TY - JOUR T1 - Educational ranking of a two-year degree courses in health sciences in Iranian medical universities: a strategy to identify the strengths and weaknesses TT - رتبه‌بندی‌ آموزشی‌ دانشکده‌های ارائه‌دهنده رشته‌های کاردانی بهداشت در ایران‌، راهکاری‌ برای‌ شناسایی‌ نقاط‌ قوت‌ و ضعف‌ JF - payeshj JO - payeshj VL - 8 IS - 1 UR - http://payeshjournal.ir/article-1-629-en.html Y1 - 2009 SP - 17 EP - 23 KW - Education KW - Health KW - Rankings KW - Stratification KW - Benchmarking N2 - Objective(s): After two decades of expansion of medical universities and increasing the number of students as one of the most attainable solutions for the problem of substandard status of Iranian community health, recently, quality-based policies in medical education have taken priority over most of the national health plans. In this study, we stratified educational services of schools providing a two-year degree course in health sciences in Iran to determine their differences. Methods: To measure the educational performance of the course nationwide, a benchmarking tool, consisting of 47 indicators, was devised. Their weights were defined through consensus developing methods. Each school was asked to introduce a representative who would complete a questionnaire, which was designed to collect schools’ information. In the next step, all the divisions were visited by one of the project's members and the school’s representative. Then, data retrieval was performed and verified at the project’s office. Results: Schools providing the course were stratified based on their individual scores. Furthermore, all schools were also ranked in each indicator. Among schools providing the course School of Health Sciences of Iran University of Medical Sciences gained the first rank, with the score of 86.53 out of 100. Conclusion: This study defines the educational strengths and weaknesses of health sciences programs in Iran that could be used as a measure for authorities to devise practical strategies for qualitative and quantitative improvement. M3 ER -