Service Quality in Higher Education: the experience of overseas students

Abstract

The higher education of students has become increasingly internationalised, with an ever-growing proportion of students originating from overseas. However, research to date suggests that overseas students are often less satisfied with their courses than other students. Consequently, there is a burgeoning need for universities to understand what students value in their university experience. This paper reports on a study that establishes and tests dimensions for measuring service quality in higher education, focusing on full-fee-paying postgraduate students from non-EU countries at one institution in the UK. The institution concerned has a particular reputation in tourism and hospitality and a significant proportion of the respondents were studying these subjects. Adopting Lehtinen and Lehtinen’s 1991 framework, a Q-sort was undertaken followed by factor analysis. The results of the research highlighted four factors of service quality: recognition; quality of instruction and interaction with faculty; sufficiency of resources; and aspects of physical quality. Arguably, the most significant finding here is the importance that these students attach to their institution’s reputation.

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