Investigation on the Factors Affecting the Institutionalized National System of Higher Education's Validation in Iran

Developments in the last two decades due to globalization, information technology and communication, knowledge-based economy, put universities and institutions of higher education into main
changes and faced them with serious challenges. One of the challenges facing universities now is the quality problem that attention to this issue is needed more than ever so that a lot of efforts for quality improvement have been done in most countries. Among these are the formation and establishment of institutions of national, regional and international validation to enhance the quality of universities. A limited number of attempts have been made in assessing the quality of universities in Iran. However, these attempts were not enough. Regarding the internationalization of higher education and the need for effective entry in Iran, It is now more than ever felt that today's competitive environment requires the establishment of validation in higher education. Accordingly, the authors of this paper have examined the factors affecting the institutionalized national system of higher education's validation in Iran. These include structural, cultural, and economic factors. In this study, the content analysis has been used. After reviewing the 10 -fold documents in terms of the factors mentioned, the data from this study were analyzed and interpreted using qualitative methods. Overall results indicate that all of the structural, cultural and economic factors have a decisive role in the formation and establishment of a national system of validation in higher education in Iran.