Zahra Khoshnejad; Mahtab Salimi; Ramezan Jahanian; Mozhgan Abdollahi
Abstract
Purpose: The universities play an important role in regional dynamics and growth, and fourth generation universities play a more effective role in this regard than the first to third generation universities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was identifying and determining the relationships between ...
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Purpose: The universities play an important role in regional dynamics and growth, and fourth generation universities play a more effective role in this regard than the first to third generation universities. Therefore, the purpose of this study was identifying and determining the relationships between the pillars and components of the fourth generation university in the Islamic Azad University.Methodology: The present study was applied in terms of purpose and mixed (qualitative-quantitative) in terms of implementation method. The population of the qualitative section was the professors and educational managers of the Islamic Azad Universities of Alborz province, and according to the principle of theoretical saturation, 12 of them were selected as a sample using the purposeful and snowball sampling method. In the academic year of 2020-21, there were 620 people in the quantitative department of Alborz Islamic Azad University, and according to the Cochran formula, 273 of them were selected as a sample by stratified random sampling based on gender. Data were collected by semi-structured interview and researcher-made questionnaire and their validity and reliability were evaluated. Also, for data analysis in the qualitative part, thematic analysis method was used in MAXQDA-2020 software and in the quantitative part, exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling methods were used in SPSS-25 and Smart PLS-3 software.Findings: The qualitative findings showed that 48 indicators, 16 components and 4 pillars were identified for the fourth generation university in the Islamic Azad University; So that the pillars were included organizational level (with 3 components of competitors analysis, financial resources and human resources), macro level (with 6 components of strategic management, internal environment analysis, external environmental analysis, making culture, futurism and futures and policy making), middle level (with 2 components of technology and independence and freedom) and micro level (with 5 components of applied training, assessment and content changes, opportunity recognition, creativity and skill-based). Also, the quantitative findings showed that all components had a factor load above 0.70, the average variance extracted above 0.50 and reliability above 0.70. In addition, all four organizational, macro, middle and micro levels had a significant positive effect on the fourth generation university and each component had a significant positive effect on related dimensions (P<0.05).Conclusion: Regarded to the identified pillars and components in the present study, to improve the status of the fourth generation university can be improved the basic to improve the pillars and components of the fourth generation university through the indicators of each of them.
