Effective Ways in Internationalizing the Curricula of Medical Sciences: Viewpoints of Faculty Members in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Becoming a concern for top universities worldwide, internationalizing the curricula is aimed to provide an international sight for academic curricula of the disciplines in universities nowadays. The purpose of this study is to investigate effective ways of internationalizing the curricula of medical sciences disciplines from the faculty’s viewpoint in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This descriptive survey study was performed during 2011-2012 academic years. The statistical population included 423 faculty members of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. 118 members were selected as the research sample. The research instrument was a questionnaire developed by the researcher using 5-point Likert Scale which covered seven areas. Also its validity and reliability was confirmed. Collected data was analyzed by descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (one-sample t-test, independent t-test, ANOVA and Scheffe’s test). Results: The score attained for all represented solutions for internationalization of medical curricula was significantly (P≤0.05)more than the scale’s mean (m=3). Content/educational strategies (3.86±0.59) had the highest mean and structural/academic strategies had the lowest mean (3.34±0.66). There is no significant difference (P≤0.05) in terms of sex and academic variables. Conclusion: It seems that it is effective to use different solutions including content/educational, motivation/humanistic, structural/academic, informative/communicative, cultural/social, political/diplomatic, and technological/equipment ones in internationalizing medical curricula.