INTRODUCTION

Evaluation of the educational environment is an important element which can be used to improve our curriculum. The aims and objectives of this cross-sectional study were to identify the student's perception about educational environment in College of Dentistry, Mustaqbal University. As the educational environment has a significant impact on the learning and academic performance of the students, the present study will help us identify areas of improvement and refining the dental curriculum.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 120 students of year 4, 5, 6, and interns, both male and female, responded to the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) in the 1 month of the second semester, 2021. This scale measures the student's perceptions of the educational environment overall and for five domains: learning, teaching, academic self-perception, atmosphere, and social self-perception.

RESULTS

A total of 92 students responded and were generally positive about their learning environment, with a total DREEM score of 130.87 ± 32.73/200. The lowest score for Domain 5 (social self-perception) and the highest score for Domain 1 (student's perception of learning.) were noted.

CONCLUSION

Students' perception of educational environment of College of Dentistry, Mustaqbal University, was more positive than negative. This study provided a valuable insight of how students perceive their course and identified several weak areas that need to be worked upon, hence helping in improvement of the curriculum.