Abstract
The purpose of this article was to evaluate the level of satisfaction of a sample of graduates in relation to different online postgraduate programs in the environmental area, as part of the process of continuous improvement in which the educational institution was immersed for the renewal of its accreditation before the corresponding official bodies. Based on the bibliographic review of a series of models and tools, a Likert scale measurement instrument was developed. This instrument, once applied and validated, showed a good level of reliability, with more than three quarters of the participants having a positive evaluation of satisfaction. Likewise, to facilitate the relational study, and after confirming the suitability of performing a factor analysis, four variable grouping factors were determined, which explained a good part of the variability of the instrument’s items. As a result of the analysis, it was found that there were significant values of low satisfaction in graduates from the Eurasian area, mainly in terms of organizational issues and academic expectations. On the other hand, it was observed that the methodological aspects of the “Auditing” and “Biodiversity” programs showed higher levels of dissatisfaction than the rest, with no statistically significant relationships between gender, entry profile or age groups. The methodology followed and the rigor in determining the validity and reliability of the instrument, as well as the subsequent analysis of the results, endorsed by the review of the documented information, suggest that the instrument can be applied to other multidisciplinary programs for decision making with guarantees in the educational field.
Highlights
Based on the background described above, the purpose of this research was to develop a model for an educational institution to evaluate the degree of satisfaction of the graduates of several postgraduate programs in the field of the environment, through a valid and reliable instrument, applied to a test directed to a sample of 150 participants
The need to the develop a model was proposed various online postgraduate programs in the environmental field, and to study possible of variables collected in the bibliography to evaluate the satisfaction of 150 gra relationships between them
In relation to the reference postgraduate programs. This result is endorsed in most of the consulted literature references, which obtain the items of the measurement instrument, starting from indicators already contemplated in research by one or more authors, even when they differ in the number of used scales [5,6,16]
Summary
Pichardo and García [3] consider there to be an increase in the interest in knowing the needs those university students have about the contexts to improve their higher education process. Studies on student satisfaction are required by national and international university evaluation bodies [4] and are indicative of areas of improvement for better positioning in academic performance among higher education institutions [5]. According to Mejías and Martínez [1], the objective is to find out what needs the student has and not so much how efficient the service provided is, despite the obvious positive correlation between student satisfaction and the quality of the service provided [4,5,6] According to González, Tinoco and Torres [2], the abundant current literature on the relationship between the satisfaction of graduates and the degree of educational quality in obtaining different academic degrees, as well as its quantification, demonstrates the importance of this topic for universities interested in attracting new generations of students to the different modalities of higher education.
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