Evaluation of the University Medical Center

Since the summer semester 2009, a comprehensive quality assurance system has gradually been implemented at the Mainz University Medical Center. The Center for Quality Assurance and Development was appointed to oversee the development and implementation of this system, the general aim of which is the continuous improvement of study and teaching. The quality assurance model that was developed for the University Medical Center extensively depicts all levels and phases of study and teaching.

This means that both individual courses and the teaching organization, the matching of course contents to performance requirements, study progress and professional junctions are regularly evaluated with different tools. The design of the individual survey tools is theoretically oriented towards the Mainz model of quality assurance with its four quality levels: aims, structures, processes and results. In addition, the model particularly targets the connection between assessment and university didactical further development.

As part of the quality assurance system at the Mainz University Medical Center, the ZQ regularly conducts the following measures:

Instrument Intention
Course evaluation surveys Student evaluation of courses allows for continuous monitoring of the fields of learning and teaching. Specific feedback instruments are employed to provide feedback on courses and lecturers. The forms of course evaluation surveys differ depending on whether they are concerned with courses or with lecturers. The course evaluation surveys are conducted online and have a three-semester cycle.
Sub-intern surveys Lecturers have the opportunity to have their own online or face-to-face teaching evaluated. These evaluations may be obtained voluntarily as feedback. They are relevant for the habilitation procedure, the procedure for applying for an extraordinary professorship and for target agreements with the Staff Office for Personnel, Planning and Strategy. The questionnaire used exclusively includes questions about the lecturer. The student survey has been conducted online since SoSe 2023. More information about the procedure may be found here.
Course entry surveys Course entry surveys collect basic information about freshmen students in human medicine and dentistry. The survey concentrates on the students' motivation to study these subjects, their experiences during the introductory phase, their expectations with regard to the course, and their previous educational training.
Course progress analyses Based on the course entry surveys, students are interviewed at regular intervals. These course progress analyses, which have a panel design, have two main aims. The first is to establish characteristic course progressions in the field medicine. The second is to identify the factors that determine the successful completion of the course (including their relative explanatory power) as well as the factors that cause students to stop studying medicine.
Alumni surveys Course progress analysis is supplemented by surveys of medical alumni. The focus here is on determining the quality of teaching and course organization in terms of successful and timely entry into the profession, as well as the training objectives of the two medical licenses that are required by an appropriately "academically and practically" trained physician or dentist.
Group interviews Qualitative group interviews with students in various study phases aim at determining the quality of teaching and course organization from the students' perspective. In addition, this instrument also serves to improve the quality of teaching and course organization by identifying the various strengths and weaknesses
Teaching staff surveys The student surveys are supplemented by surveys of the entire teaching staff at Mainz University Medical Center. The goal of these surveys is to compare the students' assessments with those of the teaching staff. These surveys are also used to determine the working and teaching situation as well as the attitudes to teaching and to the evaluation of teaching.