فصلنامه طب و تزکیه
سال سی و سوم شماره 3 (پیاپی 131، پاییز 1403)

The dynamism and development of educational systems, along with the promotion of curriculum design, development, and implementation, depend heavily on monitoring faculty-teaching quality. In recent years, this has emphasized the importance of identifying features of existing systems and exploring opportunities to enhance them with desirable and comprehensive features tailored to the needs of all medical universities. Such initiatives could lead to upgrading current systems or creating integrated ones. This study was conducted to identify the characteristics of faculty evaluation systems in medical universities in Iran.

This qualitative survey employed a questionnaire with several open-ended questions, targeting the educational vice-chancellors of medical universities in Iran. Data analysis followed the conventional qualitative content analysis approach, guided by Graneheim and Lundman, with the credibility and accuracy of the analysis enhanced through Lincoln and Guba criteria.

Eleven evaluation systems focusing on the assessment of faculty members in medical universities were examined. The findings were grouped into four themes: shared features, strengths, weaknesses, and recommendations.

Faculty members are critical to advancing educational systems and evaluating their performance is essential for achieving the goals and mission of universities as key components of the teaching-learning process. Continuous improvement of evaluation systems is crucial. Decision-makers are urged to consider the proposed improvements identified in this study, which reflect the genuine needs of universities for an optimal evaluation system.

The governance of higher education refers to the system of power resulting from laws, policies and rules that determine the responsibilities of different actors in the higher education system. In this system, universities play a vital role as the main actor in higher education. Therefore, academic governance in Iran’s higher education can have an important effect by emphasizing the innovation ecosystem as a key factor in the development and progress of universities and realizing the goals of higher education. Considering the importance of the subject, this research was conducted with the aim of investigating the driving and restraining factors in academic governance in Iran’s higher education based on innovation ecosystem.

Methods and Materials: 

This qualitative research was conducted using thematic analysis. The research community comprises the deans at universities in Tehran, as well as experts and specialists in the field of higher education, who were selected as participants in the research using a targeted sampling approach. Data were collected through semistructured interviews. In order to obtain the credibility and validity of the data, peer debriefing and member checking were used.

70 codes were identified in two main driving and restraining groups of academic governance based on innovation ecosystem.Internal driving and restraining factors were extracted and classified in 6 social, technological, economic, environmental, political and value dimensions and external driving and restraining factors in 7 dimensions of strategy, structure, system, common values, skill, style and employees.

A detailed analysis of these factors will help higher education policy makers, managers and planners to adopt appropriate policies and strategies to strengthen academic governance based on the innovation ecosystem by strengthening drivers and removing or reducing restraining factors. This approach can help create an effective innovation ecosystem in higher education and lay the foundation for significant improvements in this field.

Educational Development Centers )EDCs( and Educational Development Offices )EDOs( are crucial for improving education quality, fostering innovation, and training skilled professionals. Their recent expansion underscores the need for organizational development. Despite efforts to enhance medical education, EDCs and EDOs face significant challenges, particularly in designing effective organizational structures. This article identifies key factors—such as strategy, environmental pressures, and available capacities )soft-wared, hard-wared, and skilled(—as essential for creating effective structures. Meanwhile, Compilation of the same job description for all EDCs and EDOs has led to a mismatch between the organizational structure and innovative strategies, environmental pressures, as well as the capacities of each EDC and EDO.

Professional ethics in research addresses the ethical challenges in various fields of studies. The higher the quality of research is, the faster the scientific advancement of society will be. The present study is aimed at a comparative study of compliance with professional research ethics in medical theses by Faculty Members and students.

Methods and Materials: This descriptive-analytical study was carried out on 130 medical students and 98 professors at Abadan University of Medical Sciences in 2022-2023. Students were randomly sampled, while professors were sampled by the census method. Data were collected using demographic and professional ethics in research questionnaires. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software and independent t-test, ANOVA, and Pearson correlation tests.

Compared to students, the overall score of professional ethics in research and all its dimensions were higher among professors. There was a direct correlation between the scores of professional ethics in research and its dimensions in professors and students. Moreover, the seven dimensions of professional ethics in research had a significant direct correlation with each other and with the total score of professional ethics.

The adherence to research ethics was higher among professors compared to students; however, the score for professors was still moderate to high. Training in ethical principles in research may lead to improved quality and credibility of research. Hence, it is recommended to emphasize adherence to professional ethics in research to preserve and advance science and knowledge.

Various dimensions of bullying occur in academic environments, which experience negative consequences for students in psychological and academic fields. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the relationship between bullying behaviors in educational environments and the intention to dropout among nursing students of Alborz and Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in 2023.

Methods and Materials: 

In this cross-sectional study, 386 undergraduate nursing students were included using convenience sampling method. The link of online questionnaire was sent to the students along with the explanation of the study objectives. The data collection scales in this research included three sections of demographic and educational information, bullying behaviors in nursing education environments and the intention to dropout. Data analysis was done using multiple linear regression.

In this study, most of the students were female (65.2%). The mean of their age and GPA was 22.63±2.2 years and 17.26±1.2, respectively. About 34% of students reported that they experienced bullying behavior from their nursing professors. According to the results, the bullying behavior has a positive and significant relationship with nursing students’ intention to dropout (p<0.001, β=0.55)..

It is worth mentioning that the importance of experiencing bullying behavior for nursing students is twofold because the way nursing students are treated during training shapes the process of becoming a nurse. It is suggested that university managers provide solutions to increase the awareness of nursing professors about the negative consequences of such behaviors and create a culture of respect and professional behavior in universities.