importance of Higher Education for the development of countries, as well as, to the ... Science and Technology in Iran a
HED/POL/2007/PI/38
Higher Education for Development: Special Reference to the Case of Iran
M. Tavakol
Presented at the Regional Seminar “Competition, Cooperation and Change in the Academic Profession: Shaping Higher Education’s Contribution to Knowledge and Research” 18-19 September 2007 Hangzhou, China
Dr. M. Tavakol Tehran University & National Commission for UNESCO
Higher Education for Development special reference to the case of Iran Abstract
The paper consist of three parts, in part I, references are made to the importance of Higher Education for the development of countries, as well as, to the important components of such a higher education. In part II, some important data and prominent features of Higher Education, Science and Technology in Iran are offered accompanied with relevant comments and assessments. Part III ends with conclusions and suggestions, where major important changes regarding the triangle of University, Industry, Government, and their relations are put forward.
General Remarks The joint working committee report of UNESCO and the World Bank quotes Malcom Gillis, Rice University President, as saying: "Today more than any other time in human history, nations' wealth or poverty is dependent on the quality of higher education". Why is it so? It is because 1) Generation, transfer and dissemination of knowledge has been the university's main objective from the very beginning, and 2) Today, knowledge constitutes the core in processes of the contemporary society. And the result of the above is the necessity for a new analysis of the strategic role of higher education and university in relation with the society, and then leading the university towards fundamental transformations and new orientations while preserving the balance between scientific aspects and social commitmentsi. Within these conditions: University's another balance depends on the establishment of balance between surrendering to the capital, trade and economy (whether national or globalized), or the isolation from it. Higher education is an intricate phenomenon, the analysis of which requires something more than limited or mere economic approaches and should also be based upon the acceptance of the necessity for establishing a balance between economic and production needs, general societal needs as well as the important needs of each individual as a member of the human race within a specific cultural, social and historical context. The responsibilities of institutions for higher education need also be evaluated in this context and relevance. But who is to define "relevance" and "importance"? In other words, who will respond to the following questions? Why higher education? What for? Which societies? and For which citizens should higher education be provided? Hence, the concept of "social relevance" gains prominence. a) Relevance and importance of higher education need be evaluated according to the extent of balance between societal expectations from various academic institutions and their true functions, which is brought about in the light of ethical criteria, political neutrality, the culture of critique, an ever more strengthened link between societal problems and the job market as well as the adoption of long-term orientations with respect to societal needs and objectives, which would include respecting cultures and environmental support. The main source of concern, however, is achieving education for all as well as goal–oriented specialized education with special emphasis on merits and skills, since these two forms of education provide for living in variant situations as well as for changing one's job or profession. 2
b) Higher education should play a more prominent role in providing services to the society, especially in its function as a means for eradication of poverty, eradicating prejudice, violence, illiteracy, hunger, corruption and diseases, which is primarily brought about by adopting an inter- and transdisciplinary approach to analyzing problems. c) Higher education should increase its share in developing all aspects of the educational system through furthering Training of Trainers activities (ToT) and by means of curriculum development and enhancing research. d) The creation of a new society free of violence and oppression should be the target of higher education. The system should therefore be constituted of motivated elites who are homogenized, have great compassion for humanity and adhere to wisdom as their guiding lamp. e) In realizing the above-mentioned goals, objectives and programmes, the following basic components should play as a leading thread: higher education, relevance, quality, quantity, equity
The Case of IRAN 1) Higher Education in Iran: Facts and Figures Students According to Iran’s 4th five year development plan the higher education access target is to reach 30% of 18-24 year age group population by the end of the year 2010. The estimated population of the country and 18-24 years old population (per hundred thousand) in 2005
Total population Male Female Total 34.8 33.8 68.6
18-24 years old population Male Female Total 6.3 6 12.3
Higher Education Student population and percentage of students in 18-24 years old population (per thousand) in 2005
Students Coverage Percentage
3570 20%
Higher Education students number reached 2448000 in the year 2006. It is important to notice that the share of non-public Higher Education was 51.3% versus 48.7% for public HE.
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Higher Education Student population based on typed of institution in 2005-6 academic year
Part- Time Non- Public Public Total
417000 1257000 774000 2448000
Distribution of student population based on level and degree program in 2005-6 academic year
2 year Diploma 727000 Bachelor 1566000 ∗ 136000 Master PhD 19000 Total 2448000 * Professional medical students included in this item
Distribution of student population in the major fields of study in 2005-6 academic year2
Arts Medical Science Engineering Agricultural & Veterinary Basic Sciences Humanities Total
87000 141000 688000 168000 260000 1104000 2448000
Number & Percentage of female students by sector and study level in 2003-4
Sector Study Level
Public Female All
Non-Public Female All
Total Female All
2 year diploma Bachelor Master Professional Doctorate Ph.D. Total
65448 376639 13181 16275 3321 474864
138732 367709 12687 5491 618 525237
204180 744348 25868 21766 3939 1000101
184562 619565 40914 30749 13208 888998
303238 703304 3574 12089 2628 1056933
487800 1322869 76588 42838 15836 1945931
As you see, 55.4% (554332 students) were studying humanities, while only 4.2% (41,886 students) were studying arts and related fields.
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Applicant/ Admission Ratio in 2003-4
Number & Ratio Academic Year 2003-04
Applicants
Admissions
Ratio
1455000
519194
35.6
Ratio of Female Student Population to Student Population in 2003-4
Number & Ratio Academic Year 2003-4
Female Student Population 1000101
Student Population
Ratio
1945931
51
Ratio of Graduate Student Population to Student Population in 2003-4
Number & Ratio Academic Year 2003-4
Graduate Student Population 135262
Student Population 1945931
Ratio 7
Distance Education Population to Student Population in 2003-4
Number & Ratio Academic Year 2003-4
Distance Education Student Population 287261
Student Population 1645931
Ratio 14/7
In order to make Higher Education more in the service of national development and responsive to its needs, a set of measures have been introduced in recent years. For example in response to the shortage of skilled manpower and to overcome this shortcoming within the Higher Education, the number of technical- vocational programs and centers have increased-- raising the number of such centers to 845 and number of such programs to 830 (two-year diploma programs). For the same developmental considerations projects to estimate national manpower needs have been defined, and universities have been asked to design their Comprehensive Development Plans, also Science & Technology Parks and Incubators have been stablished and developed.
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Teaching Staff Number and Percentage Full-Time Faculty Members by Sector and Rank in 2003-4
Sector Rank Professor Associate Professor Assistant Professor Instructor Educator Others Total
Public Number Percent 973 305 2009 7.1
Non-Public Number Percent 93 0.6 128 0.9
Total Number Percent 1066 2.5 2137 5.0
11012
39.2
3591
23.9
14603
33.9
9281 389 4442 28106
33.0 1.4 15.8 100
10937 114 165 15028
72.8 0.8 1.1 100
20218 503 4607 43134
46.9 1.2 10.7 100
It should be noted, however, that in addition to the 43,143 full-time faculty members in the Iranian higher education system in 2003-4 academic year, 28,509 visiting faculty members, on a teaching-contract basis, were also engaged in teaching. The total number of full-time female faculty members in 2003-04 academic year was 6,343. From this number, 5,558 members were engaged in teaching in the public sector and the remaining 785, in non-public institutions.
Number and Percentage of Full-Time Female Faculty Members by Sector and Rank in 2003-4
Sector Rank Professors Associate Professors Assistant Professors Instructors Educators Others Total
Public Female All 63 973 204 2009
Non-Public Female All 3 93 5 128
Total Female All 66 1066 209 2137
1835
11012
268
3591
2103
14603
2263 120 1073 5558
9281 389 4442 28106
442 29 38 785
10937 114 165 15028
2705 149 1111 6343
20218 503 4607 43134
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Ratio of Students to Full-Time Faculty Members by Sector in 2003-4
Number & Ratio Sector Public Non-Public Total
Regular, Daytime Students 754399
Full-time Faculty Members 28106
Ratio
1056933 1811332
15028 43134
70.3 42
26.8
Ratio of Students to Full-Time and Visiting Faculty Members by Sector in 2003-4
Number & Ratio Sector
Regular, Daytime Students
Public
754399
Full-time and Visiting Faculty Members 42346
Non-Public Total
1056933 1811332
29297 71643
Ratio
36 25.3
17.8
Budget 3
Higher Education Financial Indices in 2003 (in million Raials)
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) State Budget (General & Specific) Higher Education Budget Research Budget∗ University Research Budget∗∗ Percentage of Higher Education Budget to GDP Percentage of Higher Education Budget to State Budget Percentage of Research Budget to GDP Percentage of Research Budget to State General Budget Percentage of University Research Budget to State Research Budget
1,132,634,000 436,022,833.4 8,853,786 4,203,857.2 1,104,016.8 0.78 2 0.37 0.69 26.3
* Research Budget in 2003 excluded specific revenues but included the operational credits and possession of capital assets. ** University Research Budget in 2003 excluded specific revenues but included the operational credits and possession of capital assets.
2) Science and Technology in Iran: an Assessment 7
The assessment of science and technology development in Iran carried out in 2005-6 shows that most of the science and technology indicators are not much different compared with the pervious assessment carried out in 2002-3. Among positive aspects of this assessment we may point to the distribution of the number of researchers in different provinces which shows a relatively balanced distribution as compared with the year 1379 (2000-01). Moreover, the percentage of the researches in two fields of Engineering and Agricultural science has reduced while it has increased in other fields. Although the volume of research budget in the year 1381 (2002-03) shows some 50 percent increase as compared with the year 1979 (2000-01), this increase has been only 16 percent based on the constant prices. The percentage of research expenditures in the gross domestic product has remained unchanged however the percentage of the research budget in the general budget of the government in the year 1381 has remarkably reduced comparing to that of the year 1379. The number of articles published in foreign journals considerably increased in the year 1381 despite its irregular graph. Among other positive aspects are the remarkable increase in the number of scientific productions of Iran at the ISI journals and the average increase in the number of articles published per one hundred researchers. But in spite of the increase in the number of articles, Iranian researchers still have a slight share in the global science production (rank 49). Meanwhile, these productions are limited to a few fields of study particularly in Basic science disciplines, and there is no logical balance in the production of science in Iran in the wake of the diversity of scientific fields, so that during the period between 1993 and 2004 about 31 percent of the articles indexed by ISI dealt with Chemistry and about 10 percent with Physics. A study of the women's share in science development shows that the percentage of the women's entry to different scientific-technological levels is increasing considerably. However, women's presence in the higher scientific levels is still less than men. The significant results of analysis of statistics in the assessment of science and technology are as follows: • The number of manpower involved in the research sector increased by about one percent in 2002-03 as compared with 2000-2001 however, the number of R&D personnel per one million populations fell by two percent due to the further growth of the population.
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Total R&D personnel per one million populations
The number of researchers in the Engineering and Agricultural science fields decreased while it increased in other fields.
Engineering Agricultural Science
Medical Science
Basic Science
Humanities
Percentage of researchers in different specialized fields
• The number of R&D personnel and researchers of Iran per one million populations is higher than countries such as Turkey and Malaysia but this number is much lower than the industrial countries.
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Number of R&D personnel4 per one million populations in 1999 and 2001
• Research budgets provided by the government in 2002-03 has increased by 50 percent based on the current prices as compared with 2000-01 however, the increase has been only 16.5 percent based on the constant prices.
Total research budgets (billion rials)
• Research budgets have considerably decreased in socio-political, housing and academic sectors while it has increased in agricultural, information and informatics sectors and in the provincial budgets. • The share of government research expenditures in the gross domestic product still continues to remain very low.
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Percentage of (government) research budgets in gross domestic product
• Research budgets5 per researcher in the country are much less than that of the developed countries and even less than that of some developing countries.
Research budgets5 per researcher (thousand current PPP$) in 1999 and 2001
• Share of private sector in supplying research costs still remains very low. • The highest number of the locally (nationally) published articles goes to the Humanities field while the highest number of internationally published articles goes to the Basic science and Engineering fields.
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Science
Science
Percentage of articles published in national journals by different fields
Science
Science
Percentage of articles published in foreign journals by different fields
• The number of Iranian scientific productions indexed by ISI rose to 0.18 percent of the total scientific productions published in such journals in 2002, up by 53 percent as compared with year 2000.
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Share of each country in the scientific productions indexed by ISI in 2000 and 2002
The highest number of references to the Iranian scientific productions indexed by ISI belongs to the Basic science field. • The average trend of the number of patents granted inside Iran is rising.
Number of patents
• Each 100 researchers have published in average 63 articles in 2002-03, up by about 34 percent as compared with 2000-01. 13
Number of published articles per one hundred researchers
•
Iran is long behind the developed countries by having published 8.5 scientific productions indexed by ISI in lieu of one hundred researchers.
Number of scientific productions indexed by ISI per one hundred researchers
Distribution of the Iranian scientific productions in various fields is very different from similar distribution in the world.
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Percentage of the scientific productions of Iran and the world indexed by ISI in different scientific fields during 1993-2004
• Lack of balance in the distribution of teaching faculty members and researchers in the specialized fields can imply in balance between research and teaching in Science Sector in Iran.
Percentage of (full-time) researchers and (full-time) faculty members in different scientific fields in 2002-03
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• Women's share in the lower scientific levels is rising considerably, however, they do not still have a considerable share in the higher scientific and research levels.
Women's share of students in different educational levels from 1996 to 2003
These results show the growth of scientific productions and improvement of a number of science and technology indicators, however, most indicators do not show much difference as compared with the previous assessment of science and technology in the country some 2 years before6.
3) Balanced development of Science, Technology and Higher Education The results of the analysis of statistics show that the Iranian scientific productions indexed by ISI are more concentrated on few fields particularly in the field of Basic sciences; for example 31 percent of the Iranian articles published in these journals belong to chemistry. Documents show that out of 22 specialized fields at the Information Science Institute (ISI), four fields of Chemistry, Engineering, Physics and Clinical Medicine account for 67 percent of the Iranian scientific productions whereas Iranian scientific productions in such fields as social sciences, economics and business are almost zero. In addition to the rise of scientific production & scientific development in Iran, the application of science, technology, and Higher Education to socio-economic and technical needs of the country is also important. Today, technology has been proposed as a strategic factor in the economic development of countries. Higher Education is another factor in supply of social capital and human resources7. Unfortunately, the results of the evaluations imply that the country's situation in the field of technological production is not desirable and that little attention is paid to the commercial aspects of science. The category of Relevance of Higher Education (to national development needs) requires still more concrete attention8.
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Conclusion and Suggestions To realize the above-mentimed ideas, Government, Industry, and University are important stakeholders, and their relations has the most important role in putting higher education in the service of development. Unfortunately these relationships in most of developing countries are not, in reality, convergent to national development and therefore should be subject to change:
Relationship between University and Government: To be brief, the following formula, in our view, should be the framework for action: • University versus government interaction: responding to the needs of the state. • State versus university interaction: setting the grounds for scientific advancement.
Relationship between University and Industry: Axiomatically speaking the following headings are to be recommended: • Transmitting organizational management and technical knowledge • Consultation services • Joint projects • On-service Training • Introduction of specific courses by universities based on the articulated needs of industry and economy • Apprenticeship and resident training by university students at production sites • Defining industrial, productive and economic needs • Technology parks9, incubators and innovation centres • Need-orientedness theses and dissertations • Tax exemptions for trade institutions assisting scientific development
Issues to be contemplated with respect to the relationship between industry, university, and society: Specialized international agencies like UNESCO in different conferences, meetings, symposiums, forums (such as CASTASIA) in the fields of science, research, technology and development have identified various issues, some of which are listed below:
• Issues of Concern at the National Level: The most important thing to be considered at the national level is how to integrate national objectives into R&D projects. All other matters like what
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follows are secondary to this, and are to be taken into account in this regard: a) How much of the Gross Domestic Product should be allocated to R&D activities? b) What would be the method for the sectoral distribution of R&D budget? c) How should an appropriate R&D network be established and retained at a national level; d) What kinds of information and service facilities need be prepared and at what level? e) What sources of encouragement should be applied to promote innovation?
• Issues of Concern at Sector Level: Here also an important point to consider is how to reduce long-term sectoral objectives (such as services, agriculture, industry, education, transportation etc) into relevant R&D projects. Other key issues concerns: a) Methods of defining the priorities in R&D projects of each sector b) How to define the appropriate level of support? c) How competition and the market's influence the data and results of research and development? d) Creating incentives for the transfer of technology both within and outside the sector.
• Issues of Concern at Organization Level: Apart from national and sectoral issues, the concerned organization should also be an effective and reflective organization and manage challenges innovatively. Other Issues of concern at this level include: a) Organizational structure and form (whether it be centralized, decentralized or operational etc) b) Formal/official relationships between the government and private customers c) Methods of identifying, selecting and training key personnel such as scientists, engineers, project managers etc d) Methods of institutionalizing back up services such as publication, design, accounting, workshops etc e) Methods of operational transmission from laboratories to the market f)Methods of defining and allocating budget to various activities
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• Issues of Concern at Individual Level: Here the issue of prominence is how to attract and then to keep meritorious subjects (personnel). Other related issues include: a) Methods of evaluating the subjects' (personnel) performance in order to conform rewards with the employees' outputs b) How to avoid ageing of technical professionals' specialty or even to delay it by means of education and repeated training/reeducation c) How to develop methods and to set plans for appropriate job promotions in order to lift the spirits of employees, to ensure rule and order in team work10.
Other aspects of industry-university relationships: • • • • •
Strategic management of industry-university relationships Interface management Financial management of industry-university relationships Staff management in the industry-university relationship Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) management
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References: 1-World Conference on Higher Education 1998 Higher Education in the 21st Century. Vision and Action, UNESCO. 2- 2005-6 data extracted from Iranian Higher Education National ReportPerspective in Brief, IRPHE, Tehran, IRAN, 2005-6. 3- 2002-3 data are extracted from Higher Education in Iran-a National Report, IRPHE, Tehran, IRAN, 2003. 4- Statistics for Malaysia and Turkey: 1998 and 2000. 5- Statistics of Malaysia: years 1998, 2000. 6- the data from summarized report, The Board of Supervision and Assessment of Cultural and Scientific Affairs, Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, Tehran, Iran, 1384 (2005). 7-for the optimistic account of these measures see M. Kabganian, “Science and Research Policies and Some Related Action Programmes for Sustainable Development in Iran” in Science and Technology Policy for Sustainable Development Forum Proceedings, Chief Editor M. Tavakol, IRUNESCO, Tehran, 2006, pp.54-61, and for a critical view see, S. M. Etemadi, “The Research Effectiveness: challenges and solutions”, in Proceedings of the Seminar on Research Production and Economic Development, Tehran, HIERMP, 1384 (2005), pp 63-75 esp. p 71. 8- see the last part of the Iranian Science & Technology report (ref No.6), and the Higher Education part of M. Tavakol, “Globalization, Modernization and Education in Iran”, in Rukhsana Zia (ed.), Globalization, Modernization and Education- Muslim Countries, Nova Science Publishers, 2004, pp 135-149. 9-Carlos Tunnermann Bernheim and Marilena de Souza Chaui, Challenges of University in the Knowledge Society, five years after the World Conference on Higher Education, UNESCO Forum Occasional Paper Series, 2003, Paper No.4, pp 9-15. Please also refer to, M Tavakol, Sociology of Science, Sadoogh Press, chapter 7, 1370 (1911), and, Bender, Thomas (ed.), The University and the City: From Medieval Origin to the Present. Oxford UP, 1998. 10- A B Cabal, The University As An Institution Today, UNESCO, 1993, pp172-6, Please also refer to, Smith, Anthony (ed.), The Postmodern University: Contested Visions of Higher Education in Society, Open University Press, 1997. TavakolChinaSeminar
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