مینا احمدیان چاشمی

Purpose : The aim of this research was identifying the components of the fourth generation university to improve the quality of education and research in Islamic Azad universities. Methodology : This study in terms of purpose was applied and in terms of implementation method was mixed (qualitative and quantitative). The research population in the qualitative section was expert professors of educational sciences in Mazandaran province in 2019 year which according to the principle of theoretical saturation, 15 of them was selected by snowball sampling method. The research population in the quantitative section was faculty members of Islamic Azad universities of Mazandaran province in 2019 year with number of 1487 people which according to Cochran's formula, 305 people were selected by cluster sampling method by observing the ratio of the number of faculty members in university units. For data collection in the qualitative section were used from text review and semi-structured interview and in the quantitative section were used from 83 items researcher-made questionnaire that their psychometric indices were confirmed. Data were analyzed by methods of open, axial and selective coding and exploratory factor analysis in Maxqda2018 and SPSS-22 software. Finding : The findings of the qualitative section showed that the fourth generation university to improve the quality of education and research had 83 open codes, 16 axial codes or component and six selected codes or categories, which were included categories and components of causal conditions (with three components of scientific-social responsibility, environmental dynamics and organizational mission), contextual conditions (with three components of organizational values and structure, facilities and equipment and motivation), axial phenomenon (with one component of the role play of fourth generation university), interventions conditions (with three components of relationship with industry, organizing educational content and library empowerment), strategies (with four components of inclusive quality management, development of fields and mutual cooperation, faculty members participation in decision-making and interaction and teamwork) and outcomes (with two components of quality of educational and quality of research). The findings of the quantitative section showed that the fourth generation university to improve the quality of education and research had 16 components were included of scientific-social responsibility, environmental dynamics, organizational mission, organizational values and structure, facilities and equipment, motivation, role play of fourth generation university, relationship with industry, organizing educational content, library empowerment, inclusive quality management, development of fields and mutual cooperation, faculty members participation in decision-making, interaction and teamwork, quality of educational and quality of research which all of them had a good factor load and they together could explain 85.37% of the total variance. Conclusion : According to the results, higher education specialists and planners can design and implement programs to improve the quality of education and research in Islamic Azad universities by promoting the components of the fourth generation university.