The emergence and development of any profession or discipline is closely tied to concerns about the formal education and training of those who are to be identified as professionals and academicians. Thus great importance should be attached to the need for urban planning education, particularly doctoral education, to be evaluated periodically and not only to correct the structure and content of the program, but also to adapt to the changing demands and to propose a new education agenda to best reflect the changing and evolving nature of the field.In urban planning, there has been substantial doubt about the nature, mission, knowledge and skills among professionals, academicians and the public since the establishment of the profession almost a century ago. This has been the case all over the world and in all dynamic planning departments. Planners encounter epistemological challenge of various ways of knowing and mode of expression. Doctoral programs are the right place to take these dim issues of the field as epistemological debates and by finding plausible answers to the critical questions, clear the way for the profession, professionals, as well for the educators themselves. From time to time, researchers and academicians have assessed the state of planning education, characterizing developments, eras, and critiques and even projecting future direction. The assessment of a planning program—knowing its effectiveness in teaching and research and also its shortcomings—as well as changes necessary to improve its quality should be part of the education agenda.Establishment of the doctoral programs in various disciplines reached its highest level at the University of Tehran since the last decade. The purpose was to train high quality teachers and researchers to meet the increasing needs of the universities and higher education institutions, and to eventually decrease dependency on foreign countries for this purpose. One of these new programs was Ph. D. in Urban Planning. During the last ten years since the start of this program at the University of Tehran, some 40 students have joined the program, gone through several phases of education and research and all but a few graduated. It should be pointed out that over %75 of the graduates in this period are now actively employed by the accredited higher education/research centers of the country and the rests are also involved in the relevant professional and administrative activities of the field. On this basis a general conclusion can be made that the program has, to a large extent, achieved its primary goals. However, in spite of the extensive experiences gained, lessons learned, and various problems brought up by students, graduates, and instructors, no evaluation has ever been made of the program, to critically document the program's shortcomings, and propose necessary changes to improve its quality. This research intends to evaluate the performance of the Ph. D. program in Urban Planning by using appropriate methods and suggest changes needed to improve the quality of the education and research in the program.
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