Arab Educational Information Network

This review article aims at studying the curricula of Iraqi medical colleges since the establishment of the first college in Iraq in 1927 to date. It attempts to analyze the medical education programs using known tools of measurement and global in comparison with the steady development of medical curricula in the world. The article shows the evolution of the Iraqi curriculum across the past century and especially during the last three decades. At present time there are three types of curricula that are currently applied in the twenty-five colleges operating in Iraq. The first curricular approach is based on separate scientific and clinical subjects (the Subject Based Curriculum); the second is the integrated curriculum and the third is the problem-based approach. The first approach is characterized by the adoption of the educational process that totally depends on the teacher through lectures and practical lessons (Teacher Centered), including clinical training and the examinations are focused on information more than skills and professional behavior. The other two methods, however, are based on student in active role in the learning process with varying degrees of implementation. The last two approaches use enquiry-learning methods to investigate student’s learning needs. The integrative approach uses inductive methods of reasoning starting from first year of study, while the problem-based approach uses deductive reasoning in the early years of the study and later uses the inductive reasoning in the rest of the years. This work concludes the inappropriateness of the method of inductive reasoning in the first years of university study as this approach is known to be used by experts and hence students, using this approach, need to be already equipped with ample and relevant information which they can learn better in using the deductive reasoning in the first three years of the six-year medical study. (Published Abstract)