Designing a Questionnaire Model Related to the Turkish Higher Education Quality Council (THEQC) Criteria for the Student Satisfaction at the Faculty of Fisheries, İzmir Kâtip Çelebi University

Higher education empowers individuals by expanding knowledge and skills, driving social development, and contributing to societal capital. However, robust quality assurance systems are vital to ensure their impact. The Turkish Higher Education Quality Council (THEQC) focuses on aligning Turkish higher education with international standards and fostering a quality culture by promoting the collection and analysis of student feedback. Gathering feedback from students through methods like surveys can identify areas for improvement and enhance the overall quality of education. This study aimed to develop a comprehensive questionnaire model aligned with THEQC criteria to assess student satisfaction at the Faculty of Fisheries, İzmir Kâtip Çelebi University. Therefore, a survey matching 18 sub-criteria under the Learning and Teaching heading of THEQC was created in order to determine the satisfaction levels of the students of the faculty. A five-point Likert scale (1-Strongly disagree, 2-Disagree, 3-Undecided, 4-Agree, 5-Strongly agree) was used for the responses to the propositions. The survey was applied face-to-face to 55 students (63.64% were male and 36.36% were female) enrolled in the Fisheries Engineering Program. Based on the research findings, students expressed the highest satisfaction with the accessibility of faculty and academic consultants outside of class hours and their overall satisfaction with the Fisheries Engineering program. On the other hand, the inadequacy of the courses in terms of practical application and the insufficient and unbalanced extracurricular activities (homework, presentations, etc.) have been recorded as topics with low satisfaction levels. The average satisfaction levels by THEQC’s learning and training criteria were recorded as 3.58 points for Program Design, Evaluate and Update, 3.67 points for Implementation of Programs, 3.68 points for Learning Resources and Academic Support Services, and 3.95 for Teaching Staff.