Perceived Quality of Distance Education from the User Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to measure the quality of distance education services received from educational institutions which are among the leading service enterprises. More specifically, the study aim to find out what the students’ expectations are, to what extent the student expectations are met and whether or not the acquired findings vary according to demographical characteristics of students. Moreover, this study is an attempt to assess if there are any differences among similar higher education institutions that implement distance learning programs in terms of the perceived quality of their educational services. It is hoped to help improve the quality of existing higher distance education services by evaluations based on the results of a comparative study. Therefore, through the SERVQUAL methodology, the current study has focused on determining the level of satisfaction regarding expectations and perceptions of students as customers. The data in the study were collected through a survey administered to a total of 463 university students. The examination of partial SERVQUAL scores and relevant analyses indicate that expectations are not met for any of the five dimensions affecting service quality in the universities providing e-MBA education through distance learning.

Keywords

• Distance education, Service quality, SERVQUAL, Higher education, Service expectations, User perspective

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