Launching the Virtual University of Medical Sciences in September Next Year

Deputy of Educational Department of the Ministry of Health announced launching the Virtual University of Medical Sciences during the new semester until September next year.

In an interview with WEBDA, Dr. Hamid Akbari, Deputy of Educational Department of the Ministry of Health, stated that establishing the virtual university of medical sciences is one of the fundamental pivots of the Education Reform Plan. He added that establishment of virtual university of medical sciences has been approved in order to provide the necessary infrastructures for offering various virtual courses for students and professors in all regions of the country.

He added that establishment of virtual university of medical sciences has been one of the major plans of the Educational Department of the Ministry of Health. Therefore, it will be launched either by the new semester or maximum September next year. Based on this resolution, universities of medical sciences can offer 20 percent of their courses virtually.

Pointing to the fact that universities of medical sciences are currently preparing their plans to offer to the virtual university of medical sciences, Dr. Akbari stated that in the Department of Islamic Studies, great measures have been taken in the area of the content of courses and other programs to be offered to the virtual university of medical sciences. Therefore, a department entitled “Faculty of Islamic Studies” can be considered as a subset of the virtual university of medical sciences.

Pointing to the meeting of educational deputies of universities and faculties of medical sciences across the country held on December 8^th, he stated that infrastructural issues of education and its improvement, curricula, educational planning, advisor, and the way of using the virtual system were among the topics presented in the meeting of educational deputies in Isfahan.

Dr. Akbari emphasized that due to the relationship between the Educational Department and the institution of the Supreme Leader’s representation at universities for planning and coordination in offering the Islamic Studies courses, which are included among the courses of universities of medical sciences, issues and problems related to the Department of Islamic Studies were among the major subjects in the meeting of educational deputies.

Deputy of Educational Department of the Ministry of Health announced serious shortage of faculty at the University of Medical Sciences and stated that based on the existing standards, they are currently facing a shortage of 8 to 10 thousand faculty members.

He added that they could get the permissions from the Management Organization to attract one thousand faculty members last year. Each university’s share of this figure, when divided among 65 universities of medical sciences across the country, is 30 and 5 faculty members for smaller universities. Therefore, we hope to get more permissions this year with serious follow-though by the Ministry of Health in this area.