The problem with which this study is concerned is the development of a plan to reform the structure of the current system of Iranian higher education, both quantitatively and qualitatively. These goals have been set by the Charter of Educational Revolution and coincide with the Development Plans of the nation which have aimed to bring about a fundamental change in society. Educational history of Iran since ancient times is discussed, with special emphasis on higher education, and the religio-cultural influences in shaping the organization of educational institutions and curricula are overviewed. The nation developed one of the world's oldest scholastic centers of higher learning, Gondi-Shapur Academy, whose international faculty contributed significantly to the advancement of knowledge. Iranian culture was exposed to Islam following the Arab invasion; and Islamic doctrine, which has been opposed to secular education, has dominated the educational philosophy of the country. Western education came to Iran through military institutions and religious institutions. Modern schools increased during the last decades of the nineteenth century; however, their progressive development can be traced only from the reign of Reza Shah, beginning in 1925. The first modern university of Iran was established forty years ago. The provincial universities and other institutions of higher learning came into existence in following years. After adopting the Charter of Educational Revolution in 1968, Iran experienced a rapid expansion of its institutions of higher learning. The percentage of total student enrollment in these institutions has never exceeded 0.37 per cent of the population, however, because the institutions could not expand rapidly enough to accommodate the students who applied for admission. Graduate education is also in the primary stages of development, currently comprising 2.4 per cent of the college students of the nation. To cope with these shortcomings, the study has come to the following conclusions: 1. The system of higher education in Iran should develop qualified graduate schools to educate highly advanced professionals and scholars to fill the positions which the nation, until the present time, has had to award to personnel who have received their education abroad.

This study is concerned with the relationship between the Iranian Oil Industry and Iranian economy. Oil revenues have been the largest source for financing economic development plans and for obtaining foreign exchange. In this paper, the history of the Iranian oil industry is summarized, and five previously implemented developmental plans are analyzed. Additionally, the impact of oil on some economic sectors and its contribution to GNP is examined. The strong correlation between oil reserves and the economy may bring a problem in the future when oil reserves run out. Iranian economists believe that the economy must be industrialized in order to reduce the economy's reliance on oil. This paper recommends that all the economic sectors, particularly agriculture, should receive careful consideration, even though the national goal is to industrialize the economy.

No description available.

The study focuses on the relationships between nomads, the government and the natural resource base of Iran as a problematical situation. The research approach adopted was action-oriented with an emphasis on the process of development through the integration of theory with practice in a critical learning system designed to improve the situation and emphasising the significance of systemic thinking and acting.The underlying rationale for the approach is that the relatively limited achievements in nomadic development and natural conservation to date stem from the fact that policies are: (a) based on a reductionist view point and analysis, which separates theory from practice, and neglects the diversity, complexity and recursiveness of the different dimensions of nomadic life; and (b) developed on the basis of government perceptions of the nature of the issues confronting nomads rather than on the basis of shared concerns with the nomads themselves. There were three phases of fieldwork which, when taken together, represent what might be termed a system of systemic research methodologies. The first phase of the fieldwork was an attempt to explore the problematic situation from the point of view of particular group of nomads and government agents. The second phase of research turned to an action-oriented approach to establish the process of conversation and mutual recognition and accommodation of change among ‘clients’ and the researcher as facilitator to help each group of participants (nomads and government) to understand their own position and worldviews, to help each group of participants to recognise and appreciate differences in their positions, perceptions, and to establish a framework for action and improving the situation within each group could benefit in a reciprocal manner. The third phase of research focused on the learning organisation as a strategy to improve relationships. The recursive nature of the research, both in terms of relationship between theory and practice and also its three phases, is reflected in the structure of the thesis. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This study examined the ralationship of organizational structure and job satisfaction in Iranain iron companies. Sixteen of 27 Iranian iron companies were randomly selected for the study, and 195 middle managers in the 16 companies were surveyed with a three part instrument consisting of Likert's (1967) Profile of Organizational Characteristics; Smith, Kendal and Hulin's (1969) Job Description Index; and a short demographic questionnaire. For each company, responses to the Profile of Organizational Characteristics were tabulated, means were calculated, and an organizational structure was assigned to the company based on Likert's (1967) classification of organizational structures: System 1, Exploitative/ Authoritative; System 2, Benevolent/Authoritative; System 3, Consultive; and System 4, Participative. The mean job satisfaction of middle managers was also calculated from responses to the Job Description Index, and results from the demographic questionnaire were tabulated. These results were statistically analyzed using Analysis of Variance, the Student-Newman-Keuls Procedure, Pearson's r test, and a correlation coefficient test. The findings revealed no single organizational structure present in Iranian iron companies; however, 14 of the 16 companies had a System 3, Consultive, organizational structure. A positive correlation of job satisfaction with organizational structure was found; as structure changed from more authoritarian/less participative to less authoritarian/more participative, job satisfaction of middle managers increased. No significant relationship was found between organizational structure and organizational size, no significant differences were found in job satisfaction of middle managers in different companies, and no significant relationships were found between job satisfaction and any of the four demographic variables: Type of Work, Education, Job Location, and Marital Status. / Graduation date: 1990

Texte remanié de: Dissertation--Fachbereich Geschichtswissenschaft--Universität Hamburg, Wintersemester 1997/98. / Bibliogr. p. 218-227.

Thèse de doctorat : SOCIOLOGIE : Metz : 1997. / 1997METZ009L. 158 ref.

This dissertation aims to study the attempts made by contemporary Iranian religious modernists at reconciling Islam and democracy on the theoretical level. The prevailing theme in earlier studies on contemporary Iran has been that of Islamic resurgence or the socio-political outcome of the 1979 Revolution to the neglect of other significant issues or intellectual challenges faced by religious modernists in both the pre- and post-revolutionary eras, such as that of the problematic of Islam and democracy. The present work therefore, considers the views of certain Iranian religious modernists of the last fifty years on the question of whether Islam is theoretically compatible or incompatible with democracy. To this end, we examine the main principles of democracy and critically evaluate their parallels among Islamic norms. Then, the democratic notions of seven major Iranian religio-political thinkers are analyzed and evaluated in depth. We also try to show the perception that these men had of democracy and of Islam, how they sought to bring the two into conformity, on what basis they structured their arguments, and how their attempt in this respect differed from that of their predecessors at the turn of the century. / Among the contributions of the present work to the field is its attempt to present, for the first time, the post-revolutionary religious intellectual trend in Iran with particular reference to the problematic of Islam and democracy. This is largely accomplished through an analytical study of its leading figure, Abdulkarim Soroush. The result suggests that his attempt is an unprecedented one in terms of content, method and consequences. Indeed it is a watershed in Shi'ite religious modernism in general and in the debate over the compatibility of Islam with democracy, in particular.

The primary purpose of this dissertation is to assess the extent to which household characteristics and behaviours exert their effects both directly and indirectly on childhood mortality through the more proximate factors that can be measured within the context of society. A child mortality model, primarily based on Mosley and Chen's framework, is developed by linking individual and societal factors. Then the model is tested with empirical data from the Fars Province of Iran. The survey data were collected in 1991--92 in five counties of Fars. It consisted of 10665 interviews and covered 67 villages 14 towns and one city. Three sampling techniques were employed: (1) proportional stratified sampling; (2) cluster sampling; and (3) simple random sampling. / Three levels of analysis were carried out in this thesis: individual, societal and contextual. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were done for subsets of variables based on the child mortality model that were identified to be good predictors of child mortality and which were also identified theoretically as proximate and intervening variables. / The individual level analysis reveals that place of residence, education of the mother, and occupation of the father from the socio-economic, factors; and age of marriage of mothers, pregnancy order, and pregnancy age from demographic factors; and visiting doctors during pregnancy, type of delivery, pregnancy duration, birth weight, and vaccination from the health status factors; and housing quality are the important determinants of child mortality in Fars. / At the societal level, rural setting, the literacy rate of the villages and assets indexed by sheep per capita are the important determinants of child mortality. Also child mortality rate differentials were found to be compatible with that of additive developmental index of regions (counties). / Contextual analysis shows that birth weight, pregnancy duration, pregnancy order, and house facilities are, in Iran, significant predictors of child mortality. Among all the variables, these variables appear to be the most proximate variables and the other variables, including socio-economic and demographic variables, significant intervening variables. / The results of this dissertation support the claim that child mortality can be a sensitive indicator of human development and quality of life both at the individual and societal levels. Most significantly it appears to be prerequisite to fertility decline. The most important finding from these analyses is that child mortality is influenced both by the individual's characteristics as well as by community characteristics. In better words, social organisation as proposed in the child mortality model matters.

This project explores the power dynamics within the Iranian political system, asking what accounts for the rise and fall of a president's power relative to the other dominant formal and informal institutions in Iran. Comparing perspectives that focus on charisma, ideology and political bargaining, I argue that the relative power of the president is contingent on a variety of institutional and behavioural factors which define his ability to bargain within an institutional structure of overlapping spheres of control. Within this study, I challenge the traditional emphasis on process as a point of departure for analyses, and stress the need for a change in orientation to effect or output. Finally, I argue that the extensive factionalism within Iranian politics defines the political system and is integral to the cost-benefit calculations of various actors within the institutional matrix of the state.