| dc.description.abstract | Veterinary education is a lifelong process. To ensure its quality, the curriculum needs
to be assessed to make sure it adequately prepares students for the veterinary
profession. Studies of alumni's retrospective views on their training, i.e. from the users'
perspective, are a valuable tool in outcomes assessment (as part of quality
assurance). These outcomes assessments are also needed for accreditation.
A literature review was conducted on alumni outcomes. Most publications were on
medical education, although veterinary medicine and dentistry were also addressed.
Most researchers used questionnaires, based on competences, as a quantitative
survey tool. Focus groups and one-to-one interviews can be used to gather more indepth
information. To ensure success of quality assurance, evaluation activities should
be carried out systematically and structurally, integrated in an organisation's regular
work patterns. Many researchers gathered valuable information on the quality of
education making use of (a combination of) questionnaires and focus groups. Some
researchers involved not only alumni, but also their employers in the survey. Especially
this triangulation seems to be highly effective in assessing the quality of education.
Alumni assessment also has downsides though, such as lack of comparison to other
educational programmes, details of the programme can be forgotten about, and
self-evaluation is prone to be biased. | |
