Iranian University and the Function & Identity Conflict: Seeking the Lost Model

The identity of university as a modern institution is the product of features like historical continuity and distinction. This article aims to represent the eighty years’ conflict over Iranian university that has its roots, in the author’s opinion, in weakness of identity; the weakness that emerges in two areas of continuity and distinction, and then leads to the absence of a specific model to follow. Using a documentary-analytical method, this article seeks to introduce four known models of higher education, namely the Napoleonic, Humboldt, Oxbridge, and the market model (style 2). The results show that, despite adopting some elements of all four above-mentioned models, none of them is fully realized. This lack of a specific model roots in the weakness of identity-maker elements, as well as lack of attention to formulation of the philosophy of higher education.