The University Studies Quarterly in the current scenario has found an opportunity to become a scientific journal and a jewel with the efforts of the Institute of Cultural and Social Studies of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, so that it will be the topic of discussions of some politicians and intellectuals from ineffective, unproductive and asynchronous institutions. Perhaps these critics are right in their interpretation of the Iranian university as a failed project and a collapsed institution if we consider that the main function of the university has been the production of specialized knowledge and, accordingly, the training of specialists. If we look realistically, the Iranian university has not been able to do what was widely expected i.e. it failed to fulfil obligations to the community around. In this sense, the university has acted contrary to the organic material it embraces and has turned into an ineffective institution.

For us, an image such criticism is a conflicting one that has always existed between the Iranian university and the community around it. This image to a larger extent is real. Historically, the Iranian university has been considered an "awkward patch" for both governments and families. But the questions are: Why have the government and society often favored such an awkward patch? Why have governments always provided financial support to this institution and did not want to take seriously the plans that existed to close it down or leave it more or less in the arms of the market? Why do so many Iranian families go to great lengths to send their children to the university? What are the motivation and guarantee for long-term plans whose goal is to achieve a position in an Iranian university and our children are bound to their exact implementation? We know that this crumbling institution, as critics too believe, still hosts a large number of its enthusiasts and attracts a large part of educated youth to the pre-university education system. Why do we go to university when we actually know that a large part of those who enter the university cannot use their degrees to manage their livelihood? For years, job market planners have talked about the market's need for skilled technicians, and critics have stressed the ineffectiveness of universities in training specialists, then why the competition for the entry into technical and vocational centers whose training is directly related to the job market, doesn't get hot and families show little interest to get their children into these centers?
 
It seems that the Iranian university has another function besides a knowledge-producing and promoting one, a function that can be used as an excuse to defend the university in the face of criticisms. I call this the socio-cultural function. In the contemporary Iranian history, the university has been one of the few arenas that were able to build a special form of collective activism and social demands and successfully internalize it in its activists. The Iranian university is an arena where freedom is realized from subjugation in the pre-university education system, it inculcates this ability among its members, especially students, in the form of a bond that can prove it defensible and admirable. For our youth, university is the "only" possibility to experience independence and freedom through the supervision of a traditional education system. In other words, if we consider "society" as a place where one can act independently and freely, the university is the "only" possible society that provides a deep experience of individual autonomy in the Iranian society. Of course, this is a big claim but can be used to open a way to defend the university. The university is the "only" place that makes individual freedom and autonomy possible, and this has been its fundamental function in the course of Iranian history. This is probably the reason why the university in Iran has been the vanguard of all freedom-loving movements in the contemporary history. From this point of view, the collapse of university and society provides the possibility of experiencing freedom. Therefore, we must defend this only possibility of experiencing freedom and try to implement this logic in all social fields.
 
The University Studies Quarterly has come into existence with the aim of being a means to convey research achievements where the primary aim is to defend the Iranian university as a socio-cultural institution. So far, important works in the field of university studies and higher education have been published in Iran. A principal share of articles is usually devoted to researches that study the university as a specialized institution in the field of knowledge production and promotion. While the "University Studies Quarterly" will try to dedicate a majority of its articles on areas that study the university as a field of cultural and social activism, I hope that respected scholars and researchers would help us accomplish this goal.
 
In the first issue of "The University Studies Quarterly", which is now in front of you, Reza Safari Shali has presented an analysis based on the data of a national survey about the cultural consumption of students in public universities. Karam Habibpour Getabi and Fateme Vasfi Il-Zouleh have published an article on one of the most controversial student actions in the university environment (smoking). Asghar Izadi Jiran has spoken about the suffering of students, especially those facing with discrimination on the university campus and Jalil Karimi, relying on the special situation of one of the oldest universities in the country (Razi University of Kermanshah), has presented a structural analysis of higher education. Also, in the article "Freedom of Academic Expression in Iran", Sadra Khosravi has investigated the relationship between students and professors during virtual classes during the Coronavirus pandemic and has shown how the presence in the virtual space made it possible for students to freely express challenges and criticism. In the article "Instagram and a possibility to produce an informed community inside/outside the university", Hamed Taheri-Kia has shown how the production and circulation of information about events, concerns and programs by political organizations and student unions lead to collective awareness among students. And finally, Mahdi Hosseinzadeh Fermi, in his article, has shown that how student associations can empower them culturally.
 
In "The University Studies Quarterly", in addition to scientific articles, since we believe that one of our main tasks is to provide specialized assistance to the progress of Iran's higher education and bring the university closer to its desired position with evaluation, diagnosis and criticism, we also consider the study of successful global experiences as part of the requirements and hence publish articles, in which, prominent books in the field of university studies, science and technology could be taken into account critically and systematically. In the current issue, two critical articles, one about the book The Architecture of Science by Dr. Reza Mansouri and another about the book A Framework for Scientific Policymaking: Interaction of Natural and Human Sciences by Dr. Mohammad Reza Ghaemi Nik have been published. The first critical article was submitted by Dr. Reza Gholami and the second by Dr. Farhad Bayani to the office of the quarterly for publication. I express my sincere gratitude to these scholars for their diligence in criticizing the opinions of their colleagues. I am also thankful to all the researchers whose books are either critically reviewed in this quarterly or those who intend to introduce their published works in the field of university studies, science and technology. We invite them to send their articles for publication to the "University Studies Quarterly" so that it will be available to the interested lot in the shortest possible time.