Stakeholder Perception of Service Quality in Qatar Higher Education Institutions: An Application to Qatar University

Abstract

Managing quality of services offered by institutions of higher education is important in any country due to the inherent aim of producing quality graduates from programs offered in the university. Qatar has made substantial investments in higher education. Qatar University, being the national university of the country, the perception of stakeholders on the service quality in education becomes an important factor for developing a quality education system. Therefore, the main goal of this thesis is studying the perceptual context of quality of services provided by higher education institutions among the students in Qatar University.

A research framework is developed for quality assessment with seven hypotheses that are commonly used in the literature. A survey with 65 instruments was used for gathering the required data for the analysis.

The results presented here are based on survey response of 397 students. Seven dimensions (determinants) of services quality were identified in this study: the original dimensions of the SERVQUAL namely, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles, and; two additional dimensions image and culture/value. The results proved significant positive association between the provided services quality and students' loyalty. Finally, the findings indicated that there are no statistically significant differences in the perception of services quality based on the students' demographic variables (gender, age, nationality, and education level).In terms of perceptions, the analysis showed that the provided services of the university falls short of meeting the students' expectations.

The finding indicates that, in order to provide quality education in Qatar University, expectation of student's needs should be carefully understood and addressed. Management also needs to consider factors such as corporate image and culture/value when measuring service quality.

Although there is a limitation in the responses as the outcome of this study is based on the survey of students, this nevertheless provides an attempt to study services quality in Qatar education sector.

The findings of this thesis is expected to help filling the literature gaps by providing empirical knowledge on quality of services assessment and customer's satisfaction in higher education.