Developing Alternative Measures for Service Quality in Higher Education: Empirical Evidence from the School of Physical Education and Sports Sciences

Abstract

The increased competition in the higher education marketplace forces colleges to utilize a more market-oriented philosophy in delivering their services. Developing satisfied customers, whether they are students, parents of students, alumni, or industry has become a primary goal for survival for many colleges around the globe. Therefore, it is imperative for higher education institutions to focus on delivery of higher levels of service quality and provide well-trained, highly educated and knowledgeable graduates to the communities they are serving. Although some of these higher educational institutions do not face market conditions similar to the commercial businesses, we argue that those higher educational institutions that do not provide high quality services will be marginalized and their effectives in achieving organizational goals will be jeopardized.