in recent decades, the market ideology  with megatrends such as commodification, commercialization  and  entrepreneurs has been shadowed on the  higher education . This is marginalizing the Critical missions of universities. The student is being reduced to a customer. The image of students about university is also affected by these cases. This study was conducted using a qualitative method. The aim of this study was to evaluate the perception and lived experience of students in a big public university in Tehran. Phenomenological approach helps to  close contact  with   meanings in the minds of students  and  their meanings of being at university. Exploratory in-depth interviews were conducted with 25 students as a purposive sample based on data saturation.  The categories extracted by thematic analysis derived from Streubert and Carpenter. About 70 percent of utterances shows a negative experience of participants from the university.

The result is a systematic description of the lived perception of the students about Iranian university. Social image of the university among the students has been flawed and has been become problematic. Students participating in the study have come to the university but not only with their minds. They have come with their bodies, all kinds of needs, feelings and passion of their lives. They have come with having a sense of the game, joy, participation, community
building, identity and other aspirations. They want the university not only for education but also as a social club. This expectation seems to be less met the managerial, financial and political problems   prevent Iranian university from achieving success in the development of students. Students can be seen clearly in the sense of discrimination. It seems that oral culture, face-to- face relation and emotional communication are still important for Iranian students. Iranian student space in terms of the results of this case study is going through the period of academic elitism and the traditional sense of teacher –students. The maximized rigid regulation and bureaucratic procedures of university are reflected in student lived perception in an uncomfortable state. Participants   are reluctant to most of their general courses.