The prehistory of the university in Iran

Farasatkhah, M.

doi:10.22035/jous.2023.4973.1020

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Author

M. Farasatkhah

Professor of Higher Education Development Planning, Institute for Research and Planning in Higher Education, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22035/jous.2023.4973.1020

Abstract

University in Iran has become a social discourse, with its increasing tumult in our cities becoming a demographic issue as well. Questioning the idea of the university, its historicity and originality or whether the concept imported are part of this public debate as well as its legitimacy in Iran as an institution for itself. Did the idea and history of Iranian university come from "nothing"? This study discusses the issue by applying a meta-analysis of previous studies which have already dealt with the emergence of the idea of university from a prehistory. University was a social domain before it was a historical one. The materiality was involved in the origin of this idea. In other words, the idea of the university arose from the concrete transformation of Iranian context in the pre-constitutional period. Thus, a platform for the debate was formed. The scientific knowledge in Iran was an emergent movement in the minds; which arose and constructed from the very objective and concrete desires and new mobilities of the Iranian society. Before the actual date of the university calendar could be determined, this process was accompanied by struggles of about a century and a half. A combination of factors such as war, contagious disease, famine, destruction and misfortune, in addition to mobility and exchanges, a network of people and things and communications; all helped prepare groups of Iranians as "subjects" to master it mentally/technically. They spoke so much in the name of science (as a new knowledge base) until the birth of the university. The idea and the history of Iranian university, whether weak or strong, also need to be searched in the prehistory.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Prehistory of University in Iran

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Journal of University Studies

The prehistory of the university in Iran

References

References

Volume 1, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
January 2023
Pages 7-21

The prehistory of the university in Iran

References

References

Volume 1, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2January 2023Pages 7-21

Volume 1, Issue 2 - Serial Number 2
January 2023
Pages 7-21