it has been tried (by incorporating them or like this) as much as possible to cut down the
number of the institutions and to create some large controllable ones. The governmental pattern of tenure, the financial pressures and constraints
and the intensive and directed models domination from the center and above propagating this approach certainly havent been ineffective. While
based on some experiences, studies and research cases ,the intensive pattern will turn out inefficient from many aspects and the existence of a
network of independent, small and various educational institutes can be more appropriately dynamic, flexible, competitive and qualified [8].
It's worth to mention that the Revolution first decade higher education performance was for expanding the complementary education. The
complementary education growth has practically brought about advantage for the country development. Of course, more than what has increased
in the complementary education, the bachelor quota in university admission and the numbers of the students and graduates have gone up very
much and in return, the associate term quota has been decreased a lot [9].

4.

Revolution 2nd Decade (1988-1998)

Since the second decade, the requirement of the gradual acceptance of rationality and the necessity behind modifying the 1st decade policies have
been felt more or less that one of its manifestations is the level of orientation to the country scientific planning. In fact, recognizing the
expediency happening in the end of the 1st decade and the 2nd decade beginning has resulted in valuing the expert and professional patterns for
country administration to some extent and the scientific management thinking has divulged. In the 1st plan (1989-1993) and the 2nd plan (19951999), the economic, social and cultural development had been developed, approved and executed consistent with this matter. Though, in both
developing and executing these two plans, there are yet some flaws and drawbacks and structural insufficiencies revealing themselves in various
aspects [10].
The number of higher education universities and institutions experiencing depression in the 1st decade of the Revolution has escalated in the
relative modification of the policies in the 2nd decade of the Revolution through the two development plans' performance. One of the major
orientations and emphases in the higher education sector policy makings in this period refers to paying attention to and focusing on the
quantitative growth.Table1 (The Documentation of the first and second Development Economic, Social and Cultural Plans of the Islamic
Republic of Iran).
Table 1.Major orientations of the Higher Education Sector in the 1st and 2nd Development Plan
Major orientations of economic, social and cultural 1st development
plan(1989-1999)
-The higher education qualitative standards improvement
-Integrating education into research on all levels of higher education and
meeting basic research requirements
-The country sciences and learning development and promotion
-Providing the necessary backgrounds for development ,research, innovation
and transferring technology absorption
-Creating and expanding mutual communication between higher education
institutions and the other cultural-industrial sectors
-Creating balance in educational facilities and opportunities countrywide
,region wide and the province wide
- Supplying and training the required expert human workforce.

5.

Major orientations of economic, social and cultural 2nd development

plan(1895-1993)
-Adjusting various educational courses content to the demands of the society
- Integrating education structure into the research on all levels of higher
education
-Improving higher education qualitative and quantitative standards, especially
master level education
-Developing the board of trustees' authorities and responsibilities in higher
education universities and institutes
-Paying the required attention to the necessary sciences, skills and technologies
-Increasing the public participation in developing higher education
-Strengthening the students' cultural dimensions and realizing the religious
insight and Islamic values in them.

Post-Revolution 3rd Decade from 1998 Onwards

In this era ,in order to make the country scientific system administration and policy making coherent ,from the beginning of the country third
development plan ,the Ministry of Higher Education and Culture changed to the Ministry of Science ,Research and Technology and the
responsibilities as planning, supporting ,evaluating ,supervising ,analyzing ,the codifying policies and the strategic priorities in research and

Ladan Salimi *, Narges Keshtiaray

702

International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences Vol(3), No (11), November, 2014.

technology were added to the mentioned ministry. One of the major orientations and emphases of Iran higher education policy makings in this
period is related to paying attention to the qualitative growth focusing on research and compensating for the backwardness in various sciences
such as humanities. Also in order to move in line with institutionalizing the universities participation in the higher education management,
decentralization and the higher education quality promotion ,the curriculum planning authorities have been assigned to the eligible universities
affiliated with the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology [11]. In this period, the 3rd, 4th and 5th development economic, social and
cultural plans have been executed and the studies and analysis of the higher education sector orientations can direct us to the orientations course
and the major emphases and in other words, the general expectations from Iran higher education sector. Table 2 (The Documentation of the 3rd ,
4th and 5th Development Economic, Social and Cultural Plans of the Islamic Republic of Iran).
Table 2. Major Orientations of the higher education sector in 3rd -5th development plans.
Major orientations of the economic, social and cultural
3rd development plan(2000-2004 )
-Upgrading educational courses regarding diverse and
transforming society demands and granting authorities of
curriculum planning to higher education universities and
institutions
-Reforming traditional plans and styles based on the theoretical
courses and memorized material and making the students
ready to face with real world situations and conditions
-Providing the facilities and backgrounds for transforming the
general and secondary education level educational methods
aiming to promote research-minding spirit
-Reviewing humanities group curriculum plans regarding
requirements of the society today
-Applying modern technologies in education and research
-Not developing quantitative bachelor courses and focusing on
the students' creativity and innovation and quality promotion
-Codifying the comprehensive plan towards Islamic
university.

6.

Major orientations of the economic, social and

cultural 4th development plan(2005-2009)
-Reviewing university courses based on social
demands ,working market and scientific
transformation in line with interdisciplinary
sciences development focusing on humanities
-Training up-to-dated human force in the process
of knowledge boundary development research
and technology
- Converting this product into new products and
methods
-Transferring and absorbing novel IT,NANO and
BIO technology
-Conducting applied research cases especially
about solving the country problems
-Codifying and producing technical knowledge
and doing semi-industrial studies
-Constantly evaluating the higher education
universities and centers

Major orientations of the economic, social and

cultural 5th development plan(2011-2015)
-Reviewing university texts, content and plans
based on religious teachings and values
-Enhancing Graduate Studies courses using the
latest human achievements based on the prioritized
working market demand
- Promoting and transforming humanities through
promoting these sciences position and rank
-Achieving the region scientific and technological
position and stabilizing it in the 5th plan
-Creating effective relationship between the
universities and the research centers with industry
and the society-related sectors
-Expanding scientific communications with the
international authoritative educational and research
centers and institutions ,holding common courses
and executing common research scheme
-Completing and executing the country scientific
community scheme

Conclusion

Since the establishment of Dar-al-Fonoun and the Tehran University, modern higher education of Iran have created some fundamental
transformation in diverse dimensions such as the structure and moved from non- intensive position toward intensive one (via the Islamic
Revolution victory in 1978, the Cultural Revolution Staff foundation in 1980, the establishment of the Cultural Revolution High Council and the
High Council of Planning in 1984) and again since 1990 due to the country economic, social and cultural 3rd development plan ratification ,the
orientation towards non-intensive pattern(model) in Iran higher education has manifested itself in different ways such as assigning the
curriculum planning authorities to the universities [12]. What is highly significant in the current discussion is the emphasis on the major higher
education orientations in later decades of the Islamic Revolution. Studying the higher education sector orientations in the 1st and 2nd decades
after the Islamic Revolution denotes that the dominant approach in these decades has been focus, grandiosity and attention to and emphasizing
the higher education quality growth. Though, from the 3rd decade onwards, the sum of the proposed issues in the 3rd, 4th and 5th economic, social
and cultural development plans demonstrate the change in Iran higher education system orientation towards research and focus on Iran higher
education structure qualitative growth and decentralization.

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