A comparative study of the educational evaluation system of faculty members in Iranian universities of medical sciences

Educational evaluation of faculty members is a continuous and multidimensional process to describe and promote the quality of various educational activities of professors. This study endeavored to investigate the educational evaluation system of professors in some universities of medical sciences in Iran.

This descriptive study with the comparative method of study was conducted through George Brady model. The population includes the top five universities of medical sciences in Iran based on QS rankings, including Tehran, Tarbiat Modares, Shahid Beheshti, Shiraz, and Isfahan. The sampling method is Census. The instrument was a questionnaire extracted from the guidelines of educational quality performance of faculty that taken from the regulations for the promotion of faculty members of universities approved in the academic year 2016.

The important sources of information are students, colleagues, department heads, and faculty officials. Observance of discipline, scientific and educational ability, quality of teaching, interaction with students and colleagues, observance of rules and regulations are among the common axes of evaluation. Evaluation is used to change the employment status, annual promotion and promotion of professors. Evaluation feedback was provided with confidential letter to the professor. Low evaluation score hampers the Job promotion, annual promotion, change of employment status, full-time, and Medical office license.

An evaluation system needs to cover different areas of education, research, administration, and the functional goals of the university and follow a logical order. It seems that identifying the weaknesses of university and using quantitative and qualitative evaluation alongside using different sources and comparing with the evaluation systems of other universities to review will promote the quality of evaluation of professors.