The Combination of Traditional and Modern Models for Higher Education in Iran: a Sociological Analysis on the Imam Sadiq University and its Islamic Interdisciplinary Curricula

In the contemporary era in countries in transition, especially those countries which have a long history in founding and maintaining traditional institutions for higher education in the humanities, we have witnessed the simultaneous presence of traditional and modern institutions for higher education in the humanities. This simultaneous presence has often revealed itself in the form of conflicting coexistence and has caused a kind of non-productive action in the space of production and consumption of the humanities in these societies. Iran, as a country in transition, with the aforesaid history in founding traditional institutions for higher education in the humanities, which has also tried in the last one hundred years to establish modern institutions for higher education in the humanities, has experienced the same trend. After the 1979 Revolution in Iran, attempt was made to combine the traditional and modern models of higher education in the humanities. Although this combination did not produce the desired results at first, it seems that today, on the basis of this combination, some institutions have come into existence, which are able to perform their research and educational duties properly. The present article uses the historical method, to study the origin of the aforesaid idea of combination, and then introduce an example of the successful implementation of this combination, which has established itself in the form of a university institution.