an overview of internal evaluation in medical universities and its consistency with evaluation standards

internal evaluation has started in i 995 in various educational groups of different medical universities. currently. more than 120 groups are involved in this project. the faculty members have a key role in the process as the main elements of internal evaluation. internal evaluation was not only helpfill in identifying different practical aspects of education, but also had a prominent role in raising several questions about methodology, objectives, effectiveness and other dimensions of evaluation. is the so-called internal evaluation consistent with the scientific criteria of evaluation? could any better alternative method be found to perform this evaluation in the universities? does the result of the internal evaluarion help the promotion of the education quality? many of these questions could be answered by comparing the current evaluations with program evaluation standards. in this article, the program evaluation standards are considered and the current situation of internal evaluation in medical education units is compared with those standards. the defects of the current evaluations are assessed and necessary recommendations are presented.