This paper aims to compare polytechnic education in the Iranian higher education system with selected countries (USA, Canada, UK and Japan). As a comparative study, the selection of the countries under study were based on purposeful sampling and the data collected through the study of documents, national reports and websites searches of the Ministry of Science of the countries under study. The findings of the study indicate that the developmental process of polytechnic education in Iran has been slow and prolonged compared to the selected countries. Similarly, there is no significant difference between the countries selected for curriculum content and teaching methods. The main difference between Iranian polytechnics and comparable systems is the lack of attention to labor market needs and the lack of links between industry and higher education.
