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© Proceedings of the Ruhuna Quality Assurance Sessions 2021 (RUQAS 2021)
              st
            21  September 2021

            Introduction


            Medical  education  worldwide  is  undergoing  dramatic  changes  in  pedagogical  reforms  recently.
            Therefore, continuous gauging of the system is  an essential step in ensuring that the quality of the

            medical  program  is  uplifted  and  maintained,  along  with  the  level  of  satisfaction  among  medical

            students  with  regards  to  their  academic  activities  (Jayawickramarajah,  2017).  One  of  the  many
            invaluable  sources  for  assessing  the  quality  of  the  medical  program  is  student  satisfaction  surveys

            (SSS). Seeking satisfaction feedback from graduates at the exit point from the program is a reasonable
            approach used in evaluating the quality of medical programs.



            The Faculty of Medicine (FoM), University of Ruhuna (UoR), established in 1980, has come a long
            way  to  become  a  pioneer  in  medical  education  in  Sri  Lanka  by  providing  academic,  research,  and

            outreach  services.  Assisting  and  preparing  the  medical  students  to  become  ethical,  skillful  and
            knowledgeable professionals while ensuring their overall satisfaction about the course has always been

            one of the main focuses of the faculty. The faculty started conducting SSS annually from 2020 for the
            final  year  students  who  faced  the  final  MBBS  examination  and  before  releasing  the  results.  The

            objectives  of  conducting  the  SSS  are,  to  monitor  students’  learning  experience  and  satisfaction

            annually to ensure that learning experiences are effective and help in achieving the desired outcomes,
            to regularly and systematically monitor to assess the students’ satisfaction with the study program and

            the  support  services,  and  use  the  information  gathered  for  continuous  improvement  of  learning
            provision and support services.



            Methodology


            A draft questionnaire was prepared by referencing SSS of several international universities. The draft
            was  then  improved  to  include  items  related  to  the  quality  of  teaching,  quality  of  the  learning

            environment, and quality of the facilities of the faculty. The questionnaire was reviewed and approval
            was obtained from the Internal Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC) and the Faculty Board of FoM.


            The questionnaire consisted of 3 main categories: quality of teaching, quality of learning environment,

            and quality of facilities of the faculty. Students’ satisfaction on those categories was assessed through

            3-point Likert, 5-point Likert, Yes/No questions as well as open-ended questions.


            The approved self-administered SSS questionnaire was converted into a Google Form and the link was
                                                                                                th
                                                                         th
            sent through the WhatsApp Platform to the students of the 36  batch in 2020 and 37  batch in 2021,
            after the final MBBS examination, before the results were released. The students were given a week to
            respond anonymously.



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