Research On Higher Education Service Quality And Student Satisfaction

The study identifies the relationship between higher education service quality and student satisfaction at public and private universities in Mongolia.The purpose of this study was to examine whether demographic information influences students’ perceptions of services provided by universities and to analyze the relationship between service quality and student satisfaction.This study utilized a mixed methods approach divided into two stages,where the first stage consisted of quantitative data collection through online questionnaires from 466 valid respondents,ranging from the age of 18 to 24 by a nonprobability sampling method.The 466 samples were taken from first,second,third,fourth,and fifth year bachelor’s degree students from seven public and private universities in the capital of Mongolia called Ulaanbaatar.Those universities were National University of Mongolia(NUM),Mongolian National University of Medical Science(MNUMS),Mongolian University of Science and Technology(MUST),Mongolian National University of Education(MNUE),Mongolian National University,ACH University of Medical,ETUGEN university.First three universities were public universities,and the last four universities were private universities.Those seven universities were all famous in Mongolia and they had similar curriculum and instruction which could be represented as the Mongolian Higher Education Institutions.The questionnaire’s design was based on the SERVQUAL model for measuring the perceptions of service quality and student satisfaction at Mongolian public and private universities.This study used the SERVQUAL model by Parasuraman,Zeithaml and Berry in 1988.The SERVQUAL model has five dimensions(Tangibles,Reliability,Assurance,Responsiveness and Empathy).The study questionnaire consists of three parts;in the first part,seven demographic characteristics of the undergraduate students are examined.In the second part,the SERVQUAL questionnaire is used to assess undergraduate students’ perceptions and expectations of service quality,which includes 36 items representing the five service quality dimensions:tangibles,reliability,responsiveness,assurance,and empathy.The researcher added another dimension called curriculum.The third part of the questionnaires is the overall evaluation,which seeks student satisfaction with regard to university service quality and allows students to express free ideas relating to what makes them satisfied and dissatisfied.The second stage involved two focus group interviews to collect qualitative data.The Focus Group Interviews were conducted in mid-May 2021 online,via Zoom,and google meeting.The focus group interviews with students were conducted in groups of eight to ten.Each interview focused on their experience of service quality improvement initiatives at their respective universities,and sampled universities’ students participated in focus group interviews.Each focus group interview took 90 minutes.The participants held open discussions based on the results of the quantitative data analysis with ten questions.The collected data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics.SPSS was used to analyze quantitative data with three statistical analysis methods:bivariate correlations,for establishing evidence of construct validity;a reliability analysis to test Cronbach alpha for internal consistency;and multiple regression analysis to examine the relationship between independent and dependent variables.AMOS was used for confirmatory factor analysis(CFA)models.The qualitative data analysis consisted of the following parts.First,the research findings of quantitative data indicate that university students are more satisfied with the service quality provided by private universities than by public universities.The ranking of seven universities by mean score of students’ perceived service quality is as follows:1.MNUMS,2.MNU,3.ACH,4.NUM,5.MUST,6.ETUGEN,7.MSUE.It means MNUMS received the highest mean scores,and MSUE got the least mean scores.Second,the result illustrated that among the six dimensions of service quality,assurance got the highest scores,but tangibles and reliability dimensions had the least mean scores.It means that Mongolian university students are more satisfied in terms of assurance,but they are dissatisfied with the tangible and dependability dimensions of service quality provided by universities.Third,research found that female students were more satisfied with the university’s service quality than male students.Fourth,there was a significant relationship between academic year variables and students’ perceived service quality.2nd year and 3rd year students were the most satisfied groups,but 1st year and last year students were the least satisfied groups toward service quality.Sixth,the research also showed that there was no significant difference between students from Ulaanbaatar capital and the provinces.It means students’ region’s demographic variables did not affect the level of perceived service quality.Seventh,research found that there was no significant difference between the sources of tuition fees and students’ perceived service quality.Eight,there was a correlation between students’ perceptions of service quality and student satisfaction.Ninth,there was a relationship between all the dimensions of service quality and student satisfaction.It means all six dimensions are high;the student satisfaction level is high.Tenth,the Mongolian university students mostly chose the university because of the university’s reputation(37,34%),other people’s advice(32,19%),scholarships(31,55%),university advertising(31,33%)and parents’ advice(21,89%).This study recommends that Mongolian universities focus more on the tangibles and reliability dimensions of service quality,as the results revealed the lowest mean scores.Firstly,each university should make sure that they have enough modern facilities,good campuses,arts and sport complexes and health cafeterias.Moreover,the university library should have enough books and research documents.Secondly,university personnel should pay more attention to students’ needs,care for all students without bias,and provide more time for students to consult on their learning problems.Thirdly,Mongolian universities should have standardized instruments that can be used to measure the status of service quality improvement and delivery periodically and to identify the areas that have the highest perceived performance gap scores in order to redeploy some resources.Next,in order to improve the service quality of Mongolian colleges and universities,we must continuously organize training activities aimed at improving the skills of teachers and staff and creating opportunities for them to learn from each other.Lastly,have highly skilled teaching personnel,develop school self-characteristics,and create and adhere to the necessary conditions and standards for school service quality.