Assessing the Students’ Perception of the Quality of Dental Program offered in Saudi Arabia

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.