Level of satisfaction among postgraduate health sciences students on the cafeteria facilities in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur Campus

Abstract

Purpose – The aim of this study was to determine the levels of satisfaction (food quality, service quality, ambience, price and portion) among postgraduate Health Sciences students on the cafeteria facilities in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Kuala Lumpur Campus. In Malaysia, the total number of postgraduate in higher institution increase from 75,199 in 2007 to 85,236 in 2010, an increment of 12 per cent. The increasing numbers of higher education postgraduates on university campuses has unquestionably raised the expansion of demand for food service availability and quality on campus. Design/methodology/approach – A self-reported questionnaire was to 86 subjects at Faculty of Health Sciences, UKM, from September to November in 2012. Findings – The findings showed that ambience and service attributes turned out to be the most dissatisfied attributes. Malay and non-Malay post-graduate Health Science students showed no significant difference on the satisfaction toward the four attributes. Respondents believed that increasing menu variation and introducing franchise outlet were the two supplementary factors that may increase satisfaction level. Research limitations/implications – The major drawback of this study is the inability to generalize findings to the students’ satisfaction toward UKM KL food service because data of the current study were only assessing postgraduate students. Originality/value – The points developed from this study clearly indicate the level of satisfaction among postgraduate Health Science student against food service system in one of the famous research university in Malaysia, UKM.