Educational Process of Medical Students in Basic Sciences in Birjand University of Medical Sciences

By using internal and external evaluation of educational status, universities can define their strengths and weaknesses; meanwhile they can select appropriate strategies to improve quality of education. This study was conducted to determine effective educational and demographic factors in Birjand medical students’ success and failure in basic sciences comprehensive exams.

In this descriptive-analytical study, ranks and grades of the exams of all courses and the mean score of basic sciences comprehensive exam of 150 students were extracted from their educational files. Their opinions about effective factors in achieving success in exams were collected using a questionnaire.

According to our findings, unmarried, young students, with regional quota and length of basic science duration less than 2.5 years, having a Grade Point Average equal or more than their total average were more successful in comprehensive exams. The ranking of the university changed from acceptable and moderate to very good in courses of insectology and histology while in anatomy, public health, parasitology, theology, and virology it changed from moderate to very good. The acceptance rate in this university was 93 to 100%.

The educational policies of the university have motivated a forward growth in the student's academic achievement. According to the students’ point of view, certain factors such as better and more serious planning, following educational discipline, using references introduced by the ministry, and urging students to use books rather than simple notes are effective on student's success.