Journal Article

The experience of 10 years of institutional and program accreditation in Iran with an emphasis on the strengths and implementation challenges: a qualitative study

Yamani, Nikoo, Changiz, Tahereh, Mirzazadeh, Azim, van Zanten, Marta, Sabouri Aghbolagh Rostam Khan, Tahereh

2025

Overview

Background The global emphasis on medical education quality has established accreditation as a crucial evaluation method. Iran has implemented systematic institutional and program accreditation in medical universities over the past decade. This study analyzes the strengths and implementation challenges of educational accreditation from the perspective of field experts. Methods We conducted a qualitative content analysis study, engaging accreditation experts selected through purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were employed to gather expert opinions on the strengths and challenges of implementing educational accreditation in Iran. The resulting data underwent inductive content analysis to distill key themes and insights. Results Analysis of the interviews yielded 140 primary codes, which were organized into two main themes and six categories. The first theme, “the Pillars of the Accreditation System,” encompassed four main categories: accreditation standards, accreditation structure, accreditation evaluators, and accreditation outcomes. The second theme, “Improvement in Conducting Accreditation,” comprised two main categories: improving the structure and improving the implementation process. While accreditation efforts have improved institutional adherence to basic quality standards, challenges such as excessive governmental control and the approval of underperforming institutions raise concerns about the credibility of the process. Conclusion The efforts of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education in implementing accreditation have guided programs and institutions towards achieving minimum quality assurance standards. Structural issues within Iran’s accreditation framework, such as governmental control over the accreditation process and the consideration of multiple factors in accreditation decisions, have led to some concerns. One of these concerns is approving underperforming institutions and programs which has raised some questions about quality and necessity of the accreditation process itself. It is hoped that in the near future, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education will devise and implement strategies to enhance the current system, paving the way for a more robust and effective accreditation process in the future.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Academic Standards / Accreditation / Accreditation (Education) / Accreditation (Institutions) / Accreditation - organization & administration / Accreditation - standards / Accreditation and program evaluation models in medical education / Challenges / Codes / College Faculty / College Science / Confidentiality / Consent / Content analysis / Cultural Context / Curricula / Curriculum Development / Data Analysis / Data collection / Education / Education, Medical - standards / Educational accreditation / Educational Development / Educational Quality / Evaluators / Health services / Humans / Influence / Informed Consent / Instructional Improvement / Interviews / Interviews as Topic / Iran / Licensing, certification and accreditation / Medical colleges / Medical Education / Medical Evaluation / Medical research / Opinions / Participant Characteristics / Program Attitudes / Program Evaluation / Program Implementation / Qualitative Research / Quality management / Quality of education / Sampling / Schools, Medical - standards / Self Evaluation (Individuals) / Semantics / Strengths / Theory of Medicine/Bioethics