"Service Quality in Higher Education: An Exploratory Study of Student Expectations and Perceptions"

AbstractThis study evaluates service quality in state universities in Andhra Pradesh from students'perspective. The study examines the main dimensions on which students assess the academic,administrative, infrastructural, and industry-oriented services offered by the Universities.Primary data were obtained from student respondents and analyzed using descriptive statistics,through reliability analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis, and multiple regression analysis. Thereliability analysis yielded a Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.960 for 48 items, indicating very highinternal consistency. Bartlett's Test was significant (p < 0.001), and the KMO value (0.914)indicated the data were suitable for factor analysis. Factor analysis yielded five interpretablefactors: Teaching Consolidation, Academic Amenities, Campus Infrastructure, Responsiveness,and Industry Orientation. The consolidated factor matrix indicated high factor loading on theretained factors. The regression analysis showed that the five factors accounted for 60.4% of thevariance of the service quality. Academic Amenities emerged as the strongest significantpredictor of service quality, followed by Teaching Consolidation, Responsiveness and CampusInfrastructure. None of the industry orientations was statistically significant in the final model.The results suggest that improvements in academic facilities, teaching quality, institutionalresponsiveness, and campus infrastructure can significantly improve perceptions of universityservice quality. The study offers valuable suggestions to university administrations and plannersto enhance quality assurance processes in the State Universities of Andhra Pradesh by makingthem student-centred.