Service Quality of Higher Education in the Selected Govt. Colleges of Northern Bangladesh: An Evaluation on Servqual Dimensions

Abstract

To speed the rate of higher education government (govt.) has increased and promoted the number of govt. degree level institutions as higher level honor’s and master’s institution. There is no measure to ensure quality of these higher educational institutions as prescribed in the public universities or international universities. To know service quality and performance of the service provider groups measuring service quality is very much significant. For this purpose, we have to measure students’ expectations from the service entity and their perceptions about the actual services they get. The govt. colleges that provide higher education need to understand the customers’ (students’) perceptions of service quality and identify the gaps between their expectations and these perceptions. This part of the research studies students’ expectations and perceptions of service quality in the present educational environment by using the modified service quality (SERVQUAL) model given by Parasuraman et.al for distinctive nature of service. The modified SERVQUAL instrument will measure five dimensions i.e. tangibles (academic, non-academic), reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy. This study has been done over 382 undergraduate and post graduate students of selected four govt. colleges from top ten ranking 2016 by National University of northern division Rajshahi and Rongpur. Next the descriptive statistical analysis with mean scores, standard deviation and crosstabs in different perspective by colleges and respondents with service dimensions. Service quality has been measured by subtracting students’ expectations mean scores from their perceptions mean scores of different service items related to educational services based on SERVQUAL dimensions. A structured questionnaire has been supplied with same type questions to know students’ expectations and perceptions with a 5 point Likert type scale. The study found that all the SERVQUAL components has made negative scores of service quality of higher education in govt. colleges.