Iranian Higher Education
Associate Professor, Department of Educational Sciences, Faculty of Education and Psychology. Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz, Iran. , behboud.yarigholi@yahoo.com
Abstract: (23 Views)
Objective: Given the expansion of revenue-driven policies in recruiting international students in Iranian universities and the numerous reports regarding the decline in their educational quality, the central issue of this study concerns the ambiguity surrounding the reasons for the silence and passivity of faculty members in the face of this trend—a topic which, despite its significance, has not been independently or thoroughly examined in the existing literature. Most previous studies have focused on the academic quality of student life, the educational challenges from the perspective of international students, or university service provision, leaving a substantial gap regarding the role and responses of faculty members to the declining educational quality of international students. The present study aims to address this gap by elucidating the underlying dimensions of faculty passivity at Shahid Madani University of Azarbaijan. This university was selected as a suitable case due to its considerable growth in attracting international students and the associated structural changes affecting the quality of internationalization.
Method: For this purpose, a qualitative approach and thematic analysis were used as methods to collect data from semi-structured interviews and document review, and a purposive chain sampling method was used for sampling. The research participants were 282 faculty members of Azerbaijan Shahid Madani University. Sampling and interviews continued until data analysis and exploration reached saturation after 15 interviews. Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis method was also used to analyze the data. In order to ensure the reliability of the research, review strategies were used by experts and participants.
Results: The findings revealed five main categories: authoritarian management structures (non-participatory decision-making system in student recruitment, lack of an accountable system for following up on protests, lack of organizational risk-taking, and fear of job consequences), Faculty consideration in light of economic motivations (dependence on side income, fear of deprivation of financial privileges, moral-economic justification), Sociocultural factors (culture of silence in the academic environment, prominent role of administrative hierarchy, underestimation of educational quality), psychological dimensions of lack of resistance to institutional changes (feeling of ineffectiveness, psychological fatigue caused by administrative processes, conservatism as a survival strategy), and macro-educational policymaking and diplomatic priorities (forcing governing institutions to attract international students as a soft power tool, international student attraction policymaking as a tool to improve university rankings).
Conclusion: Based on the theories of organizational silence and academic capitalism, this study suggests the need to review international student recruitment policies. The findings of this study also indicate that solving this challenge requires simultaneous transformation in managerial structures (increasing faculty participation in decision-making), motivational structures (designing quality-oriented incentives), and cultural structures (strengthening critical discourse) in order to transition from "formal internationalization" to "real improvement in educational quality." It should also be noted that the limitations of this study include its focus on a single university, the qualitative nature of the data, and reliance on individual interviews, all of which constrain the scope of generalizability and the diversity of experiences that can be identified.
Method: For this purpose, a qualitative approach and thematic analysis were used as methods to collect data from semi-structured interviews and document review, and a purposive chain sampling method was used for sampling. The research participants were 282 faculty members of Azerbaijan Shahid Madani University. Sampling and interviews continued until data analysis and exploration reached saturation after 15 interviews. Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis method was also used to analyze the data. In order to ensure the reliability of the research, review strategies were used by experts and participants.
Results: The findings revealed five main categories: authoritarian management structures (non-participatory decision-making system in student recruitment, lack of an accountable system for following up on protests, lack of organizational risk-taking, and fear of job consequences), Faculty consideration in light of economic motivations (dependence on side income, fear of deprivation of financial privileges, moral-economic justification), Sociocultural factors (culture of silence in the academic environment, prominent role of administrative hierarchy, underestimation of educational quality), psychological dimensions of lack of resistance to institutional changes (feeling of ineffectiveness, psychological fatigue caused by administrative processes, conservatism as a survival strategy), and macro-educational policymaking and diplomatic priorities (forcing governing institutions to attract international students as a soft power tool, international student attraction policymaking as a tool to improve university rankings).
Conclusion: Based on the theories of organizational silence and academic capitalism, this study suggests the need to review international student recruitment policies. The findings of this study also indicate that solving this challenge requires simultaneous transformation in managerial structures (increasing faculty participation in decision-making), motivational structures (designing quality-oriented incentives), and cultural structures (strengthening critical discourse) in order to transition from "formal internationalization" to "real improvement in educational quality." It should also be noted that the limitations of this study include its focus on a single university, the qualitative nature of the data, and reliance on individual interviews, all of which constrain the scope of generalizability and the diversity of experiences that can be identified.
Keywords: Faculty members, international students, passivity, Educational Quality, University Internationalization, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University
Type of article: Research |
Subject:
Special
Received: 2025/08/17 | Accepted: 2025/11/1 | ePublished ahead of print: 2025/12/28
Received: 2025/08/17 | Accepted: 2025/11/1 | ePublished ahead of print: 2025/12/28
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