Investigating Factors Affecting the Productivity and Quality Enhancement of Islamic Azad University Centers and Branches  Region 2

The Purpose of this study was to identify the factors affecting the quality improvement and productivity of Islamic Azad University centers and branches in Region 2. The study is a survey, and the data were gathered by a researcher – made questionnaire consisting of 50 questions based on the objectives and indices of quality in higher education centers. The statistical population included all faculty members (1778) and non-academic staff (1517) who worked in west Azerbaijan, Zanjan, and Ardebil Provinces during 2012. A sample of 350 (161 faculty members and 189 non-academic staff members) was selected through random stratified multi-stage cluster sampling method and by using Morag's Table. The data were analyzed by mean rank test and Friedman test, and for the comparison of the views of the two groups, t-test and one-way variance analysis were used. The results indicated that among the effective factors, the educational-cultural factors, the management and structural factors, the student factors, and the research factors are ranked in order of importance, respectively. Furthermore, the result showed that there is not a significant difference between the views of the sample groups.