Assessment of Educational Service Quality Gap: The Students’ Perspectives

Abstract

Background: Noonecandenytheimportanceof educationalservicesandtheroleitplaysinattainingsocialgoals. Propertraining and students’ satisfaction leads to system promotion and finally social development. This study aimed to evaluate the educational service quality in Qazvin University of Medical Sciences (QUMS). Methods: Thiscross-sectionalstudywasconductedin2014among327studentsofQUMSwhowereselectedthroughsimplerandom sampling. The most significant variables were tangibility, assurance, empathy, reliability, and accountability of the educational service quality. The data were collected using the 27 - item SERVQUAL questionnaire. Cronbach’s alpha score ( α = 0.88) and test retest (R = 0.83) method were used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire. Results: Theaverageageof thestudentswas22.2 ± 3.1years. Thequalitygapof theeducationalserviceswas-1.62,-1.70,-1.52,-1.31,and-1.15forassurance,accountability,empathy,reliability,andtangibility,respectively,whichwasstatisticallysignificant(P< 0.001). The meaneducationalservicequalitygapwas-1.38basedonthestudents’ perceptions(P< 0.001). Therewasnosignificantrelationship between the students’ perceptions and expectations and their gender (P > 0.05). Conclusions: There are significant gaps in the educational service quality regarding accountability and assurance. More attention from policymakers seems to improve the educational service quality.