A Study On Student Satisfaction In Higher Educational Institutions In Mumbai Using Importance Performance Analysis

Abstract

As competition between higher educational institutions becomes more intense, service quality and student satisfaction become of paramount importance to higher educational institutions. The present research uses Importance Performance Analysis (IPA) to understand the importance given to various service quality attributes by students as well as their perception of the performance of the educational institution in those attributes. The participants in the study are second and third year students of undergraduate programmes of an autonomous college in the western suburbs of Mumbai. The sample size is 403, selected through stratified random sampling. The results of the study show that students regard canteen facilities and administrative facilities as important attributes while judging service quality of an educational institution. However, since the performance of the institution with regards to these attributes is low, the college should concentrate on improving the service quality in these areas. Students do not place much importance on curriculum and course structure, which could point to their ignorance about the importance of a student-centric and well-rounded curriculum in their holistic development as well as future employability. This study can be used by the educational institution to allocate their resources effectively so that more focus is on areas where the performance of the college is not satisfactory vis-a-vis the high importance given by students to those areas.