فصلنامه پژوهش و برنامه ریزی در آموزش عالی
سال بیست و یکم شماره 1 (پیاپی 75، بهار 1394)

In recent decades, the importance and the role of human capital in economic growth have been more considered by economists, so that one of the vital factors for economic growth and development is human capital. The aim of this study was to investigate simultaneously the impact of two human capital proxies which included public spending on education and government's health expenditure in 10 selected Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries using GMM method in 2003-11. The results of GMM estimator for panel dynamic data model indicated that besides physical capital and labor factors, human capital variable also plays an important role in production function of MENA countries. So that 1% increases in government' health expenditure and public spending on education has led to 0.68 and 0.05 percent increase in economic growth, respectively. Also, in this estimation adjustment rate of economic growth is equal to 0.59. That is, 59 percent of the gap between actual value and desired value of economic growth is eliminated per year.

Human capital has an essential and important role in economic growth and development, but because of lack of accurate statistics and the difficulty of calculating it, usually proxies such as enrollment rate, average years of schooling for labor force et cetera are used that all cover only some portion of human capital. The purpose of this article was to estimate Human Capital Monetary Value (HCMV) in Iran which can include the highest volume of human capital value. Therefore, several approaches and methods of Human Capital Monetary Value (HCMV) were evaluated and because of existing constraints the Income-based approach was utilized. In this approach several important variables such as discount rate, shadow price, exchange rate and average wages were estimated. In addition, sources of data for key variables were offered. The estimations results showed a 5.2 percent annual growth in Human Capital Monetary Value during 1960-2010. Furthermore, some existing problems such as calculating exchange rate were evaluated.

The purpose of current research was to evaluate the requirements of operational budgeting in Iran's higher education systems. A descriptive survey method was chosen for this study. In order to study this issue, five effective factors were recognized in this area according to the research literature- including managerial, environmental, human, technical and procedural, and structural factors. Then, using the perspectives of experts in the operational budgeting in higher education and AHP method, 35 selected universities affiliated with Ministry of Science Research and Technology were evaluated and prioritized in each factor and sub-factors. Results showed that among these factors, the managerial factor was the most important factors in institutionalizing operational budgeting Iranian in higher education.

Agility is a competitive means for all organizations that is considered important in today's uncertain and changing environment. In current competitive environment, many organizations need strategic planning to achieve agility. In this regard, for implementing agility in organizations, identifying factors enabling organizational agility is essential because understanding these factors can help organizations to design, plan and implement agility. But these factors do not have similar preference and have internal dependencies. On the other hand, universities as one of the knowledge based organization need agility. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify and prioritize factors enabling structural organizational agility in universities via interpretive structural modeling approach. The aim of present study is practical and its method and nature is descriptive – analytical. A questionnaire was used to collect information. The statistical population consisted two parts. In first part, for identifying factors enabling organization agility structure, a sample of 283 individuals including presidents, vice presidents, department chairs, and faculty members and instructors in Yazd were selected according to random - stratified sampling and their opinions were evaluated an analyzed. In second part, for leveling and prioritizing identified key factors, 10 faculty members who had practical and scientific expertise about the issue were used. Factor analysis results showed that seven factors of culture, forming knowledge-based organizations, agile workforce, continuous improvement, participation and collective cooperation, information technology and organizational structure are considered as key factors enabling organization agility structure at the universities. Also, the results of interpretive-structural modeling showed that the factor of forming knowledge-based organization has the highest power and the least dependency among other 6 key factors.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of university brand mental image on the attitudes of students toward performance improvement with regard to the adjustment's role of quality of education at the universities in Kerman. The population of this study was all Kerman's university students in 2014 (N=42190). Using Cochrane formula, 381 individuals were randomly selected through stratified sampling method. A descriptive and correlational method was chosen for this study. Chow test, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and Structural Equation Modeling were used to analyze data gathered by the questionnaire. Based on the findings of the study, the positive adjustment's role of educational quality on the relationship between mental image of the university brands and students’ attitude toward performance improvement was confirmed. In addition, the results of path analysis indicated that university brand mental image has a meaningful effect on the students’ attitude toward performance improvement.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties (validity and reliability) of Psychometric properties (validity and reliability) of faculty members teaching criterion quality in Guilan University from student's perspectives. Sample included 407 senior bachelor students in four colleges (Humanities, Sciences, Agriculture, and Architecture and Arts) at the Guilan University-who were randomly selected using cluster sampling method. The results of internal consistency of scale and five factors (Good Teaching, Clear Goals and Standards, Appropriate Assessment, Appropriate Workload, Generic Skills) were acceptable. The correlation of each of items with total score was significant and ranged from 0.53 to 0.74. Confirmatory factor analysis of all variables showed that all the variables have significant load factor on their own factor, and Five-factor structure of the questionnaire was approved. Concurrent criterion validity coefficient between each of the variables of Course Experience Scale- that was linked theoretically with the Marsh's (1987) criterion variables (the Student's Evaluations of Educational Quality Instrument) was significant. Altogether, founding of this study showed that five-factor scale of the Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) can be used as a valid evaluation tool in Iran's universities.

Culture is one of the main substrates of knowledge creation. The academic culture as one of the main subcultures of the society has a great impact on the growth and development of knowledge creation. The aim of the present study was to identify the role of academic culture on the knowledge creation based on the perspectives of experts of the higher educational system by using qualitative method and semi structured interviews. The academic culture components were categorized into 10 themes including academic autonomy, academic freedom, professional ethics, management, communication, collaboration and teamwork, learning culture, trust among members, reward and evaluation system. Experts described the conditions of these components as poor and improper. The components of academic culture of knowledge creation were identified as 8 themes including seeker spirit, professional ethics, collaborative management, reward systems, trust between members, teamwork, academic freedom, and learning culture. The findings revealed that from the perspectives of experts, there is a relatively large distance between Iran's academic culture and cultural components of knowledge creation, and also, there is an overlap between many components of academic culture and cultural components of knowledge creation.