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To record and evaluate the impact of the American contribution to Iranian librarianship education.

Describes how American support created modern librarianship in Iran, thanks to a range of initiatives such as the American development foundations and programs, and the Fulbright Program, which helped the country to renovate its higher education. Reviews the advantages and disadvantages of the American model of education for librarianship, which was implemented by a number of Iranian universities. This paper also describes how American library educators were influential in the creation of some major professional library organizations such as the Tehran Book Processing Centre (TEBROC), the Iranian Documentation Centre (IRANDOC) and the Iranian Library Association (ILA).

Concludes that, despite the fact that modern librarianship in Iran came to life after the Second World War due to American assistance, the major shortcomings of the American model of library education in Iran led to lack of creativity in Iranian students, lack of independent research capability, and lack of integration between what students learned and what the Iranian library profession actually needed.

Establishes the context of influence behind the growth of Iranian library science education, which can inform further research on such cultural impacts.

Since many other countries have based LIS education on an American model, they may find some similarities in the discussions in this paper with their own case.

This paper documents an important period of growth and development in the history of Iranian librarianship.

Iran, with its young and highly literate population, constitutes one of the main higher education markets in the Middle East region. Having now developed a highly comprehensive higher education sector, a result of the efforts to advance the higher education system following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, it is of no surprise that more than four million Iranians are currently enrolled in higher education institutions in Iran. Regardless of these developments, however, meeting the increasing demand for tertiary education has been a challenge leading to a large number of Iranians pursuing tertiary education opportunities overseas. This has created a vast and promising market for student importing countries, which has proved to be too difficult for international student recruiters to penetrate due to international sanctions imposed on Iran and local economic problems coupled with certain restrictions imposed internally by the ruling authorities. Despite the challenges of not being politically recognised as legitimate except by Turkey, North Cyprus has been one of the most popular destinations for Iranian students particularly in the last decade. Relative to its size, North Cyprus has proved to be one of the most internationalised higher education system in the world with more than 30,000 international students from more than 100 different countries and more significantly, Iranian students constitute one of the largest cohort. This chapter explores the student recruitment process from Iran with a specific focus on the external and internal challenges faced by the students as well as by the recruiters. North Cyprus is particularly evaluated as a case study to present how some challenges may have been overcome and student flow can be achieved even to a country that has been struggling against the externalities of international political non-recognition.

As a result of the so-called information explosion, it is very important for researchers, faculty members and students to access scientific and research information, which highlights the importance of designing university websites. The purpose of this paper was to evaluate Iranian state university websites using the Web quality evaluation method (WebQEM).

The research method was a combination of a descriptive survey and Delphi technique. The research population included 100 Iranian state university websites. Data collection was done using the checklists prepared by WebQEM. Descriptive statistics (frequency, mean and standard deviation) and analysis statistics (Spearman rank-difference correlation coefficient) were used for data analysis.

The results indicated that Iranian state university websites met the four main criteria considered in WebQEM; reliability (mean = 0.67), efficiency (mean = 0.66) and functionality (mean = 0.62) were in a “good” condition, and usability was in a “middle” condition (mean = 0.59). Also, the findings showed that 60 per cent of the websites were in a good condition and 37 per cent were in a middle condition. In conclusion, Iranian state university websites were found to be in a “good” condition (mean = 0.63). Also, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad was ranked in the first place (score = 0.822). The hypothesis that there was a very weak correlation between Iranian state university ranking and Iranian state university websites ranking was confirmed (with the correlation of 0.22).

The paper includes implications for the development of user interface of academic websites. This paper fills a part of the gap in terms of an urgent need for research on how university websites can be standardized. If university websites have significant and necessary standard factors (i.e. ISO 9126-1), students may succeed in academic information retrieval. Using the results of this research can help university website designers to fix weaknesses for active participation in these websites.

This study has evaluated Iranian state university websites using WebQEM.

The purpose of this study is to understand the efforts of key social actors in influencing the reform of Iranian public universities budgeting system, from incremental to performance-based budgeting (PBB), the tensions that arose as competing efforts of institutional change were undertaken, and ultimately the impact of these efforts on the extent to which the Iranian government transitioned to a system of PBB in public universities.

Data comprises of semi-structured interviews with managers and experts involved in the budget setting process and an analysis of budgetary policy documents, reports and archival material such as legislation. An institutional work lens is employed to interpret the findings.

While actors advocating the change were engaged in institutional work directed at disrupting the old budgetary rules by disassociating the rules moral foundations and creating new budgetary rules (through new legislation), universities undertook subtle resistance by engaging in extended evaluation of the new proposed PBB rules thereby maintaining the old budgetary rules. The reforms undertaken to introduce PBB in Iranian universities achieved minimal success whereby incremental budgeting continued to constitute by far a larger percentage of the budget allocation formula for university budgets. This finding illustrates change and continuity in university budgetary systems resulting from institutional work of actors competing to control the basis of resource allocation under the proposed PBB system by proposing contradicting models.

The findings highlight the importance of understanding the interplay of institutional work undertaken by competing social actors as they seek to advance their goals in shaping budgetary reforms in the public-sector. Such an understanding may inform policy makers who intend to introduce major reforms in public-sector budgeting approaches.

Unlike prior studies that largely focused on how organization-level budgeting practices responded to changes in public budgeting rules (i.e. at the site of implementation of the rules), this paper highlights how strategies of change and resistance are played out at the site of setting budgetary norms.

This paper aims to investigate a novel model for organizational intelligence (OI) in Iranian public universities. OI is an effective concept in organizational behavior for reshaping the organizational rules. Multidimensional nature of OI makes it a very useful management tool.

This model is investigated by using an expert panel opinion and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory technique based on Iranian university professors’ opinions.

The proposed model consists of eight dimensions: structural, cultural, strategic, communicational, informational, functional, behavioral and environmental dimensions. Each one of these dimensions consists of some components. The results showed that the “Structural”, “Cultural”, “Strategic”, “Informational” and “Environmental” dimensions are the cause dimensions, while the “Behavioral” and “Communicational” dimensions are the effect dimensions. Hierarchical levels of these dimensions are also determined.

Comprehending this model offers a handful of beneficial insights for university managers. These points are synoptically stated in the form of managerial implications.

The paper by using a real case study provides a cause and effect model for OI management in Iranian public universities and can be enhanced for other organizations.

This paper's aim is to examine the citation impact of Iranian funded research publications and compare it with research which received no funding.

Using a bibliometric method, the study investigated 80,300 Iranian publications published from 2000 to 2009 in SCI‐EXPANDED to discover the percentage of funded publications and to determine the citation impact of these publications in comparison with unfunded ones.

The results of the study showed that around 12.5 per cent of Iranian publications were funded and the number of funded publications has increased dramatically over the last four years. The citation impact of funded publications was higher in almost all of the subject fields. The highest number of funded publications belonged to the universities subordinate to The Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.

The impact and quality of research is influenced by different factors, for instance receiving funding and research facilities. As this issue has not been previously examined in Iran, the present study determines whether funding can influence the impact of Iranian research.

The aim of this study is to explore whether there are statistically significant differences in the influence that various career‐choice factors may have on a decision to choose accounting and non‐accounting majors in Iran. The findings derived from this study could assist accounting educators and professional accounting bodies to understand the reasons why students may want to choose an accounting major. In this regard, the findings could help accounting academics and the policy makers in the accounting sector in Iran and in other similar countries develop appropriate strategies to attract proper students into the accounting programs and to recruit bright accounting graduates into the accounting profession.

At the univariate level, t‐tests of significant differences were performed in order to investigate the similarities and differences between the accounting and non‐accounting students with respect to the importance placed on the career‐choice factors. At the multivariate level, discriminant analysis was conducted in order to find out the important determinants of the choice of an accounting major. Moreover, t‐test and ANOVA statistics were employed in order to explore whether differences in gender, age, and university affect each factor.

The results reveal that the accounting students attach profound importance to financial and job‐market factors and opinions of referents. Intrinsic factors, aptitude for and genuine interest in the subject, perception of the accounting course, and perception of the accounting profession are not found to have significant influence on students’ decision to major in accounting.

This study is unique in that it is the first empirical paper which explores Iranian students’ perceptions of the career‐choice factors in pursuing an accounting major.

The present study seeks to design an index model of satisfaction among Iranian students who are studying at public universities in this country.

In this research, data were collected in two stages: in the first stage, the data related to satisfaction indices were collected from 62 experts on pedagogical science and marketing management. In the second step, the data were collected from 1,404 students and were analysed by fuzzy analytic hierarchical process method, interpretive structural modelling and structural equation modelling.

The results of this study showed that three variables “perceived quality”, “organization image” and “Student relationship management” are reliable as indicators of student satisfaction. Also, contrary to the results of previous studies, the variable of expectations cannot predict the satisfaction of the students.

Models of satisfaction have been designed in different fields. Also, in the measurement of satisfaction, attention to the field and customization is approved by researchers. Accordingly, the present study tries to design indices of satisfaction among students of state universities in Iran. It also pointed out the effect of customization on the formation of satisfaction at the Iranian and other universities.

Universities are increasingly encountering high levels of national and international competition. In order for universities to continue with their business success and expansion, they have relied on developing and maintaining a differentiated brand identity by improving their branding strategy. The purpose of this paper is to examine the antecedents of students’ identification with the brand of public universities in Iran.

Sampling was done in multiple stages. In the first stage – using stratified sampling – students were recruited from distinct degree programs and universities based on the Iranian national demographic proportions. In the second stage, convenient sampling was used within each degree program category. For data collection, the interviewer distributed questionnaires among students regardless of age and gender. The number of questionnaires distributed in each university (i.e. the sample size in each university) was determined using the number of students in the country and percentage of students at each university.

The results showed support for the hypothesized positive relationship between brand identification and the antecedent factors including prestige, interorganizational and intraorganizational competition. On the other hand, the results showed no significant relationship between brand identification and the antecedent factors including distinctiveness and memorable experience. Outcomes (i.e. word-of-mouth, active engagement and loyalty) of brand identification were also tested and their relationships with brand identification are supported.

This study was conducted in the higher education sector in one cosmopolitan Iranian city (i.e. Tehran) to which Iranians from other cities travel to for studying. Thus, the results of this survey include a variety of sub-cultures. In the future, a study that incorporates all major metropolitan cities of Iran may increase the generalizability of the findings. Unrelated to the purpose of this study, a future research study may extend the currently studied geographical dimensions and examine the antecedents of students’ identification with the brand of public universities across different nations using a cross-cultural approach.

A study of the antecedents of students’ identification with the university brand can provide a guide for universities to manage their brand and marketing strategies. Managers of higher education institutions can take important steps in establishing a link between students and university brands. Managers can highlight interorganizational competitions. The authors recommended universities publicize and honor students’ success in academic competitions on the university website, via ceremonies dedicated to the student winners, and using print banners that identifies their name and achievement, among other mediums. Additionally, competitions can be promoted among students through professors and motivational speeches from recognized leaders.

Results revealed that brand prestige of public universities positively affects students’ identification. This study highlights the importance of national and international rankings of universities and the sensitivity of students to such rankings. Undoubtedly, this is evident in Iranian students’ behavior in selecting their university. Additionally, this study showed that brand distinctiveness of public universities does not significantly affect students’ identification with the university brand. Further examination is recommended to help explain this finding and a cross-cultural comparison will assist in this endeavor.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the extent to which Iranian accountants think ethically. Furthermore, the paper aims to elaborate on the factors influencing the level of Iranian accountants' ethical decisions.

The method used is a quantitative design. Data were collected via a structured questionnaire from a sample of students from four universities in Iran.

Among the factors correlated with students' ethical decision making are gender, level of education, work experience, and familiarity with the Iranian Association of Certified Public Accountants' Code of Ethics.

As no study has previously been conducted on Iranian accountants' ethical decision making, this study was initiated in order to gain an insight into it.