Development of Educational and Research Independence From the Perspective of Medical University Students

Abstract

Introduction: As a full-fledged Bologna process participant, Kazakhstan is continuously implementing reforms aimed at medical education, impacting country's human capital. The professional capable of a lifelong learning is the main goal of modern education. The central role in reaching this goal is entrusted to the higher education. The relevance of our study lies within the curriculum changes with more hours for students’ independent work, which is the main method of obtaining reliable information and acquiring competence for lifelong learning. The aim of our study was to evaluate the students’ opinion on the self-study system at the Karaganda Medical University, revealing existing difficulties in the students’ acceptance of the Bologna process requirements, identifying methods to increase their involvement in self-education and scientific research. Materials and Methods: an anonymous survey was conducted among the 426 of the 3rd – 7th year and residency students, including 20 questions to identify students’ attitude to the individual work methodology as a factor for the development of skills for lifelong learning. Results and Discussion: the majority of students are voluntarily involved in the independent learning, understand its purpose, and use English-language sources with reliable up-to-date information. Less than half of the students evaluate their skills of information search and presentation as «average» and only about a quarter of them as «high». More than half of the students demonstrate interest in increasing their level of competence with these skills. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that since the Republic of Kazakhstan accession to the BP the «Karaganda Medical University» successfully integrates new educational requirements into the educational process. Higher education system needs further improvement to better understand the students, remove barriers to progress and preserve students’ motivation to further develop personal potential.