Iranian Journal of Public Policy

Iranian Journal of Public Policy

Discourse Analysis of Skill-Based Education Policy in Iran's Higher Education System

Document Type : Research Article

Authors
hoda najafpour 1
Bijan Rezaee 2
1 Postdoctoral researcher of Management and Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Economics and Accounting, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
2 Associate Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship, Faculty of Social Sciences, Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran
10.22059/jppolicy.2026.107873
Abstract
The present study aims to analyze the discursive order governing the skill-based higher education system in the Islamic Republic of Iran and to explain how educational policies are formed and consolidated within the theoretical framework of Laclau and Mouffe. The main issue is to understand the mechanisms of articulation of meaning in higher education policy-making and to examine how educational preferences are organized in the context of historical, ideological, and economic conflicts after the Islamic Revolution. Educational policies within this discourse are divided into three time periods: 1357-1360, 1360-1368, and 1368 to date, in which in each period, the skill-based higher education discourse has attempted to consolidate its meaning with the help of relevant educational policies. The articulation of the aforementioned discourse was analyzed and examined in a historical context that is the same as the challenges of educational-development policy-making. The research findings show that the discourse of skill-based higher education in the Islamic Republic of Iran is articulated around the central signifier of “applied Islamic education,” and signifiers such as “resistance skills,” “negation of non-practical knowledge,” “skill privatization,” “entrepreneurial university,” and “practical cultural confrontation” are organized around this central signifier. Each of these signifiers has emerged through the approval and promulgation of upstream documents and laws that have necessitated the adoption of specific educational policies. Educational policies have taken on ideological, practical, and developmental dimensions in this historical process.
Keywords
Discourse
Skill-Oriented Higher Education
Educational Policy
Cultural Revolution
Skilled Subjects
  1. Abazari, Y. and Parnian, H. (2016). Educational Establishment of Niavaran School Formation history of governmental educational institutions in free market economy and management. Sociological Review, 22(2), 151-176. doi: 10.22059/jsr.2016.57039
  2. Abdollahi, H. , abbaspour, A. , farhadi amjad, F. , abolghasem, N. and Khorsandi Tauskooh, A. (2022). Analysis of School species expansion Policies in the Education System of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Strategic Studies of public policy, 12(44), 50-80. doi: 10.22034/sspp.2022.550261.3161
  3. Abrahamian, E. (2007). Iran between two revolutions (A. Golmohammadi & M. Fattahi, Trans.). Tehran: Ney Publishing.
  4. Akbari, M. A. (2014). Genealogy of the new Iranian identity: Qajar and early Pahlavi era. Tehran: Elmī-Farhangī Publishing.
  5. Akhavan Kazemi, B. (2011). Critique and evaluation of Laclau’s discourse analysis and its application in politics. Politics Quarterly, Faculty of Law and Political Science, 42(4), 1–20.
  6. Anderson, K. T., & Holloway, J. (2018). Discourse analysis as theory, method, and epistemology in studies of education policy. Journal of Education Policy, 1-34.
  7. Atabaki, T. (2012). Authoritarian modernity: Society and state in Reza Shah’s era (M. Haghighatkhah, Trans.). Tehran: Qoqnoos Publishing.
  8. Ebrahimabadi, H. (2015). Cultural policymaking in higher education: Ideas, experiences, strategies. Tehran: Cultural and Social Studies Research Institute.
  9. El-Tawy, N., & Abdel-Kader, M. (2022). Higher education challenges: accounting and finance academia in a research-led teaching universities. Journal of Financial Reporting and Accounting, 20(2), 279-296. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFRA-01-2020-0007.
  10. Eslami, R. and Khoshbin, M. (2025). Policy cycle of higher education in Iran: trends, processes and challenges. Development of humanities, 5(10), 71-104. doi: 10.22047/hsd.2024.447890.1009
  11. Gafu, G. (2025). Policy, practice and skill development: a study of Kazakhstan’s higher education landscape. Education+ Training, 67(2), 137-151. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-03-2023-0090
  12. Gholizadeh, M. (2012). Revisiting the theoretical roots of Reza Shah’s cultural policies in the thought of indigenous intellectuals. Historical Studies Quarterly, 10(39), 102–124. https://ensani.ir/fa/article/346087.
  13. Giri, P. Empowering India's Future: Skill-Based Education in the New Education Policy 2020.
  14. Hall, Stewart. (1991). Meaning, Culture and Social Life, translated by Ahmad Golmohammadi. Tehran, Nay Publications.
  15. Hashemian, F., Zendian, H., & Aghamohammadi, J. (2015). Analysis of private sector participation in Iran’s education system. Strategic and Macro Policies, 3(12), 1–26. https://www.jmsp.ir/article_12951.html?lang=fa
  16. Hassani Far, A., & Abbaszadeh Marzabali, M. (2023). The role of the higher education governance system in enhancing national identity in Iran. Contemporary Political Essays, 14(4), 1–31. https://doi.org/10.30465/cps.2023.46212.32.
  17. Hazeri, A. M., & Arian Rad, A. (2017). The problem of educational equity in the first decade of the Islamic Republic reign. Tarikhnameh-ye Enghelab, 1(1), 145-171. SID. https://sid.ir/paper/267148/en
  18. Hinostroza-Paredes, Y. (2020). Critical discourse analysis of university teacher educators’ professionalism in Chilean teacher education policy. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 28, 180. https://doi.org/10.14507/epaa.28.5201
  19. Jackson, D., Shan, H., & Meek, S. (2022). Enhancing graduates’ enterprise capabilities through work-integrated learning. Higher Education, 84, 101–120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00756-x
  20. Jiang, L., Chen, Z., & Lei, C. (2023). Current college graduates’ employability factors based on university graduates in Shaanxi province, China. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 1042243. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1042243
  21. Jørgensen, M., & Phillips, L. (2016). Discourse analysis as theory and method (H. Jalili, Trans.). Tehran: Ney Publishing.
  22. Karimi Taher, R.; Memarzadeh, Gh.; Mirsepasi, N. & Momeni, M. (2021). Factors affecting the retention of scientists in the scientific and research centers of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army with a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process approach. Quarterly Journal of Military Management, 21(2), 1-30. DOI:10.22034/iamu.2022.127947.2408. (In Persian)
  23. Kavargyris, D. C., Georgiou, K., Mittas, N., & Angelis, L. (2025). Extracting knowledge and highly demanded skills from European Union educational policies: a network analysis approach. Social Network Analysis and Mining, 15(1), 1-41. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13278-025-01496-x
  24. Keykha, A. and Towfighi Dariyan, J. (2021). The Position of Student Institutions in Governing Higher Education with the General Policy Approach. Quarterly Journal of The Macro and Strategic Policies, 9(35), 496-524. doi: 10.30507/jmsp.2021.273292.2201
  25. Khaleghpanah, K., & Habibi, F. (2014). Discourse theory as a methodology for cultural studies. In H. Mirzaei (Ed.), Introduction to the methodology of cultural studies. Tehran: Cultural Studies Research Institute Publishing.
  26. Laclau, E. & Mouffe, C. (1987) Post-Marxism without Apologies, 'New Left Review, No.166.
  27. Mardokh Rouhani, E. (2015). Higher education policymaking in Iran after the 1979 revolution. Third National Conference on Sociology and Social Sciences.
  28. Muravev, D., Hu, H., Zhou, H., & Pamucar, D. (2020). Location optimization in international logistics centres. Symmetry, 12(1), 2–25. https://doi.org/10.3390/sym12010143
  29. Najibi, S. S. , & Khorasani, A. (2023). Pathology of the higher education policy system of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Journal of Educational Planning Studies, 11(22), 76-101. doi: 10.22080/eps.2023.24473.2148
  30. Nasiri Firouz, A., Abili, K., Karamati, M. R., & Pourkarimi, J. (2022). Designing a model to evaluate cultural policy of universities and higher education institutions (A mixed-method study). Intercultural Studies Quarterly, 17(51), 91–130. https://journals.iau.ir/article_691876.html
  31. Navidadham, M., & Shafizadeh, H. (2016). Examining the main challenges and strategies of skills training in Iran. Cultural-Social Strategy, 5(20), 7–21. https://rahbordfarhangi.csr.ir/article_123316.html
  32. Niazaari, K., Esmaeili-Shad, B., & Rabiei, M. (2011). Policy-making and the public policy process in the educational system. Qaemshahr: Mehr al-Nabi Publishing.
  33. Nobakht, M., Azimi, M., & Homayouni Demirchi, A. (2022). Critical analysis of the metaphor of policymaking and policy implementation: Proposing alternative metaphors. Strategic Policy Research, 11(41), 145–173. https://doi.org/10.22054/qpss.2022.66610.3003.
  34. Noroozi, H. (2024). Global Political Economy, Intellectual Property and Development; the system of power, order and diplomacy. Research and development in private law, 1(1), 485-519. doi: 10.22034/jpl.2024.718563
  35. Nowabakhsh, M., Amirarjomandi, S. Z., & Saroukhani, B. (2023). Discourse analysis of science and technology policies in development plans (Case study: Fifth Development Plan). Intercultural Studies Quarterly, 18(54), 122–195. https://journals.iau.ir/article_705480.html
  36. pour ali, S. and feirahi, D. (2016). Cultural Policy of Higher Education during Ahmadinejad's Presidency: A Discourse Analysis. Iranian Journal of Public Policy, 1(4), 121-140. doi: 10.22059/ppolicy.2016.58179.
  37. Rafiq-uz-Zaman, M., & Asif Nadeem, D. M. (2025). Unveiling Critical Success Factors for Skill-Based Education Programs: A Student-Centred Analysis in Pakistani Schools. Inverge Journal of Social Sciences, 4(3), 11-19. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Muhammad-Rafiq-Uz-Zaman2/publication/393674441
  38. Rafiq-uz-Zaman, M., & Nadeem, M. A. (2024). Comparative Analysis of Skill-Based Education Curriculum in Pakistan and India: A Contemporary Review. International" Journal of Academic Research for Humanities", 4(3), 188-197. https://jar.bwo-researches.com/index.php/jarh/article/view/500
  39. Rasheed,R & Kamsin, A. (2020). Challenges in the online component of blended learning: A systematic review, Journal of Computers & Education. 144: 103701. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2019.103701
  40. Sadeghi Nasab, M. (2022). Developing transformation strategies in human capital management in a military organization. Journal of Teaching in Marine Sciences, 9(29), 113-137. https://www.magiran.com/p2434380.(In Persian)
  41. Sajjadi, S. M. (2018). University in the Mirror of History or Geography: Critical Analysis of Policymaking Dis-course in Higher Education System of Iran. Strategy for Culture, 11(43), 7-31. doi: 10.22034/jsfc.2018.88847.
  42. Scott, F. J. and Willison, D. (2021) ‘Students’ reflections on an employability skills provision’, Journal of Further and Higher Education, 45(8), pp.1118-1133. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2021.1928025
  43. Sepehr, M. , Serajzadeh, S. , Zare, B. and Habibpour Gatabi, K. (2021). Transformation in education: A discourse analysis of policy actions in the first decade after the Islamic Revolution. Journal of Iranian Cultural Research, 14(4), 33-68. doi: 10.22035/jicr.2022.2849.3214.
  44. Shahsavari, A. , Alam Al-Huda, J. , Zaker-Salehi, G. and Khorasani, A. (2020). The Second Academic Revolution and Emergence of Entrepreneurial University: A Realistic Reading of the Capacities and Limitations of the Entrepreneurial University Model as the Engine of Innovation. Strategy for Culture, 13(49), 77-118. doi: 10.22034/jsfc.2020.101241
  45. Shahsavari, A., & Eslahi, M. (2025). Dynamics of imbalanced higher education development: analysing factors and policy implications. Policy Reviews in Higher Education, 1-19. https://doi.org/1080/23322969.2025.2477568
  46. Shirbagi, N. and abdolahzadeh, N. (2020). Analysis of Educational Policy-Making Discourse in Iranian Higher Education System. Iranian Journal of Public Policy, 6(2), 179-200. doi: 10.22059/jppolicy.2020.77619
  47. Smolarek, B. B., & Scrivener, L. (2021). Examining business-driven education reform by new policy actors: a discursive analysis of UpSkill Houston. Journal of education policy, 36(3), 349-366. https://doi.org/10.1080/02680939.2019.1686539
  48. Soltani, S. A. (2017). Power, discourse, language: Mechanisms of power flow in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Tehran: Ney Publishing.
  49. (2019). Competence-based curriculum: Organising principle for curriculum change. Paris, France: UNESCO.
  50. Valaei, S., Hojati, S. A., & Imanzadeh, A. (2024). Challenges and opportunities of vocational-technical teachers’ education during the COVID‑19 pandemic: Analysis of lived experiences. Journal of Research and Innovation in Education and Development, 3(4), 284–298. https://doi.org/10.61838/jsied.4.3.16
  51. Williams, D. (2024). What’s in a Word? An Interdisciplinary Critical Discourse Analysis of ‘Skill’in Technical and Vocational Education and Training in England (Doctoral dissertation, University of Derby (United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.48773/q7742.

 

Iranian Journal of Public Policy
Volume 12, Issue 2
Spring 2026
Pages 277-292