According to higher-level legislative documents, the responsibility for enhancing the levels of knowledge, skills, development, and the promotion of a scientific thinking culture within society lies with the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology. Accordingly, the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology has delegated all educational duties to the Council for the Expansion of Higher Education. Although this council has undertaken initiatives aimed at purposefully developing higher education, the absence of a coordinated and logical model for activity implementation remains a critical gap, representing the core issue of this research. Thus, the primary objective of this study is to examine the substantive factors underpinning the strategic management model of knowledge within the domain of higher education expansion under the auspices of the Ministry. The research adopts a developmental-application-oriented approach and employs a multi-level mixed strategy. The statistical population comprises experts and scholars in higher education who, through purposive non-random sampling, possess practical experience in decision-making positions related to higher education dissemination. The data collection method involves a documentary approach, utilizing note-taking from specialized texts and credible official documents of the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology. Additionally, in the field, in-depth interviews with higher education elites were conducted. For qualitative data analysis, the thematic content analysis method was employed using MAXQDA software. To analyze and interpret the policy documents and interview transcripts, from a total of 782 items, 115 categories were extracted and interconnected via relevant keywords, resulting in 17 themes. Based on these definitions, six themes were identified as the substantive factors underpinning the knowledge strategic management model in the domain of higher education development.