ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate how medical students perceive their educational environment, as well as the implications of motivation, learning strategies, and the factor of emotional intelligence on academic achievement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, 3384 undergraduate students were recruited from randomly selected Egyptian medical colleges. Students from second to final year, taking fundamental and clinical courses and, at a minimum, three professional exams, were enrolled and subjected to the Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure scale, the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire, and Emotional intelligence questionnaire. RESULTS: The overall mean age of the studied students was 21.42 ± 1.61 years. Females represented 63.5%, rural residents were 52.2% and students with enough income represented 88.0%. The traditional system adopted 28.4% of the students versus 71.6% in the integrated system. Linear regression using path analysis was conducted to study the predictors of academic achievement, and it revealed that motivation was the highly significant predictor of academic achievement (ß = 2.68, CI95%:2.35-3.05, P < 0.001), followed by learning (ß = 1.09, CI95%:0.80-1.41, P < 0.001), emotional intelligence (ß = 0.92, CI95%:0.87-0.97, P < 0.001), and the educational environment (ß = 0.14, CI95%:0.13-0.15, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The study's findings have implications for medical educators trying to understand the personal factors that influence learning and performance in medical school. Students' motivation was the highly significant predictor of academic achievement followed by learning, emotional intelligence, and educational environment. Perception of the learning environment had improved because of the integrated student-centered system, which fosters motivation and emotional intelligence. To improve learners' EI, optimal learning, and educational outcomes, the EI components can be taught and fostered.
