QUALITY CHALLENGE IN IRAN’S HIGHER EDUCATION. STRUCTURAL OBSTACLES AND SOCIO-CULTURAL AND POLITICAL CONTEXTS. A "COGNITIVE MAP" FOR CHANGE AGENTS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Globalization, emergent knowledge economy and globally competitive state affaires, have amplified the debate on quality of higher education (H.E.) and Quality assurance (Q.A.) in H.E. Quality assurance is not possible without institutional changes and reforms. The latecomers of development (and among them; Iran) face the contradictory challenges with regard to this issue. On the one hand, they have to follow a set of international and common norms and standards about Q.A. in H.E.; on the other hand, they have their cultural and societal peculiarities with certain structural limitations and difficulties.
H.E, in Iran’s state-run universities is not supported by deeply-rooted tradition of quality assessment. For several decades, Iranian universities have not been able to monitor themselves and develop efficient, internal structures of quality assurance. Attempts of internal evaluation and monitoring have failed, giving way to a system of bureaucratic supervision and control. Recent changes in Iran have given rise to new concepts, including the principle of universities’ self-evaluation, based on academic autonomy and scientific freedom. However the dominant tendency of the political structure and the administrative branch is still towards external and bureaucratic control. This conflict between more or less advanced texts (discourse) and typically solid structures is a reflection of inconsistencies within the Iranian society, pursuing its transitional stage.
The analysis of relationship between socio-cultural context of latecomers of development (in this article; the case of Iran) with the components of QA in HE, helps us to develop a cognitive map, that change agents in the developing countries (actors in three levels of: society, university and state) could make decision and act about an appropriate model for H.E. evaluation, accreditation, and its essential policies, strategies and operations.