Medical students’ perceptions of the educational environment in an offshore Indian campus of a Malaysian medical school

Abstract

Background: Educational environment is one of the main determinants of student learning, especially in a student-centered curriculum. This study was undertaken as a mid-program evaluation of the educational environment of a new medical program-USM-KLE International Medical Programme (USM-KLE IMP), which is an offshore campus of Universiti Sains Malaysia. The program follows an innovative, integrated, curriculum having Problem Based Learning as prescribed by the Malaysian university, and commenced in 2010. Methods: Towards the end of the academic year 2012-13, the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) inventory was administered to the undergraduate medical students of all three years. Results: Out of 186 students, 177 (95%) responded, 33.33% (n=59) were males and 66.66% (n=118) females. The mean scores in the domains of students' perceptions of learning, perceptions of teachers, academic self-perceptions, perceptions of atmosphere, social self-perceptions and total mean DREEM scores were 33.2 (Maximum 48), 29.6 (Maximum 44), 21.9 (Maximum 32), 34.1(Maximum 48), 18.1(Maximum 28) and 137(Maximum 200), respectively. The highest score was for the item "the faculty are knowledgeable" with a mean score of 3.44±0.64. Twelve items had scores of more than 3.0, and three items had scores below 2.0. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that the perception of USM-KLE IMP students towards their educational and learning environment is "more positive than negative" and that the program is moving in the right direction.