Abstract:

Background:
Assessment and evaluation are the key to the process of improving the quality of education. This is one of the most reliable ways of identifying problems concerning the educational system. The question for the development of adequate approaches to assess the quality of higher medical education in Bulgaria was placed. Students are the main subjects of educational process and are thus the essential evaluators of its quality. In our work we investigated student opinions about quality aspects of higher medical education.

Methods:
Direct individual inquiry with rank answers for 541 medical students (freshman, fourth year and interns) was completed to explore their views about quality aspects of medical education. We investigated various components of the learning process, characteristics of the teachers and their lecturing, students’ awareness, etc. Multiple logistic regression analysis was done to create predictive models and derive relationships between quality of education factors and their dependent variables: students’ assessment of the quality of education, students’ average grade and their attendance.

Results:
Accessible and clear teaching, curriculum relevance to future professional work, and creation of productive atmosphere are the top three highly valued teacher characteristics by all students. Tolerance and respectfulness, high general culture, clear and accessible contemporary teaching, engagement of the audience are the teacher characteristics in the predictive model that estimates the risk of assessing quality of education as good or poor. Application of new technologies in teaching, discussion, patients observations and live contact are the educational methods that determine quality of education. According to interns’ opinion quality of education is determined thoroughly by quality lectures, solving clinical cases, clinical facilities, and practical work.

Conclusions:
In our study we defined essential characteristics that have predictive value for future evaluation and practical significance for identifying the students’ expectations of quality education. The study suggests that we should pay more attention to the views of consumers of education - students. Studies as this one also stimulate students and make them committed to their own learning process. Further research is needed to examine in depth some of the more important aspects in this study.

Keywords:

Bulgaria, Medical education, Student’s evaluation, Quality assessment, Learning process, Predictive models, Teacher characteristics.