Abstract
The article explores academic staff’s perceptions of service quality improvement in public higher education institutions in Ethiopia. For this purpose, a mixed research methodology was employed collecting data from academic staff and final year students at public higher education institutions using the SERVQUAL scale and through focus group interviews. The perceptions of academic staff are reported on in this article. The collected data were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The research findings indicated that all dimensions of the service quality improvement initiatives were perceived by academic staff to be very poor. Recommendations are made on the reliability, tangibles, empathy, responsiveness, and assurance dimensions of service delivery featuring in the SERVQUAL scale. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n14p435
Highlights
Ethiopian higher education has changed extensively over the last two decades
This study examined the perception of academic staff on service quality improvement in Ethiopian higher education institutions
Quantitative results indicated that the greatest discrepancy between expected and experienced service delivery was expressed regarding the reliability of services – the service reliability dimension
Summary
Ethiopian higher education has changed extensively over the last two decades. The number of higher education institutions and the intake capacity of undergraduate degree programmes in public higher education are increasing rapidly (Ministry of Education (MoE), 2009). The Ethiopian government has made it one of their top priorities to address the issues of quality in the education sector (Ministry of Education (MoE), 2005; World Bank, 2004). Reform in Ethiopian higher education includes expansion and reform programmes addressing many aspects. Expansion of the higher education section includes the opening of new universities, establishing supporting agencies such as the Higher Education Relevance and Quality Agency (HERQA), a Higher Education Strategic Centre (HESC) and the Educational Quality Improvement Programme (EQUIP), introducing new courses and curricula, making new funding arrangements, acquiring student contributions by means of cost sharing, building the necessary infrastructure, improving service quality through the implementation of BPR (Business Process Re-engineering), recruiting new staff, and developing and procuring teaching materials (Ayalew, Dawit, Tesfaye & Yalew, 2009; Saint, 2004; Teshome, 2003). For Berry and Parasuraman (1997), quoted by Shah (2009), institutions can improve the quality of the service they offer if they listen to and take cognisance of the experience of stakeholders
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