Development of engineering education service quality model from faculty perspective

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to develop and empirically validate a service quality model for engineering education, from the faculty perspective, in the Indian context. This research was conducted in two phases: qualitative study and quantitative study. In the qualitative study, the dimensions of engineering education specific to the Indian context were identified using focus group discussions of 28 faculty members from an Indian Engineering Institute. Then the quantitative study was conducted in two stages: pilot study and main study. In the pilot study, survey questionnaire was developed and tested for reliability and validity by collecting data from 63 faculty members of three engineering colleges. In the main study, data was collected from 206 faculty members of five engineering colleges. The model was validated for reliability and validity using exploratory factor analysis.

Findings showed that the engineering education service quality model from faculty perspective consists of eight dimensions viz. research orientation, personal growth, higher-order learning, effective teaching, support processes, project opportunities, workload and infrastructure. Out of the eight dimensions, four dimensions namely research orientation, project opportunities, personal growth and higher-order learning are the unique contribution to service quality models as these were not explored by the existing studies.

Keywords:

• service quality
• higher education
• engineering education
• India

Acknowledgement

Authors acknowledge the contribution and support of Professor Arti Kalro, Faculty, SJM SOM, IIT Bombay, without which this work would not have been possible. They are also grateful to the management of the sample institutes for allowing to collect data for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.