TITLE:
Determining the Quality of Management and Structural Elements of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department in Tehran University of Medical Sciences
AUTHORS:
Fereshteh Farzianpour, Kazem Mohammad, Hossein Malekafzali, Saharnaz Nejat
KEYWORDS:
Quality of Management, Evaluation, Academic Department, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Tehran University of Medical Sciences
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Service Science and Management,
Vol.7 No.6,
December
16,
2014
ABSTRACT: Introduction:
The system of quality in higher education requires a systematic evaluation of
all of its different aspects. Different patterns of evaluation reveal the strengths
and weaknesses of the programs and facilitate the informed decisions. Objectives:
The objectives of the present research are as follows: 1) Determining the
quality of the structural elements of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Department; 2) Determining the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
to improve the quality of activities in the department under research. Design:
In this research, the efficiency of the department was studied based on the
internal self-evaluation. For this purpose, pre-determined indices with
relative modifications were used. This study was conducted with the
collaboration of the head of the department, faculty members, all of the
students (residents, Ph.D. and M.S. students) and the graduates. Through a pilot
study the initial rates of the areas under research were first determined by
the opinion poll carried out among all the faculty members, then through proper
tests, unrelated data were identified and omitted and the final rates were
extracted. Results: The mean of the areas under study was 59.8% of which the
minimum (37%) was related to the area of aims and objectives and the maximum
(72.6%) related to area of the graduates. Conclusions: The graduate domain is
one of the key areas under study in the internal evaluation of this department
which received a good score.