Zohreh Poudeh; Fatemeh Karami Robati; Atefeh Ahmadi; Mahmoudreza Dehghani; Masoomeh Shahsavari; Bagher Amirheidari; Vahid Yazdi Feyzabadi
Abstract
Background: Internationalization in medical education (ME) creates new potentials, and links among countries.Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the current outlook on the internationalization of ME in Pakistan.Methods: This case study had an outlook on the internationalization of ME in ...
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Background: Internationalization in medical education (ME) creates new potentials, and links among countries.Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the current outlook on the internationalization of ME in Pakistan.Methods: This case study had an outlook on the internationalization of ME in three top universities in Pakistan. The most significant components, characteristics, and variables related to ME were identified and categorized. The reports regarding the educational, research and health system performance of this country were collected by reviewing the grey literature, and visiting the official websites of these universities.Results: To improve their competitive capacities Pakistan’s top universities have considered some research parameters, unique strategies (motivational mechanisms for target groups of students, and professors, educational mechanisms and empowering students and professors, mechanisms for communicating with other pioneering universities, and mechanisms for communicating with the industry and exchanging intellectual capital), and short-, medium- and long-term plans for attracting capital, exchanging scientific products, and sharing experience.Conclusion: Pakistan’s success in internationalization depends on factors, such as concentrating on science and technology, the enhanced role of the local government and the privatization of HE institutes, including modern ideas and making changes in the country’s cultural structure, using English as the primary language in universities, designing web portals based on international criteria, receiving tuition fees from international students, designing programs for international students, hiring foreign faculty members, and sending professors abroad to take part in specialized courses, and making efforts to monitor international initiatives and ensuring quality.
Salman Bashzar; Vahid Yazdi Feyzabadi; Atefeh Ahmadi; Fatemeh Karami Robat; Masoomeh Shahsavari; Ali Akbar Haghdoost; Bagher Amirheidari
Abstract
Background: Despite some obstacles, internationalization of medical education can promote the educational, research and clinical level of universities.Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the opportunities, challenges, and solutions of the internationalization of higher medical education ...
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Background: Despite some obstacles, internationalization of medical education can promote the educational, research and clinical level of universities.Objectives: The purpose of this study was to explore the opportunities, challenges, and solutions of the internationalization of higher medical education in Iran.Methods: The present qualitative study was conducted with Brown and Clark's thematic content analysis approach. Purposeful sampling was performed using the snowball strategy, and the data were collected using semi-structured interviews. The statistical population included Iranian students and professors residing in universities abroad, experts and key officials working in the Deputy of International Relations in Iran’s Ministry of Health and Medical Education, the Vice-Chancellors of the International Relation Units of the country’s universities of medical sciences, and foreign students studying in Iran’s universities of medical sciences. The data were gathered by conducting 17 interviews with eligible individuals following the principle of data saturation. Finally, the data were subjected to thematic analysis by MAXQDA-10 software.Results: The data extracted from the interviews were categorized into 268 codes, 29 subcategories, and six categories. The themes identified were "specifications of an international higher education center", "advantages of internationalization", and "necessary items and requirements" in the field of requirements and criteria, "weaknesses and challenges of internationalization" in the field of challenges, "operational solutions for addressing challenges" and "successful domestic and foreign experiences of the internationalization of higher medical education centers " in the field of solutions. The subthemes of "weaknesses and challenges at the level of the university" and "hardware specifications" attained the highest frequency among open codes.Conclusion: A need to be responsive to many present and future needs of our country necessities that the higher medical education system moves in parallel with the globalization process and multicultural societies. In this regard, officials should pay attention to the requirements, criteria, challenges, and solutions of the internationalization of higher medical education in Iran based on the evidence disclosed in this study.
