نشریه نامه آموزش عالی
پیاپی 11 (پاییز 1389)

This research has been carried out with the purpose of Internal Evaluation of Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Tehran. Presenting a comprehensive and clear profile from a programme or an institution based on self evaluation and analysis of points of strengths, sore points, opportunities and threats calls for employing evaluation process. In this regard, the evaluation research and action research methods are used. Required information is gained using questionnaire and check list. The population from which data is collected are head of department, faculty members, students and the faculty librarian utilizing census method and graduates and their employers applying existing sampling methods. According to the applied criteria and indicators, the mean in factors of scientific board(2/66), students(2/43), graduate-outcome(2/5), and research and scientific publications(2/5) showed favorable situation in intended factors and the mean in factors of facilities and training spaces(2/15), organizational structure(1/83), learning and teaching process and implemented training courses(2/13) showed a relatively favorable situation in intended factors. These results suggest that reaching desired optimum and/or final goals is not far from expectations in Environmental Engineering Department in University of Tehran. However, it should be bear in mind that fulfilling such aim demands a thoughtful planning and employing solutions to omit sore points in needed areas.

Nowadays, planning in different sections of society is essential, for example, education for the sake of development and improvement of the country. Overcoming chaos and improving the lifestyle are only feasible with excellent plans. Development plans would provide a chance for leaders and managers to have a better view of the future prospects. This approach provides a way of utilizing new insights and guidelines to arrange goals and schemes for a better future. Our country is one of the most experienced countries in planning, which besides the 5-year plans; focuses on a 20-year outlook based on the Fourth Development Program. In this paper, educational policy and plans before and after the Islamic Revolution in Iran with regard to the fourth economical, social and cultural development program are compared.

Adaption of the item difficulty level to the subject's characteristics is the most efficient method in characteristics testing. To achieve this goal, a number of items were presented to the subjects to gain an exact understanding of their levels. The above mentioned issue comprises the fundamental idea underlying the adaptive testing which is influenced by the outcomes of the item-response theory in the analysis of a test questions. Adaptive testing is the natural result of Bayesian thinking method in estimating and analyzing the information function of the items and includes some inferences for the preparation and interpretation of the test. This method includes a number of simple and yet various approximations. A more complex method of adaptive testing is the Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT), which includes a two stage process. In the first stage, an item will be presented to the subjects with the same difficulty level as their current abilities. Then, their abilities will be measured on the basis of their responses to the item of the first stage. These stages are repeated over and over to make the ultimate decision to end the test. Real planning, practical application, and CAT protection demand hard work including: item pools, test security, and examinee issues.

The current research is aimed to identify the students’ learning styles from Agriculture Faculty of Islamic Azad University, Birjand branch. Methodologically, this research was carried out based on descriptive-survey strategy. The statistical population of current research consisted of 555 students from which 69 samples were selected using Cochran Formula. Then for appropriate allocation, 89 samples considered as final using randomized stratified sampling method. A questionnaire, including Felder-Soloman index of Learning Styles was applied as the research tool. Validity of the questionnaire was established using comments of a group of experts. The durability of different sections of the questionnaire was confirmed based on calculating Cranach's alpha coefficient of reliability. Correlation coefficient and T test was exploited in order to analyze collected data. Results showed that most of students have active learning style as far as processing aspect is concerned, and in terms of perception, most of students have intuitive style. From presentational point of view, the majorities of students have verbal style and from the aspect of perspective/understanding, most of students follow sequential style. Results obtained from analyzing correlation coefficient suggested that there is a 5% significance level between students’ learning style and some educational patterns -using seminars and conferences in teaching, teaching method based on work in laboratories and workshop, utilizing internship as an efficient teaching method, satisfaction from teaching theoretical courses, and employing a combination of educational resources- which shows a positive relationship within this context. In addition, results revealed that there was also a significantly negative relationship between applying the presented lecture as the teaching method and active learning style score of students. T-test results showed there is no significant difference between students in terms of learning style score and gender, major or university degree levels.

The foremost mission of higher education is producing knowledge and university is a place of great importance in scientific researches. Graduate and post graduate students serve as a significant part of a country’s research team and their theses lays an apt ground for further study and research in different fields of study. The aim of this study is to investigate the rate of overlaps of dissertation titles on the basis of Beauchamp’s theory. In terms of type, this study is a descriptive research and in terms of aim, it is a practical study which has been done using official document survey method. The study consists of titles of theses of Curriculum from universities of Tehran. The universities are Tarbiaat Modares University (TMU), Tarbiat Moallem University, Allame Tabatabaii University (ATU), Shahid Beheshti University (SBU), Payame Nour University and Islamic Azad University. Considering all the limitations in the number of available population, the number of samples has been confirmed with this population. For analyzing data, we have employed the analytical interpreting method. Findings indicate that theses of Curriculum in Tehran universities do not cover all of the subjects within this field. Most of the theses are surrounding curriculum design and have been done regarding concept matters. The majority of thesis titles are repetitive. Some areas of curriculum are neglected such as place, time and categorization of students. Moreover, some theses have been done in non-technical areas. In the end, some suggestions are proposed considering the research background and our findings.

The goal of this research is to study the relationship between belief in religion bases and emotional intelligence of staffs in university of Yazd. This investigation is of descriptive type and it has been carried out using correlation method. Statistical population contains all of the personnel in university of Yazd. Using the equation of sample size, 112 members of personnel have been determined as the sample size. We employed two types of questionnaires to collect information namely Practicing Religious Beliefs and Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory. Validity of questionnaires has been gained using study results of other researchers. We have applied Cranach's alpha coefficient for determining the durability of the questionnaires. According to Cranach's alpha coefficient, the durability of questionnaire (1) is 92% and the other’s is 93%. Collected data wasanalyzed based on descriptive statistics indexes (mean, standard deviation,…) and that of inferential statistics (correlation coefficient). Results demonstrate that there is a positive, direct and significant relationship between belief in religion bases and emotional intelligence of staffs. Accordingly, it is suggested that in order to improve the level of emotional intelligence among staffs, we should set up a special fund to increase their level of religious beliefs.

In recent years, interdisciplinary areas or Interdisciplinarity is of crucial importance as one of the most significant areas of research in education in general and higher education in particular. In majority of higher education systems in the world, investment in integrated courses in three levels of BS, MS and PhD has become a routine practice. A vivid example of such case is handfuls of ongoing research projects in complex areas of science at prestigious academic institutions in countries such as USA and Canada. These institutions are often seeking for training academic experts in MS and PhD levels in one hand and on the other hand, higher education experts are experiencing some serious questions that have arisen from some basic facts from investigation in the area of interdisciplinary curricula. These questions are to be answered: How should we define and train interdisciplinary educational materials for a group of people with different educational backgrounds, abilities and experiences? What are concerned Issues in interdisciplinary approaches? How is it possible to design an interdisciplinary area for different levels of academic education i.e. BS, MS and PhD? In this article, we tried to review literature in interdisciplinary fields of higher education to appropriately response to these questions and lots of others; we tried to refer to the results and outcomes of such newly-born fields of study as well. In another part of this article, we studied the theoretical principles of interdisciplinary approach. We also probed into what is called “complex sciences” with the aim of finding its impacts on interdisciplinary curriculum in higher education.

The basis of economical development in every society relies heavily on developing human resources. The first and utmost institute for attaining such aim is a high education organization. The aim of this study as a descriptive-survey study is to investigate the employment status of graduates of Islamic Azad University, Aligoodarz branch. The statistical population from which data is taken are graduates of Islamic Azad University, Aligoodarz branch between years 1376 and 1385. Data are obtained via filling out questionnaires using either telephone or official documents. Findings from this research show that with a confidence interval of 98%, the average rate of unemployment is 32%, the average rate of employment is 68%, and the average rate of pursuing higher education is 26%. On the other hand, the rate of unemployed graduates of state of Lorestan is 20.6% based on a census report on population and housing in the year 1385. The outcome of analyzing data gained from this study has a great impact on changing higher education strategies. Changes such as modifying and elimination of some university majors due to satiation of market needs, improving educational levels from associate degree to BA, and improving courses’ bulletins to fit various career needs.