Measuring Student Satisfaction in Higher and Tertiary Education: A Case of One Polytechnic in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The research set out to establish the views of students about service provision in higher and tertiary education institutions. A case study approach was used. Important parameters such as tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy were used to obtain students’ views about quality of service provision in higher and tertiary education. The objective of this study was to measure education service quality as signified by student satisfaction using the modified SERVQUAL (EDUSERVQUAL) model. A descriptive cross sectional design was used for a sample of 65 respondents, selected from a population of 1182 full-time students. The SERVQUAL instrument was adapted to measure student satisfaction. This was followed by focus group interviews. Based on the results, negative quality gap scores in all the five dimensions, ranging from -1.72 to -2.22 were identified, indicating that the institution’s education service quality is below student expectations. Although the study has limited generalisability because it was confined to just one institution, the EDUSERVQUAL methodology can be used by institutions seeking long-term sustainable service quality.