Evaluating the quality of educational services from the perspective of learners at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in 2018

Students are the main recipients of educational services in universities. By investigating their expectations and perceptions of educational performance, we can provide the context for program developing to improve educational quality of services. In previous studies, the quality of services was reported from the perspective of undergraduate students. Since the expectations and the type of education are various in different stages, the current study investigates the quality of educational services based on the SERVQUAL model in postgraduate and graduate students. 

This cross-sectional study was conducted on 321 students at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (58 bachelor, 67 masters, 58 PhD and 134 residents) by a questionnaire to evaluate the quality of educational services based on SERVQUAL model in 2018. Participants were selected by convenient sampling method and by answering the questionnaire, their opinions in five dimensions of service quality (Reliability, Responsiveness, Empathy, Assurance, Tangibles with a score range from 1 to 4 and the gap between the current situation and the desired between -3 to +3) were determined. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software version 26, paired t-test, independent sample t-test and ANOVA.

The results of current study indicated that there was a negative gap between studentschr('39') expectations and perceptions in all five dimensions. ). In general, the largest gap was in the response dimension (-1.1 ± 0.76) and the lowest was in the confidence dimension (-0.78 ± 0.69). Among different levels of students, the largest gap is from the perspective of undergraduate students (-1.1 ± 0.7) and the smallest gap possess to the PhD students (-0.69 ± 0.57), and the total service gap from the viewpoint of the non-native students (-1.0 ± 0.6) was higher than native students (-0.85 ± 0.67). 

According to this study, the quality of services has been lower than studentschr('39') achievements in all dimensions. This requires specific planning in priority areas for quality improvement.