External Evaluation: a Requirement for Accountability and

Quality assurance as a comprehensive term encompasses all policies, processes and actions maintaining and developing higher education quality. Quality assurance emphasizes on external goals of evaluation, one of which is to assure learners, public and government that each unit, department, program or institution manages its quality. thus quality assurance focuses on accountability. This article first describes importance of external evaluation and necessity to conduct it, then considering the fact that two educational programs leading to bachelor degrees of nursing and obstetrics, which their internal evaluation have already completed, are volunteers to go under external evaluation. Explains steps of external evaluation and focuses on the external aspect of evaluation to assure quality of educational programs following internal evaluation. Key words: QUALITY ASSURANCE , EVALUATION , EXTERNAL EVALUATION Journal of Medical Education winter 2006; 8(2); 83-88