Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Educational Administration, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Educational Sciences, Farhangian University, Zanjan, Iran

Abstract

Education has become increasingly importance from various perspectives, especially in terms of economics. One can dare to say that education accounts for the largest part of public expenses in all countries across the world. There are few people (who have studied the direct and indirect social and private benefits of education i.e., both public and higher education) who consider investment in education useless or even less useful. Nevertheless, there are still gaps in research on the way that government or private sector are involved in education, particularly with regards to Islamic viewpoints. The aim of this qualitative research is to analyze the economic role of the government in education with an emphasis on the perspective of Islam. In this regard, semi-structured interviews were conducted on 15 economics of education experts who were purposefully selected using snowball sampling until data saturation was achieved. The content of interviews was analyzed to elicit themes that can be used in a SWOT matrix. The findings indicate that government involvement in this field has strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, emphasizing the necessity for both the public and private sectors to jointly participate in the financing of education. With such cooperation, the government and the market can address current shortcomings and contribute to enhancing the quality of education.

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