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J. Jung et al. (eds.), Researching Higher Education in Asia, Higher Education in
Asia: Quality, Excellence and Governance, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4989-7_18
Chapter 18
Higher Education Research in Iran:
Quantitative Development and Qualitative
Challenges
Abbas Madandar Arani, Lida Kakia, and Mohammad Jafari Malek
Abstract Over the last two decades of the twentieth century, Iran, like many societ-
ies, witnessed the expansion of higher education. During this period, governmental,
nongovernmental, and private universities were established, and the number of fac-
ulty members and students increased drastically. With the start of the new millen-
nium, the government’s policy in higher education was changed from emphasis on
training to research. As a result, in 2012 Iran gained the world’s 17th rank in science
production and fixed its top position in the region of Middle East, above Turkey.
Despite the overall progress, Iran’s higher education research is faced with chal-
lenges. The present paper has five sections. The first section is an overview of higher
education in Iran. The second part explains the quantitative growth of higher educa-
tion in the past three decades (1984–2014). The third part demonstrates the qualita-
tive development of Iran’s higher education research with more detail. The fourth
section indicates some of the most important challenges of higher education research
in contemporary Iran. Article ends with a discussion and conclusions.
A.M. Arani (*)
Lorestan University, Lorestan, Iran
e-mail: [email protected]
L. Kakia
Payam Noor University, Tehran, Iran
e-mail: [email protected]
M.J. Malek
Islamic Azad University (Zanjan Branch), Zanjan, Iran
e-mail: [email protected]