Abstract
Background: In Saudi Arabia, dental students' program evaluation is highly focused on improving dental education quality, so that an effective workforce could be developed for the nation. Objective: This study aims to assess the students' perception of the quality of dental program offered at Saudi dental schools. Methods: All final year students of the selected Saudi dental schools (N=4) were included as the population of this study. The students were administered a questionnaire named “Dental Program Evaluation Survey.” The survey consisted of four dimensions, with 31 Likert scale items and one global item studying the dental students' satisfaction towards the programs offered at Saudi dental schools. The responses obtained using the survey were subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS 20.0. Results: The results demonstrated that the dimensions, such as faculty characteristics, institutional characteristics, the efficacy of the program, and program changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, were perceived as “High Quality.” The cumulative percentage of most of the items was graded as “Acceptable.” Overall, 89.2% of students were satisfied with the quality of the programs offered in their dental schools. A significant difference was found in students' perception of the dimensions and overall satisfaction with respect to their gender and dental schools. Conclusion: Overall, the students were highly satisfied with the quality of the dental program offered in Saudi Arabia. This study would help policymakers in developing appropriate strategies that can enhance and sustain the quality of dental program offered at Saudi dental schools.
Highlights
Program evaluation is termed a methodical process of changing intricacy associated with data gathering, observations, and analyses, concluding in a value decision concerning the program's quality being assessed, considered in its total, or using some of its components [1]
The distribution of respondents belonging to the selected dental schools, namely King Saud University (KSU), King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU), and Al Jouf University (JU), was observed as 146 (33%), 132 (30%), 91 (20%), and 76 (17%), respectively
The results showed that the mean score of the survey dimensions, namely faculty characteristics, institutional characteristics, efficacy of the program, and program changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was 4.27, 4.16, 4.22, and 4.31, respectively
Summary
Program evaluation is termed a methodical process of changing intricacy associated with data gathering, observations, and analyses, concluding in a value decision concerning the program's quality being assessed, considered in its total, or using some of its components [1]. The Open Dentistry Journal, 2021, Volume 15 651 informs the stakeholders regarding the achievements of the program It offers support for program review, strategic planning, and accreditation [3]. Various dental schools in Saudi Arabia offer dental program to the student community across the globe. In Saudi Arabia, an intense rise in dental colleges' count was observed in less than a decade. Such a rise showed a substantial increase in the volume of dental graduates, and thereby demanded a rise in the job openings for the fresh dental graduates [9]. In Saudi Arabia, dental students' program evaluation is highly focused on improving dental education quality, so that an effective workforce could be developed for the nation
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