Investigating the Viewpoints of Graduate Students towards Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats Underlying the Innovation-based Approach to Arts Curricula in Higher Education

Abstract: The main objective of this study was to investigate the viewpoints of graduate students towards strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats underlying the innovation-based approach to arts curricula in higher education. This descriptive survey made use of semi-structured interviews and researcher-made questionnaires in order to collect the required data. The validity of interviews and questionnaires was confirmed by obtaining experts’ opinions and their reliability was determined using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.90). The statistical population was composed of all graduate students at Art University of Isfahan. Then, the stratified random sampling (quantitative) was used in terms of sampling method and the actual process of sampling was undertaken in the format of purposeful sampling method (qualitative). The results indicated that the item “paying attention to lifelong learning in order to keep students up to date” was the most important strength point and the item “inappropriate facilities” was the most important weak point. Besides, it was indicated that the items of “fostering a culture of innovation” and “lack of new and up-to-date knowledge and technology in the country” were the most notable opportunity and threat, respectively.