Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies
Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies (Persian: پژوهشگاه علوم انسانی و مطالعات فرهنگی) is an Iranian Research institute whose main purpose is the study of humanities.[1]
| Abbreviation | IHCS |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1981 |
| Type | Research institute |
| Headquarters | Kordestan Expressway |
| Location |
|
President | Hosseinali Ghobadi |
Key people | Ali Asghar Mosleh, Malek Shojaee |
| Website | ihcs.ac.ir |
History
After the Islamic Revolution, in 1981, twelve institutions in various disciplines of the humanities, including the Iranian Institute of Philosophy and Hikmat, the Foundation of Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, the Iranian Cultural Foundation, the Iranian Foundation of Culture and Arts, the Institute for Communication and Development, the Institute for Humanities, the Iranian Academy of Literature and Arts, the Iranian Academy of Language, the Iranian Academy of Science, Asia's Cultural Documents Center, the Iranian Center for Historical Research, and the Iranian Centre for the Study of Cultures, were merged into a new institute, the Center for Cultural Research and Studies, which was affiliated to the Ministry of Culture and Higher Education. In 1990, following organizational changes, the Council for Extending Higher Education changed this center into a research institute. The organizational structure of this institute was finally approved by the Organization for Administrative and Employment Affairs in June 1993. In 1994, the Supreme Council of the Research Center, giving prominence to humanities in research studies, named this institute «the Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies», which was approved by the Council for Extending Higher Education. Following the approval of the law of organizing boards of trustees in the Ministry of Higher Education and the formation of the board of trustees of universities and research centers in 1992, the Institute became a member of the Board of Trustees of Tehran's fourth district. Since then, all of the affairs of this institute have been carried out under the supervision and direction of the board of trustees. The Institute is a research institute, mainly responsible for performing research in humanities – literature, Linguistics, Social Sciences, History, Philosophy, Law, Religion, Quranic Studies, Theosophy, Comparative Economics, Political Science.
Development Plan
In 2014, the Development plan of the Institute was formulated and approved by the Board of Trustees, on the basis of wisdom-based principles, collective wisdom, and the establishment of strategic thinking, so that the ideals of the recent decades of performed research in the Institute could be realized.
Outlook and Mission
The Development Plan and the outlook of the Institute has been defined as follows: with reliance on God's eternal power and in the light of faith and common wisdom, through hard work, systematic, continuous and target oriented efforts, and with the aim of realizing the ideals of the Islamic Revolution in a Twenty-year Perspective Plan, «the Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies has been established as an organization that enjoys pioneering, knowledgeable, efficient, well-inspired and effective human resources who are committed to the development and efficiency of Humanities, have theoretical and practical authority, are responsive to the scientific and technological needs of the society, and are engaged constructively in national, regional, Asian, and international scientific collaborations». In this plan, the mission of the Institute has been defined as follows: «the Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies is a scientific-research organization affiliated to the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology and aims at achieving the higher goals of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Humanities, culture and civilization of Iran and Islam, in coordination with the national system of innovation, in order to create and develop networks of human sciences at the national level and help research in Humanities to achieve excellence at the highest level of scientific development in Asia».
Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education
The Institute, with half a century of experience in scientific research in Humanities, tried to accomplish its mission for performing research in Humanities and cultural studies and establish a constructive interaction with experts. In other words, the scientific achievements of many outstanding scholars and institutions in Humanities in Iran have been in different ways affected by their collaboration with this Institute.
Responsibilities
- Managing and supervising the implementation of research and technology, affairs related to the libraries and databases of the institute in accordance with the related legislation, rules and regulations;
- Developing plans and policies to enhance the level of scientific and international cooperation;
- Prioritizing innovation in theoretical knowledge and applied research studies;
- Developing, improving, and directing research projects, while giving priority to applied research, based on the Perspective Plan, development programs and the Comprehensive Scientific Map of the Country;
- Monitoring and controlling the research processes in the institute based on the time line of the approved plans;
- Conducting comprehensive studies on the evaluation of research activities performed and presenting annual reports to the rector of the institute;
- Establishing relationships with domestic and foreign institutions;
- Cooperation for providing scientific, cultural and social services and holding scientific seminars and conferences and carrying out research and service contracts between the institute and other institutions;
- Collaboration in implementing short-term research programs for non-academic institutes;
- Providing faculty members with educational opportunities inside and outside the country based on the approved regulations;
- Developing research programs for the Institute, presenting objectives and determining research priorities in form of short-term and long-term programs;
- Examining and evaluating the activities of the Institute within the framework of the development plan of the country based on the objectives of the Perspective Plan and development plan and the Comprehensive Scientific Map of the country for higher education to be presented to the board of directors;
- Identifying and defining joint scientific and research programs and allocating fund
scientific-research interactions between universities and seminaries.
Graduate Education The Institute has held MA and PhD. academic courses with the aim of educating researchers in Humanities since 1989. The three faculties of Persian Language and Literature, General Linguistics; and History of Iran in the Islamic Era constituted the first graduate schools of the Institute; in 1997 the program of the Political Sciences was established, and the Institute started to accept PhD. students in this field as well.
- Graduate Programs
- Persian Language and Literature
- Ancient Iranian Languages and Culture
- General Linguistics
- History of Islamic Iran
- Social Sciences Research
- Arabic Language and Literature
- Quranic Studies
- Philosophy of Religion
- Religion and Media
- Media Management
Economics Up to now, more than 226 graduate programs (157 MA and 69 PhD) have been held, 925 graduates and researchers have been educated, and more than 700 thesis and dissertations in various fields of humanities have been published. Based on the Strategic Plan document, the main objective of the graduate school of the Institute is to improve problem-oriented education and to promote the quality rather than quantity of the researches; and accordingly, as a major part of the plan, this institute aims at increasing the number of PhD students as part of complementary research programs and accept MA students in special innovative fields to be educated under the supervision of knowledgeable experts and professors. Cultural and Social Vice Chancellor Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies 5 Based on the importance of socio-cultural issues in the Development Perspective Plan, the role of culture in the structure of beliefs and approaches and due to the vast range of cultural and social issues, the Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies has established the Cultural and Social Vice Chancellor with the following objectives:
- Expanding cultural concepts and teachings, including the institutionalization of the culture of dialogue and interaction among members of the Institute;
- Monitoring cultural issues, aiming at the reduction and elimination of social problems;
- Developing cultural values in society and communicating with other cultural institutions in the country. Responsibilities
- Directing and supervising the implementation of social and cultural affairs at the Institute among professors, students and staff members, in accordance with rules, regulations and procedures and in cooperation and coordination with other related institutes;
- Collaborating with other departments for better implementation of research programs;
- Adopting and implementing strategic policies of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution(SCCR) in order to promote and spread the *Islamic culture in cultural and social issues;
- Establishing close communication and collaboration with intellectual and cultural centers and institutions;
- Providing plans for the development of cultural, political and moral education through educational courses and seminars, and cultural, intellectual and political communities using the potentials of the Islamic and revolutionary institutions;
- Promoting the culture of dialogue, methodical criticism, and open-mindedness and pave the way for communication among researchers and scientific, cultural and political experts;
- Directing, managing and implementing cultural, artistic, Quranic, religious, social and political activities at different levels of the Institute;
- Planning and monitoring the implementation of projects and programs in culture, science, research and arts;
- Publishing and promoting Islamic values through the provision of audio-visual resources;
- Collecting artistic, social, political and cultural journals of the country for students and creating archives;
- Planning and organizing training, cultural, artistic and pilgrimage camps for students;
- Promoting and supporting the cultural activities of students, faculty members and staff members in accordance with the cultural objectives and responsibilities of the Social and Cultural Vice chancellor;
- Preparing and presenting regular reports of activities to superiors and authorities;
- Communicating with different departments of the Institute in order to coordinate activities in connection with the objectives of the Institute;
- Expanding ethical, spiritual and educational spaces in the Institute;
- Interaction with the cultural, artistic and social centers and institutes of the country. Programs of the Cultural and Social Vice Chancellor
- Holding specialized meetings;
- Provincial trips;
- International cultural exchange;
- Specialized book reading meetings and presenting the best specialized books to encourage book reading, in cooperation with public libraries;
- Making documentaries;
- Rewarding best theses and presenting their content through class discussions;
- Creating a cultural environment for the activities of the students;
- Developing a socio-cultural atlas;
- Supporting the establishment of professional and cultural associations;
- Conducting student programs such as: (Holding one-day cultural scientific tours, Publishing student journals, conducting film festivals; Organizing dormitories› affairs.)
The Socio-cultural Atlas With the aim of collecting and classifying accessible cultural information in the country and developing indexes related to culture and in order to develop research and planning across the country, the cultural Vice Chancellors, for the first time, made a socio-cultural atlas through the following sources of information: a. Census data from 4 statistical projects, in the years 1986-2011, available in the Statistical Center of Iran; b. Registered data in the period from 2001 to 2012, by the Statistical Center of Iran; c. Organizational data and updated and comprehensive information from relevant institutions and organizations; and d. Survey and assessment of data, based on other surveys conducted in the country, including cultural surveys of values and attitudes of Iranians, re-analyzed and replicated, and new surveys conducted with respect to nowadays cultural requirements.