Identification and Ranking of Factors to Improve the Quality of Education in Applied Science Higher Education Institutions

INTRODUCTION: Nowadays, quality as the heart of education has become the concern of education policymakers around the world. The present study was conducted with the aim of identifying and classifying factors for improving the quality of education in applied science higher education institutions in Tehran. METHODS: This qualitative research was conducted by using qualitative content analysis. The statistical population includes articles, documents, and all the key informants of applied science higher education institutions. A total of 21 key informants were selected and studied using the purposive and snowball sampling method and maximum diversity technique. Data were collected by semi-structured interview, observation, review of documents and scientific texts and analyzed using MAXQDA-2022 and weighting of factors, criteria, and indicators with the Shannon entropy method and prioritization with RANK function in Excel. The validity of data was calculated by triangulation (examiner, methods and data) and reliability between two coders (0.72) FINDINGS: The results demonstrated that the quality of education includes 33 factors. CONCLUSION: Applied science higher education institutions are required to identify and improve the quality factors of education based on ethical, professional, competitive requirements, responsibility and accountability to the needs of students, parents and employers and attracting financial resources.