Designing a model to meet the needs of higher education in today's society with a knowledge commercialization approach Case study: Comprehensive and very large units of Islamic Azad University

The aim of this study was to design a model to meet the needs of higher education in today's society with the approach of commercialization of knowledge to study the comprehensive and large units of the Islamic Azad University. The research method was grounded theory (grounded theory) which was an inductive and exploratory research method. Initially, while studying the research literature, 19 in-depth and semi-structured interviews were collected using theoretical purposive sampling (including 16 faculty members and 3 experts in the industry) to collect the required data that had reached saturation. To assess validity, the interviewees confirmed the interpretation of the interviews. In order to analyze the collected data, a three-step coding process (open, axial and selective coding) based on the systematic approach of foundation data theory was used. The implementation of the open coding process led to the identification of 762 concepts (initial open coding) and their summarization in the form of 10 main categories with 57 sub-categories. The collected data from the process of conducting semi-structured interviews with research subjects (industry and university experts) were analyzed in open, axial and selective coding. Finally, the final conceptual model of the research was presented. Therefore, according to the research results, it can be said that Islamic Azad University should have a considerable potential for commercialization of knowledge. The commercialization of knowledge and the existence of an academic entrepreneurial culture promote the tendency to innovate in the university and the result is the emergence of innovation.