Abstract
South Africa has recently seen a significant increase in international student enrolments in recent years. In order to be competitive, attention needs to be given to service quality with a view to being the institution of preference. This paper therefore seeks to assess international students’ expectations and perceptions of service quality. A census was conducted among the 215 international students, using the SERVQUAL model as the measuring instrument. The results indicate that there are gaps between international students’ expectations and perceptions on the five service quality dimensions. An analysis of variance was conducted to test for significant differences between three biographical variables viz. faculty of study, qualification enrolled for and region of residence versus the five dimensions of service quality, on both expectations and perceptions. Recommendations are presented on how the institution can enhance service quality among its international students.
Highlights
The number of foreign students enrolled at South African institutions has increased steadily from 34770 in 1999 to 47000 in 2003 (World Education News and Reviews, 2004)
The results indicate that there were gaps in terms of the five dimensions of service quality with the empathy dimension showing the largest gap score and both the tangibles and reliability dimensions showing the smallest gap scores
There were no significant differences between the biographic variables and the remaining expectations and perception items
Summary
The number of foreign students enrolled at South African institutions has increased steadily from 34770 in 1999 to 47000 in 2003 (World Education News and Reviews, 2004). With this significant increase in the number of international students, the challenge is to ascertain the expectations and perceptions of services offered to this group of students. Given the importance of higher education in emerging economies such as South Africa, and having an understanding of the competition that exists in this sector, research into the measurement of service quality in higher education becomes justified. The outcome of the study would be beneficial for management to identify shortcomings in service quality and continuously improve the quality of education as expected by the target market, viz. students
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