Internationalization Roadmap of the Universities of Medical Sciences

The purpose was to propose the internationalization roadmap in the University of Medical Sciences. Hence, a qualitative study was conducted to extract the components required to this purpose. The research field was one of the universities of the medical pole in the country. The qualitative phase was conducted through interviewing with the internationalization executers, educational executers and research executers. Then, the interviews were analyzed by using the content analysis method and MAXQDA10 software was used to analyze the qualitative data. Next, the content of the interviews was categorized into 3 categories, 8 concepts and 75 codes. The three main categories of study were as follows: 1) SWOT analysis; 2) Pivotal topic/Domain; and 3) Actions/Plans. The SWOT analysis included 43 codes and 4 concepts as follows: 1) Threats: 5 codes, 2) Weaknesses: 13 codes, 3) Strengths: 13 codes, 4) Opportunities: 12 codes. Moreover, the pivotal topic/domain included 23 codes and 2 concepts; and the goals included 5 codes; the prerequisites of the goals included 18 codes; the actions/plans included 9 codes and 2 concepts. Finally, developing the international affairs included 6 codes and explaining and developing the internationalization included 3 codes. According the dramatic changes affected the world of the medical education, it is imperative that the goals, the programs and the orientations of the universities be more in focus today.