A Comparative Study between the Educational Performance of the Isargari (Sacrifice) and Regional Quota Students in Daily Courses of State Universities

The object of this research study was to examine the differences between educational performances of Isargari (sacrifice) quotas [i.e., Razmandegan (warriors), Jihadgaran (combatants), Azadegan (freed prisoners of war), Janbazan (sacrificing persons), and Shahed students (martyrs’ children)], and quota students from the tripartite regions. To achieve this end, 800 quota students and 800 regional quota students admitted in 2000, 2001 and 2002 were selected out of 13 universities of the state using a stratified sampling method. Afterward, by distributing some preset sheets, information on their educational status was collected from education departments of their universities. Average credit units passed in each semester, ratio of conditional semesters to registered ones, mean of semester averages, and ratio of the number of graduates were indexes based on which the educational performances of the two groups were compared. It was realized that Isargari quota students differed significantly in all the above-mentioned indexes from students in regional quotas and these differences were to the advantage of regional quota students. A relatively significant difference observed between the number of conditional semesters of Isargari quota students (%23.2 of semesters in which the students have registered) and a regional student (%6.8) is one of the most important findings of the present study. The positive point regarding Shahed and Isargari students is their decreased difference with other students in final semesters; that is, the difference between average scores of semesters between the two groups of students was reduced from 2.12 marks in the first semester to 1.01 marks in the eighth. The scope of the population, the inclusion of all the educational departments (except the medical sciences department), and a one by one comparison between the quota students and students from the three regions are the special features of this research study as opposed to the previous ones.