THE INFLUENCE OF SERVICE QUALITY BY THE UNIVERSITY ON STUDENT LOYALTY: THE ROLE OF STUDENT SATISFACTION AS MEDIATOR

Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are service providers to students, where students are considered customers of a university.However, there are still various issues involving the quality of services provided by universities.Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the influence of service quality by universities on student satisfaction and loyalty, with student satisfaction set as a mediator.This study used a quantitative approach through stratified random sampling by distributing questionnaires to 285 third-year students from the Faculty of Business, Economics, and Social Development (FPEPS) at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu.Regression analysis and the Sobel Test were used to address all the research objectives.The study's findings indicate that service quality has a significant and positive indirect effect on student loyalty, mediated by student satisfaction.Understanding and improving service quality in HEIs contributes directly to the preparation of a skilled workforce that can drive innovation and growth in the blue economy industry.