The Conceptual Framework of Research-Based Education in Iran's Higher Education System

e purpose of the present study was to propose a conceptual framework for research-based education in the context of Iran’s higher education system. This study was conducted within the interpretivist paradigm using a qualitative approach and grounded theory methodology. Semi-structured interviews were employed to collect data from 28 higher education experts selected purposefully through strategies such as maximum variation, snowball, and theoretical sampling. Data analysis was performed in three stages: open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. The findings revealed that research-based education is characterized as problem-based, problem-identifying, and problem-generating. From a systemic perspective, the inputs (students, faculty, curriculum) and outputs (learning) are identified as active agents, facilitating educators, communicative curricula, and learning in practical contexts. The formation process of this concept is fostered through the provision of structured opportunities within a framework of discourse, human interactions, and freedom of expression. This type of education is influenced by three categories of factors: educational-research, administrative-support, and moral-cultural elements, shaped by both internal and external organizational contexts. It also emerges under the influence of factors such as academic culture, adherence to educational principles, and psychological characteristics. Key strategies for its implementation include the formulation and clarification of university goals and missions, human resource organization, research-based training, and the attraction, support, and active participation of stakeholders. These strategies yield psychological, social, educational, cultural, and economic outcomes. In conclusion, higher education within Iran’s ecosystem requires policies that balance, integrate, and mutually reinforce education and research in a systemic approach. Creative, capable, and socially efficient individuals are developed within an academic culture where education and research function as synchronized wings, propelling the university forward. Achieving this coordination and alignment between education and research necessitates coherence and integration among universities, society, and governance systems.