G. A. DIMAS ET AL. 311
global satisfaction into higher levels. Exception could possibly
exist for the criterion Image-Fame with high satisfaction level,
well above the mean value, which is likely to reflect the De-
partment’s overall reliability, representation and quality and
hence forms its competitive advantage.
Consequently the Department should elaborate a middle term
improvement plan for the dimensions stated earlier taking into
consideration the priorities for the criteria and sub-criteria de-
rived from the analysis and connect them with effective actions
to fulfill student’s expectations. For example Academic Staff
should examine the adoption of contemporary methods and
techniques regarding the delivery of lectures and communica-
tion with students so that students become eventually motivated.
Motivated students are satisfied students (Suhre et al., 2007;
Schertzer, 2004 ) and this is actually a crucial point raised from
the results since students are neutral or non demanding towards
all criteria and sub-criteria which directs to lack of motivation.
This could be partly explained from the way the Greek system
for university entry works. It might be the fact, that for a certain
percentage of students, the Department was not their first uni-
versity entry choice.
Conclusion
Improving quality service has become an important task for
most higher education institutions. However there exist many
arguments supporting the close relationship between service
quality and customer satisfaction. Moreover some studies, men-
tioned above, argue that perceived quality depends on satisfac-
tion and consequently increasing customer’s satisfaction leads
to a rise in service quality. This study adopts a multi-criteria
methodology in the estimation of student satisfaction and at-
tempts, via its methodology, to give some more light in the
relationship of student satisfaction and quality characteristics
since global satisfaction depends on a set of criteria represent-
ing quality dimensions.
The results of the research show that the mean global student
satisfaction is quite high (83.7%) suggesting though marginal
improvements. Furthermore the results confirm the significance
of analyzing student satisfaction and the implications that are
assigned to specific quality dimensions of higher education. For
instance it is really interesting to see the importance that stu-
dents pay in the criteria that compose global satisfaction and
also take under consideration the demanding level that students
display to these criteria. Particularly, students consider of high
importance the criterion Image-Fame of the Department, which
probably reflects its overall quality and reliability, and of low
importance the criteria Program study, Academic Staff, Admini-
strative Services and Equipment (Tangibles). Additionally
combining the estimated satisfaction indexes and weight factors
for the criteria (sub-criteria), improvement diagrams may be
produced indicating which dimensions should be improved to
increase the global satisfaction. The improvement efforts and
the suggestions that arise should be based on the logic of pre-
serving the satisfaction levels of the strong points while in-
creasing the satisfaction of the weak points. A supplemental
result to draw attention is that students appear to be neutral or
non demanding to all criteria and sub-criteria.
Consequently, it becomes clear that the Department should
work out a middle term plan, based on satisfaction analysis
results, to minimize dissatisfaction and to increase motivation
and thus limit the percentage of indifferent students. Of crucial
importance is the extent to which academic staff recognizes the
analysis results, which forms an influential factor connected
with the follow up actions that will lead to quality improvement.
Using MUSA methodology on a regular overtime basis may
provide valuable insights into changes and trends regarding
student’s satisfaction and its constituent dimensions.
A straightforward consequence from the above considera-
tions could possibly be the adaption of a satisfaction barometer
in the evaluation systems of higher education institutions, so
that student’s satisfaction could be regularly monitored and
associated with correspondent quality actions and policies. The
former may be interactively connected with the external evalua-
tion that is undergoing in Greek Higher Education since 2007,
combining thus external and internal assessments into a struc-
tured quality framework.
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