Viewpoints of the lecturers’ and students’ at Rehabilitation College of Semnan University of Medical Sciences on the factors influencing students’ academic achievement in 2012-2013 academic year

 Introduction: Academic achievement has been one of the efficiency indexes of every educational system that is influenced by many factors. This study has been conducted with the aim of surveying the views of Lecturers’ and students at Rehabilitation College of Semnan University of Medical Sciences on the factors influencing students’ academic achievement. Materials and Methods: In the current study, which is a cross-sectional descriptive-analytic one, a census method was employed and it was conducted in the academic years of 2012 and 2013. The participants of the study were 130 sophomore and higher level university students majoring in physiotherapy, occupational therapy speech therapy at Bsc level and as many as 40 Lecturers at the Rehabilitation College of Semnan University. For the purpose of data collection, a 25-item self-developed questionnaire on Likert scale was developed and its reliability and validity was confirmed. Results: Among the five areas surveyed in the study based on the perspective of Lecturers and students, factors related to student (4.43±0.49) and (4.17±0.52) received the highest scores. Meanwhile, the lecturers assigned the lowest score to family factors (3.53± 0.53) and students scored facilities of the educational environment the lowest (3.84±0.90). A comparison of the views revealed that there is a significant difference between the lecturers and students’ perspectives on student (p=0.007), family (p=0/017) and socioeconomic factors (p=0.001). Like lecturers, the students perceived future job opportunity of the field, interest in the field and self-confidence as effective factors on academic achievement. Conclusion: Considering learners and factors closely related to them as well as preparing grounds for increasing learners’ motivation, confidence and interest in the field have appreciable influence on learners’ academic achievement.