SQM‐HEI – determination of service quality measurement of higher education in India
Authors: Senthilkumar N. , Arulraj A. 
Published: March 2011

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop a new model, namely service quality measurement in higher education in India (SQM‐HEI) for the measurement of service quality in higher educational institutions.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected by means of a structured questionnaire comprising six sections. Section A consists of ten questions pertaining to teaching methodology (TM). Sections B consists of five questions pertaining to environmental change in study factor (ECSF). Section C consists of eight questions relating to disciplinary measures taken by the institutions. Section D consists of five questions related to the placement‐related activities and in part E two questions provide an overall rating of the service quality, satisfaction level. Finally, in part F 13 questions pertaining to student respondent's demographic profile information were given. All the items in Sections A‐E were presented as statements on the questionnaire, with the same rating scale used throughout, and measured on a seven‐point, Likert‐type. In addition to the main scale addressing individual items, respondents were asked in Section E to provide an overall rating of the service quality, satisfaction level. For conducting an empirical study, data were collected from final‐year students of higher educational institutions across Tamil Nadu. The sampling procedure used for the study was stratified random sampling. The stratification has been done based on the region Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, and nature of institution, government university, government college, aided college, private university and self‐financing college. While selecting the institutions from each category, non‐probabilistic convenience and judgmental sampling technique were used. However, within such institutions, the respondents were selected by stratified random sampling.

Findings

The SQM‐HEI‐mediated model argued that the placement is the better interactions of the quality of education in India. The model reveals that the quality of education is based on the best faculty (TM), the excellent physical resources (ECSF), a wide range of disciplines (DA) which paved the diverse student body and to improve the employability of the graduates (placement as mediating factor) coming out of the higher educational institutions in India. The above model proves that the placement is the mediated factor for various dimensions of quality education. SQM‐HEI model would help in identify three service areas to be focused in the higher educational institutions for improving the quality of . These three dimensions of quality correlated between the sub‐dimension variables and it is very necessary for improving the quality of higher education in India. The educationist says that, education is a change of behavior of students. Hence, the higher educational institutions should come forward to adapt the sub‐dimensions of quality variables to enhance the outcome of education.

Originality/value

The model described in this paper will assist academic institutions when mapping the level of service quality and thereby enhance the same.