فصلنامه پژوهش و برنامه ریزی در آموزش عالی
سال بیست و سوم شماره 2 (پیاپی 84، تابستان 1396)

The purpose of this research was to investigate the perception of faculty members on being professional in Iran's higher education system. A qualitative research was chosen for this study. Participants were faculty members from different departments in University of Mashhad who were selected purposefully. Sampling was determined through theoretical saturation and interviews with 17 individuals. Following the principles of ethical interviewing, data collection was carried out through semi-structured interviews. For analysis of the themes and concepts, a combination of micro-analysis was used, which combines open coding and axial coding. The findings showed in an innovative way, the perception of faculty members on being professional. From this perspective, a faculty member had six educational commitments including teaching, research, communication, professional ethics, personality and organizational as well as 14 duties. In educational commitment, duties were "special merit", "technological capabilities", "regulation of the training", "research commitment" and "promoting professional confidence in the production of pure science". In relationship commitment," exposure" and "development of multifaceted relations, the moral obligation, "citizenship of academic value as describing the behavior of health"; in personality commitment, "the dominant learning needs", and in organizational commitment, "institutional understanding" were the most indicators of faculty member's professionalism.

members and graduate students about the concept of university graduates. A qualitative and interpretive approach was applied with a phenomenographic strategy. The research field was University of Kurdistan. Participants included 42 individuals (25 full-time faculty members and 17 graduate students). Purposeful sampling with maximum diversity was conducted. A semi-structured interview charter was used to collect data, which continued until theoretical saturation. The data were analyzed based on theoretical coding. At the end, six descriptive categories about the concept of a graduate were obtained as follows: university product, university ambassador, lifelong learner, stressful jobseeker, social activist, and knowledge user in the job. Students emphasized the categories of university product, stressful jobseeker and social activist more than the faculty members. Lifelong learner, knowledge user in the job, and university ambassador categories were mostly emphasized by faculty members. The most unpleasant feeling about graduation was related to students, as well as the most pleasant feeling of graduation was related to faculty members; The concept of graduate was perceived differently by women, in comparison to men, due to some issues such as marriage and child care. In regard to different perceptions of the concept of graduate, it appears that the variety of theories, and political and social perceptions give rise to ideas that make the definitions, measurements and findings unmatched and incongruous.

Higher education is an economic good like other goods and services that households, according to their income, have sensitivity to it. This sensitivity is an indicator for assessing household elasticity income for higher education demand. Therefore, in this study the attitude of households toward higher education was examined. The main objective of this study was to calculate higher education income elasticity demand for Iranian households. The major question was: is higher education a kind of luxury, necessary or inferior good for Iranian households? By using a quantitative method and utilizing data from Statistic Center of Iran, the income elasticity demand for urban and rural households during 2005-12 was calculated for 2012 by income deciles. The results showed that the higher the income growth, higher education as luxury goods has become an essential commodity for Iranian households. Consequently, the major hypothesis of this study is accepted. In addition, over time higher education has become an essential commodity for urban and rural households.

The present study investigated the effect of the quality of the academic research on the economic growth per capita (GDP/p,c.) using Generalized Method of Moments over 2004-12 for MENA countries. For this purpose, the number of cited articles were used as a proxy of evaluating academic education and research quality along with variables such as Growth of Total Factor Productivity (GTFP) and export of goods and services over Gross Domestic Product (Exp/gdp). The results of estimation indicated a positive and significant effect of the quality of the academic research on GDP/p,c. which highlights the role of the academic education and research in the economic growth per capita in MENA countries. Moreover, the effect of Exp/gdp and GTFP on GDP/p,c. was evaluated significant and positive. With respect to total results of estimation, investment in the enhancement of the quality of the academic education and research, and training young workforce are vital for the sustainable economic growth. Additionally, total productivity growth and the export-based development strategies should be included in the macroeconomic policies.

The purpose of this research was the conceptualization of global citizenship according to Iranian higher education expert's point of views. This research was carried out using qualitative approach based on grounded theory method and semi- structured interview with 32 experts. The data were analyzed by using content analysis method in grounded theory through three stages of open, axial, and selective coding. Findings indicated inefficiency and weakness of current curriculum for educating global citizens. This problem is consequence of some causal conditions such as inefficiency of contents and syllabuses, weakness of current views for educating global citizens, weakness of curriculum designers and developers, weakness of faculty members and poor quality of relationships and collaboration among students. Moreover, weakness in higher education culture, problems related to the political structure and weakness in university curriculum were among contextual factors affecting this inefficiency. Educational system, social and cultural factors were intervention conditions that increases the lack of educating global citizens through an academic curriculum. Experts believed that the formation of the concept of a global citizen through higher education for the reasons mentioned above and with regard to current strategies in the Iranian higher education does not take place. They believed that most important obstacles that prevent global citizenships are: centralization, insufficient training, and not revising curriculum based on revision of approaches. Present strategies have social, cultural, educational and economic consequences of which the most important are lack of systematic and critical thinking development, lack of cultural pluralism thought, lack of futurology and sustainability education, and lack of a global labor market.

Development of new business through entrepreneurship directly impact on societies and economies growth and prosper. Due to the high percentage of unemployed graduates in agriculture, there is a need to clarify which elements play the most influential role in shaping the personal decision to start a firm. The purpose of this study was to investigate self-esteem, self-efficacy, risk taking and social networking on entrepreneurial intention. Study population was undergraduate students of the Khouzestan Ramin Agriculture and Natural Resources University during 2007-08. A total of 500 questionnaires were sent to graduates. Of the return questionnaires, 123 were useful, which were somehow selected through follow-up studies. The face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed by pilot study and using the obtained teta coefficient (0.68-0.90). The results showed that there are significant difference between entrepreneurs and non-entrepreneurs in self-esteem and self-efficacy variables. The multiple regression, also revealed self-efficacy and networking significantly can predict 80 percent of variations intention toward future entrepreneurship. The results of this research can be used to design more effective educational programs.

This study was conducted to evaluate the relationship between thinking styles and level of creativity with entrepreneurial capabilities of Bu-Ali Sina University graduate students. The research method was descriptive- correlational. The statistical population included all Bu-Ali Sina University graduate students. Using, stratified random sampling, 150 individuals were selected. To collect information related to thinking styles, Sternberg's standard questionnaire was used. A researcher-made questionnaire with 37 questions to measure creativity, and a 39 item researcher-made questionnaire to measure entrepreneurial ability were utilized. Data were analyzed using multiple regression test through SPSS21. Results indicated that (P