Undergraduate Students' Experience of Dental Education Programs across Saudi Arabia: An Exploratory Study.

Background: Students' satisfaction surveys are valuable tools for assessing and improving the quality of education being imparted. Limited data are available from Saudi Arabia regarding students experience at halfway through an undergraduate dental program.

Objective: To determine students' perception of their halfway experience on various attributes of the quality of dental education programs in public dental schools across Saudi Arabia.

Methods: This exploratory study included all students from four major public universities who had completed their third year of undergraduate dental education during the academic year 2022-23. A previously validated, self-administered, 23-item Students Experience Survey was modified and used to collect data regarding the following five factors: course characteristics, infrastructure and facilities, learning resources, instructor characteristics, and program efficacy.

Results: The questionnaire was administered to 296 students, of which 252 (85.1%) responded. Overall, 84% of the students had a positive experience regarding the quality of the dental education programs. Females reported significantly higher positive experiences than males (mean score: 4.36 vs. 4.21, respectively; P = 0.042). Course characteristics (P = 0.041), instructors' characteristics (P = 0.002), and program efficacy (P = 0.009) were significant predictors of students' overall experience.

Conclusion: This study found that the majority of students had a positive halfway experience with the quality of dental education programs offered in Saudi Arabia. The significant predictors of satisfaction identified in this study can be useful for policymakers to further improve satisfaction levels.