Why Iranian universities have not been successful in implementing e-learning systems? (Comparative analysis of Iranian and Turkish universities in the face of the Corona pandemic)

In the last decade, information technology has been identified as a key factor in most countries’ development, including the countries of Iran’s Outlook 1404, and has been used in particular to restructure and redesign higher education systems in these countries. Turkey is one of the countries experiencing the most growth through ICT development and its impact on higher education is highly evident. In 2020, more than 40% of the population of eight million Turkish students studied in distance courses. In contrast, despite the not-so-delayed and powerful entry of Iranian universities in e-learning field, a very small percentage of the country’s students (less than 10%) studied in distance courses, while this trend is also declining. Given the need to implement e-learning courses in the face of the Corona pandemic, this article seeks to answer the question of why Iranian universities have failed in the field of e-learning (as the most important manifestation of distance learning in the information age), a comparative study of four major Iranian universities (Tehran, Khajeh Nasir, Shiraz, and Isfahan) with four important Turkish universities (Ankara, Hajat Tepe, Ghazi and Technical University of Middle East) in the face of the Corona pandemic is attempted. The ability of universities to create an e-learning environment has been investigated by sending a team of experts to the mentioned universities and collecting real data. The results of this survey show that the capacity of selected universities in Turkey is at the "medium and above average" level, but in Iran is estimated at a "relatively weak" level. Finally, based on an analysis of the reasons for the failure of Iran’s selected universities to implement e-learning, especially in comparison with the competing universities in the outlook 1404, some more coherent planning and policy guidance are provided.