Designing an Educational Governance Model Based on the Political Participation of Stakeholders in the Higher Education System

Abstract

This study aimed to design an educational governance model based on the political participation of stakeholders in the Iranian higher education system. This qualitative study was conducted using the grounded theory methodology. The research setting included universities, higher education institutions, and organizations involved in higher education policymaking and administration in Tehran. Participants were selected through purposive and theoretical sampling and comprised 24 faculty members, university administrators and vice-presidents, higher education experts and policymakers, representatives of academic and student associations, and specialists in political science and public governance. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and a supplementary review of relevant institutional and policy documents. Interviews continued until theoretical saturation was reached. Data collection and analysis were conducted concurrently through open, axial, and selective coding, constant comparison, and analytical memo writing. MAXQDA 2024 was used to organize and retrieve the qualitative data. The credibility and dependability of the findings were strengthened through member checking, peer review, and systematic documentation of analytical decisions. Data analysis generated 1,068 meaningful units, 786 initial codes, 214 conceptual codes, 48 subcategories, and 15 major categories. The central category was identified as “the transition from centralized and symbolic governance to participatory, accountable, and stakeholder-oriented governance.” The causal conditions included inefficient centralized decision-making, declining institutional trust, conflicts of interest, increasing complexity of higher education issues, and growing demands from the academic community. The core phenomenon was explained through legitimate representation, equal access to decision-making, actual influence, collective answerability, and shared responsibility. The principal strategies included redesigning representative structures, institutionalizing transparency, decentralizing authority, establishing multistakeholder dialogue, empowering stakeholders, developing participatory evaluation, and employing participation-oriented technologies. Educational governance based on stakeholders’ political participation can be realized when symbolic presence is replaced by meaningful, distributed, and accountable participation supported by legal, cultural, organizational, and technological infrastructures.