Presenting a model for upgrading the Iranian medical education system to an international level

The present study aimed to present a model to upgrade the national medical education system in Iran to an international level. This study was an applied research in terms of purpose, and was a descriptive cross-sectional survey in terms of implementation method. The population consisted of 1319 students of medicine at Guilan University of Medical Sciences, of whom 297 were selected as participants based on Cochran's formula. The sampling method was simple random sampling, and a researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect the data. The validity and reliability of the tools were confirmed. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were used to determine the validity of the model, and structural equations modeling was used to test it. In this study, the factor loads of all items were higher than 0.4, indicating the effectiveness of items in the formation of the components. Furthermore, the factor loading of path coefficients between the variable of “upgrading the national medical education system to an international level” and the dimensions of "amendment and ranking of the educational system", "improving the quality of academic education" and "internationalization of education" in all directions was higher than 0.8. All the relationships were meaningful, which indicated strong fit of the model. According to the results, the current position of the Iranian medical education system can be evaluated by qualitative and quantitative measurements as well as identification of the limitations in this system. In this regard, proper planning is one step further towards improvement of the indicators of the country’s medical education system.