Assessment of Educational Service Quality Gap: The Students’ Perspectives

• Main Authors: Mehran Alijanzadeh, Hamed Fattahi, Fatemeh Veisi, Bahram Alizadeh, Zeinab Khedmatgozar, Soheyla Gholami
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences 2018-06-01
• Series: Educational Research in Medical Sciences
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.5812/erms.80246

Background No one can deny the importance of educational services and the role it plays in attaining social goals. Proper training 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 This cross - sectional study was conducted in 2014 among 327 students of QUMS who were selected through simple random 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 The average age of the students was 22.2 ± 3.1 years. The quality gap of the educational services was -1.62, -1.70, -1.52, -1.31, and -1.15 for assurance, accountability, empathy, reliability, and tangibility, respectively, which was statistically significant (P < 0.001). The mean educational service quality gap was -1.38 based on the students’ perceptions (P < 0.001). There was no significant relationship 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.