Undergraduate Education in India : Dissecting the Perception Gaps in Students' Expectations

Authors

  •   T. G. Saji Associate Professor, School of Management Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi - 682 022, Kerala

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2020/v13i8-9/155231

Keywords:

Undergraduate Education

, Gap Analysis, Stepwise Regression

JEL Classification

, C32, C34, I230

Paper Submission Date

, December 26, 2019, Paper sent back for Revision, August 28, 2020, Paper Acceptance Date, September 15, 2020

Abstract

Providing quality curriculum and programmes within institutions is extremely important in shaping students’ perceptions of the overall quality of educational services. Hence, this research administered a survey among 198 final year students of affiliated Arts and Science colleges in Kerala, a state advanced in education and literacy in India, to collect their responses on expectations and satisfaction of the educational service performance at the institutional as well as the course levels. The gap analysis found that the students’ expectations were higher than their actual educational experiences in colleges, which was evident in all aspects of the services under investigation. The highest gaps for the institutions were in placement support, timely conduct of examination, and adequate infrastructure ; while for the courses, it was in skill development and employability. However, the results of the regression analysis revealed that not all the factors claimed by the students in gap analysis appeared as the significant determinants of the overall satisfaction towards higher education services generally in India, particularly in Kerala.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2020-09-01

How to Cite

Saji, T. G. (2020). Undergraduate Education in India : Dissecting the Perception Gaps in Students’ Expectations. Prabandhan: Indian Journal of Management, 13(8-9), 28–41. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2020/v13i8-9/155231

Issue

Volume 13, Issue 8-9, August-September 2020

Section

Articles
Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

References

Akareem, H. S., & Hossain, S. S. (2016). Determinants of education quality : What makes students’ perception different ? Open Review of Educational Research, 3(1), 52–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/23265507.2016.1155167

Anderson, E. W., & Sullivan, M. W. (1993). The antecedents and consequences of customer satisfaction for firms. Marketing Science, 12(2), 125 – 143. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/184036

Dicker, R., Garcia, M., Kelly, A., Modabber, P., O'Farrell, A., Pond, A., Pond, N., & Mulrooney, H. M. (2017). Student perceptions of quality in higher education : Effect of year of study, gender and ethnicity. New Directions in the Teaching of Physical Sciences, 12(1), 1–14. https://doi.org/ 10.29311/ndtps.v0i12.2332

Gupta, M. (2016). Students' perception of higher education service quality : An empirical study. Indian Journal of Marketing, 46(3), 54–67. https://doi.org/10.17010/ijom/2016/v46/i3/88998

Hill, Y., Lomas, L., & MacGregor, J. (2003). Students’ perceptions of quality in higher education. Quality Assurance in Education, 11(1), 15–20. https://doi.org/10.1108/09684880310462047

Kebriaei, A., & Akbari, F. (2009). Quality gap of educational services at Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Bangladesh Medical Research Council Bulletin, 34(3), 76–80. https://doi.org/10.3329/bmrcb.v34i3.1646

Lynam, S., & Cachia, M. (2018). Students’ perceptions of the role of assessments at higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 43(2), 223–234. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2017.1329928

Malhotra, N. K., & Dash, S. (2016). Marketing research : An applied orientation. Pearson.

Mamun, M. Z. (2000). Total quality management of the non-government universities in Bangladesh. In, Proceedings of the 2000 IEEE International Conference on Management of Innovation and Technology. ICMIT 2000. 'Management in the 21st Century'(Cat. No. 00EX457) (Vol. 1, pp. 305–309). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICMIT.2000.917355

Menard, S. (2002). Applied logistic regression analysis (2nd ed.). Sage Quantitative applications in the social sciences. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc. https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412983433

Myers, R. H. (1990). Classical and modern regression with applications. PWS-KENT Publishing Company.

Ozer, B. (2013). Students’ perceptions regarding freedom in classroom. The Anthropologist, 16(3), 551–559. https://doi.org/10.1080/09720073.2013.11891381

https://doi.org/10.1080/09720073.2013.11891381

Panwar, R. (2018, July 16). Making students environment - conscious. The Hindu Business Line. Retrieved from https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/making-students-environment-conscious/article24435104.ece#:~:text=Every%20Indian%20university%20should%20have,climate%20change%20have%20grown%20ubiquitous

Pavlina, K., Zorica, M. B., & Pongrac, A. (2011). Student perception of teaching quality in higher education. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 15, 2288–2292. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2011.04.095

Prathiba, S. (2020). A study on professors' adeptness and students' expectations on perceived student learning outcomes. Prabandhan : Indian Journal of Management, 13(1), 19–32. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2020/v13i1/149945

Price, I. F., Matzdorf, F., Smith, L., & Agahi, H. (2003). The impact of facilities on student choice of university. Facilities, 21(10), 212–222. https://doi.org/10.1108/02632770310493580

Rahman, M. M. (2013). Quality higher education and students’ perception : A study on private universities of Bangladesh. Global Disclosure of Economics and Business, 2(1), 9–19. https://doi.org/10.18034/gdeb.v2i1.190

Richardson, J. T. (2005). Students' perceptions of academic quality and approaches to studying in distance education. British Educational Research Journal, 31(1), 7–27. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/1502154

Singh, A., Kazi, R., Divekar, R., & Patankar, A. (2020).Comparing deemed and state universities on perception of educational offerings using factorial MANOVA. Prabandhan : Indian Journal of Management, 13(2), 23–35. https://doi.org/10.17010/pijom/2020/v13i2/150563

Snelgrove, H., Familiari, G., Gallo, P., Gaudio, E., Lenzi, A., Ziparo, V., & Frati, L. (2009). The challenge of reform: 10 years of curricula change in Italian medical schools. Medical Teacher, 31(12), 1047–1055. https://doi.org/10.3109/01421590903178506

Struyven, K., Dochy, F., & Janssens, S. (2005). Students’ perceptions about evaluation and assessment in higher education : A review. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 30(4), 325–341. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930500099102

Teixeira, J., Amoroso, J., & Gresham, J. (2017, October 3). Why education infrastructure matters for learning. World Bank Blogs [web log post]. Retrieved from https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/why-education-infrastructure-matters-learning

University Grants Commission. (2008). Higher education in India. Issues related to expansion, inclusiveness, quality and finance. Retrieved from https://www.ugc.ac.in/oldpdf/pub/report/12

Verma, J.S. (2004). Education, sustainable development and the human rights approach. Retrieved from http://www.naac.gov.in/docs/Books/Quality%20Higher%20Education%20and%20Sustainable%20Development.pdf

Wilson, E. J. (1995). Research design effects on the reliability of rating scales in marketing : An update on Churchill and Peter. In, F. R. Kardes & M. Sujan (eds.), NA - Advances in consumer research (Volume 22, pp. 360 – 365). Provo, UT : Association for Consumer Research.

Yang, Z., Becerik - Gerber, B., & Mino, L. (2013). A study on student perceptions of higher education classrooms: Impact of classroom attributes on student satisfaction and performance. Building and Environment, 70, 171–188. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2013.08.030

Zahid, J. R., Chowdhury, G. M., & Sogra, J. (2000). Present status and future direction of business education in Bangladesh. Journal of Business Administration, 26(1&2), 11 – 24.