Familiarity with the Functions of the Scientific Student Associations and Comparing Them with Engineering societies at the Isfahan University

The main purpose of this study is to be acquainted with the various functions of the student scientific associations at Isfahan University in different activities such as academic, research, publishing, socialization and entrepreneurship. The second objective is to compare the functions of engineering's scientific associations with other disciplines. Participants in this study were members and administrators of cultural and scientific associations of Isfahan University. Samples included 80 active students who were randomly selected and 15 interested managers for interviewing. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used for collecting data. For quantitative data, questionnaires were based on Likert's scale and had five options. The questionnaires were given to the sample of selected students. Interviews, observations and archive documents were other instruments for gathering qualitative data. Findings of the research indicate that the cultural and scientific associations in the University of Isfahan had positive functions in various domains: academic, research, publishing, socialization and entrepreneurship. This role was more important in the socialization and social skills training. On the other hand, data in the recorded documents indicate that there was a big difference between functions of engineering's scientific associations with other disciplines in the light of academic and research functions. But, findings of the present study indicate that there was no meaningful difference between different functions of scientific associations in engineering and science with other disciplines in Isfahan University. Based upon the results, recommendations were provided for the Isfahan administrators, scientific association's leaders and whom it may concern.