In 2015, the Teacher Development Center was established as an independent structure to support the continuous development of teaching methods, research and professional activities for teachers. Teacher development trainings have been organized, and approximately 30 percent of all teachers are trained annually. Then, in 2020, Teacher Development expanded into an e-learning center. With the implementation of the Teacher Development Program in 2021, new teachers are provided with orientation training and teaching methods, medical education research, e-learning methodology, problem-based learning, life-based learning, and research methodology.
Newly hired teachers are required to attend a four-hour course in medical education. The training involved 20 teachers in 2017, 21 teachers in 2018, 25 teachers in 2019, 14 teachers in 2020, and 30 teachers in 2021. The training is conducted by scholars and professors, and the training program is approved and organized by them. The course examines the curriculum, the legal environment of the university, the development trends in education, the specifics and methods of adult education, student assessment, rules and regulations related to schoolteachers, and is organized in a combination of lectures and internships. New recruits are constantly developing their teaching, research, and professional skills by attending the classes of their head of the department, professors’ faculty, and the professors of their departments.
The teachers who implement the program work according to the positions of senior professors, professors, associate professors, lecturers and associate lecturers. The “Medical doctor” training program is taught by teachers of Medicine, Biomedicine and Public Health. There are 132 teachers from 23 departments of the School of Medicine, 144 teachers from 16 departments of the School of Biomedicine and 48 teachers from 6 departments of the School of Public Health. In terms of teaching staff, 85% are teachers of “Medical doctor” and 15% are teachers of other professions (biologists, chemists, physicists, mathematicians, epidemiologists, hygienists, statisticians, sociologists, philosophers, social workers, etc.). Considering the composition of the teaching staff in the last 5 years, the number of teachers has increased and the percentage of contract teachers is 13%, which is 8.7% lower than in the previous 5 years.
Moreover, the number of foreign teachers has increased: In the last five years, there have been about 60 foreign visiting teachers and in 2021, there are 11 visiting foreign teachers. In addition, seven of our teachers are working abroad as visiting professors. 51% of the teachers implementing the program have a doctorate, 54.5% have a doctorate in medicine, 47.2% have a doctorate in biomedicine, 49% have a doctorate in public health, and the rest have a master’s degree. In 2016, the number of teachers implementing the The “Medical doctor” training program was 290 (125 at the School of Medicine, 123 at the School of Biomedicine, 42 at the School of Public Health), including 37 professors (12.8%), 34 associate professors (11.7%), and 74 senior lecturers (25.5%), and 145 (50.0%) lecturers and associate lecturers. From the 324 teachers working in the 2020-2021 academic year, 34 (10.5%) are professors, 48 (14.8%) are associate professors, 81 (25.0%) are senior lecturers, and 161 (49.7%) are full-time lecturers and associate lecturers. In the 2016-2017 academic year, the number of senior lecturers and lecturers increased by 7% and the number of associate lecturers decreased by 5% compared to the 2020-2021 academic year. In addition, 51% of Medical school teachers and 22% of the School of Public health teachers have professional degrees. There are 14 teachers with a senior degree, 24 teachers with highly skilled degree, 33 teachers with a consulting degree, 8 teachers with a senior degree, 2 teachers with a leading degree and 1 teacher with a consultant degree. In terms of years of service, 60 (19%) worked for 1-5 years, 98 (31%) worked for 6-10 years, 58 (18%) worked for 11-15 years, and 49 (15%) worked for 16-20 years. , 21 (7%) worked for 21-25 years, and 31 (10%) worked for more than 26 years.
Eighty-one percent of the teachers implementing the program have a Lecturer’s degree or higher learning, and 50 percent have worked as teachers for more than 10 years, which is an indication of a high theoretical and clinical knowledge, skills, and extensive teaching experience. The number of young professionals has increased from previous years to 60 (19%) teachers who have worked for 1-5 years and 98 (31%) teachers who have worked for 6-10 years. The number of students in one section decreased from 14.5 in 2016 to 13.3 in 2021. The number of students per teacher decreased from 1: 14.1 in 2016 to 1: 12.8 in 2021. The report shows that the number and capacity of human resources is constantly growing.
The roles and responsibilities of teachers are reflected in the Internal Labor Regulations of the MNUMS, the Golden Rules for Teachers, and the Procedures for Evaluating Teachers’ Activity and Performance. Order No. A / 103 of the Director of the MNUMS dated May 13, 2021 approved the “Procedure for evaluating teachers ‘activities and performance” and approved the evaluation of teachers’ work and teaching rights in 3.1-3.11 of this regulation. In Sections 4.1-4.13, the Teacher Performance Assessment section provides for the evaluation of a teacher’s performance based on the rank of the teacher, depending on the department in which he or she belongs in the field of training, research and professional activities. Third article of the Teacher Performance Assessment Procedure in the section of teacher performance evaluation and, teacher certification, teachers’ performance is assessed on the basis of standard criteria approved by the vice president for academic affairs based on the teacher’s self-assessment report and evidence. The evaluation consists of three assessments: committee, student, and department head. According to the teaching staff rank of position, teachers’ evaluation campaign is organized in different years in which lecturers and associate lecturers evaluation is every three years, senior lecturers and associate professors evaluation is every four years and professors’ evaluation is organized every five years. Teacher workloads and assessments are determined differently depending on the position
Although the teaching load of professors, associate professors and senior teachers is less than that of associate lecturers, the scores for research and professional activities are higher than those of associate lecturers in the standard of teaching load which is based on the principle of making better use of the work experience of professors, associate professors and senior lecturers in research and professional activities. In order to support the teaching staff, the Golden Rules for Teachers, approved in 2014, were revised in 2021. We are implementing the rules to change the model of the department and increase the number of professors, associate professors, and senior lecturers in the department.
Crystal model of the department in 2014 (A) and 2021 (B)
Provisions such as a three-month paid leave for professors who have worked productively for 10-15 consecutive years at the MNUMS, and a 30% discount on doctoral tuition fees for young teachers and researchers will support the creation of research papers and provide research opportunities. It is proposed to reduce the teaching load of the head of the department by 10 percent. The employment contract provides for a reduction in the professional workload time of teachers working in hazardous and difficult conditions (up to 25 percent). In the case of working in two positions at the MNUMS, the salary increase or the main workload is reduced. The investment earned by a full-time lecturer at the MNUMS reduces the amount of workload by a certain percentage, depending on the amount of the activity. Challanges to teaching, monitoring, and resource management need to be improved between units. We believe that there are enough human resources to teach and sufficient resources to monitor and manage.