Defining Quality in Higher Education and Identifying Opportunities for Improvement

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide information that can benefit Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), which operate in a highly competitive environment. Understanding students’ perspectives regarding quality in higher education and areas of dissatisfaction can redirect an HEI’s strategy to address these concerns. The present study seeks to clarify how students define quality. A business student survey was conducted to understand students’ expectations, satisfaction, and dissatisfaction with their current educational environment. The analysis systematically explores students’ dissatisfaction by categorizing qualitative data using a modified version of the seven dimensions of service quality introduced by Evans and Lindsay.The level of detail provided in this report will assist in developing effective processes to improve student satisfaction at the university. The results conclude that improvements in completeness of the educational experience, both classroom and administrative services along with improvements in accessibility and convenience for academics and services will have the most impact on student satisfaction. Completeness addresses the quality of learning materials and services and accessibility and convenience address the ease of access to these learning materials and services. This paper expands upon the definition of quality in higher education, focusing on student dissatisfaction. The classification of student feedback provides a unique perspective. The limitations of the study include the response rate, area of study, geographic area, and learning modality. Tests of validity were not applied to the seven dimensions of service quality due to the exploratory nature of this study.