Keywords: Privatization, Medical Educatio

Frahani, Farhad

Khalegh Nejad Tabari, Ahmad

Kheiry, Zahra

Larijani, Bagher

Najafi, Farid

Pourabbasi, Ata

Soofi, Moslem

Yazdani, Shahram

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Strides Dev Med Educ. 2017 September; 14(3):e61667.Published online 2017 September 26.doi: 10.5812/sdme.61667.LetterPrivatization of Medical Education in the Islamic Republic of Iran;Main Policies According to the Packages for Reform and Innovation inMedical EducationAta Pourabbasi,1 Ahmad Khalegh Nejad Tabari,2 Shahram Yazdani,3 Farid Najafi,4 Farhad Frahani,5Zahra Kheiry,6 Moslem Soofi,7 and Bagher Larijani8,*1Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran2Department of Pediatric Surgery Pediatric Surgery Research Center (PSRC), Mofid Children’s Hospital, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (SBMU), Tehran, Iran3Department of Medical Education, School of Medical Education, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran4Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health (RCEDH), School of Population Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (KUMS), Kermanshah, Iran5Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran6Research and Development Committee, Deputy of Education, Ministry of Health and Medical Education, Tehran, Iran7Health Economics Department, Health Management and Economics School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran8Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Shari’ati Hospital,Tehran, Iran*Corresponding author: Bagher Larijani, Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University ofMedical Sciences, Shari’ati Hospital, North Kargar St, Tehran, Iran. Tel: +98-2188220037-8, E-mail: larijanib@tums.ac.irReceived 2017 September 12; Accepted 2017 September 20.Keywords: Privatization, Medical EducationDear Editor,Nowadays, higher education not only plays an essen-tial role in the economic growth and development of coun-tries, but also is the road to wealth creation. Recently, med-ical education has attracted growing attention, and thepast two decades have witnessed increasing global contri-bution of the private sector in medical education (1). Pri-vatization of medical education refers to a process or ten-dency of colleges and universities (both public and pri-vate) to take up the characteristics of, or operational normsassociated with, private enterprises to achieve maximumefficiency, productivity, and revenue (2).Privatization is focused on maximizing the autonomyof universities in decision making, promoting scientific in-dependence, developing new financial resources, and min-imizing governmental involvement. Factors that lead tothe growing popularity of the privatization of medical ed-ucation include the growing importance of a knowledge-based economy, demographic changes, altered public atti-tudes toward education and increasing demand, the emer-gence of new technologies, the lack of financial resources,and the inability of governments to pay all educationalcosts (3). Most countries face increasing demand of ad-mittance to colleges and universities, while lacking finan-cial resources for the development of medical educationthrough public financing. Therefore, taking into accountthe challenges and opportunities of a partnership with theprivate sector, it is possible that the gap between high de-mand and low supply can be addressed with proper plan-ning and policy making. However, a clear-cut model thatprovides appropriate guarantees for investors is essentialto realize the partnership and advancement of investment.Given Iran’s significant progress in the fields of healthand medical sciences, there is a unique opportunity forinvestment in this area. At this time, the Islamic Re-public of Iran is experiencing a reform of medical edu-cation (4). The deputy of education in the ministry ofhealth and Medical education provides the essential re-quirements to facilitate and promote investment in thissector through developing evolution and innovation pack-ages in medical education (5). This is an appropriate op-portunity for domestic and foreign investors. One of themain initiatives to demonstrate the educational capabil-ities of Iranian universities in the field of medical sci-ences is the launch of a comprehensive website entitled“www.educationiran.com.” Currently, over 1400 programsfor various degrees and majors have been introduced tothe website to begin admitting students (3).To promote a private sector partnership in medical ed-ucation, all necessary actions and requirements should betaken and specified. Undoubtedly, intersectoral and intra-sectoral collaborations (especially with the banking sys-Copyright © 2017, Strides in Development of Medical Education. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative CommonsAttribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits copy and redistribute the material just innoncommercial usages, provided the original work is properly citedPourabbasi A et al.tem) are vital to progress in these partnerships. The pre-liminary tasks include anticipating new channels of rev-enue, guaranteeing capital, and creating a safe and stableinvestment environment. Also, the fundamental princi-ples and policies for the privatization of medical educationin Iran are as follows: international collaboration, meet-ing the national needs, procedural (step by step) partner-ship, fixed price, integration of health services in medicaleducation, students’ participation in paying tuition fees, aswell as identifying noble methods of wealth creation. In or-der to translate these policies into action, important stepshave been taken: a, establishing private institutions withan emphasis on collaboration among the world’s presti-gious universities; b, fulfilling the country’s demands forregional spatial planning regions through the outsourc-ing of educational services; c, partial outsourcing of edu-cational services to private hospitals; d, private sector part-nership in holding clinical fellowship courses; and e, out-sourcing other processes, such as accreditation, planning,the revision of curriculum, and educational managementof the schools and universities.In all the stages of partnership attraction, the ministryof health and Medical education, as the custodian of medi-cal education, is committed to effectively playing its super-visory role.References1. Models for Privatization inMedical Education, Periodic report of Vice min-ister of education [In Persian]. 2016. Available from: http://www.Dme.behdasht.gov.ir.2. Johnstone DB, Bain O. Universities in transition: Privatization, decen-tralization, and institutional autonomy as national policy with spe-cial reference to the Russian Federation. In: David W Chapman, Ann EAustin, editors.Higher education in the developingworld: Changing con-texts and institutional responses. Westport CN: Greenwood Press; 2002.p. 47–68.3. Reform and innovation in medical education, Periodic report of Vice min-ister of education [In Persian]. 2016. Available from: http://www.Dme.behdasht.gov.ir.4. Pourabbasi A, Haghdoost AA, Akbari H, Kheiry Z, Dehnavieh R, Noori-hekmat S. Packages for reform and innovation in medical educationin Islamic Republic of Iran; a conceptual framework [In Persian]. Tebva Tazkiye. 2017;26(1):45–50.5. Ministry of Health and Medical Education . Packages for reform and in-novation in Medical Education [In Persian]. Tehran: Ministry of Healthand Medical Education; 2015.2 Strides Dev Med Educ. 2017; 14(3):e61667.

Privatization of Medical Education in the Islamic Republic of Iran;

Main Policies According to the Packages for Reform and Innovation in

Medical Education

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Privatization of Medical Education in the Islamic Republic of Iran; Main Policies According to the Packages for Reform and Innovation in Medical Education

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