Perception of distance learning (E-PJJ) students toward the service quality offered by the continuing education programme: A case study at higher education institutionin Malaysia

• Published in: Distance Education
• Main Author: Zakaria Z.; Amirrudin F.A.; Awang M.; Daud N.M.
• Format: Book chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. 2010
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84895236913&partnerID=40&md5=5949ba1b5164f5537e5fdfc2560cb556

Service quality in Malaysia is not a new issue but where the higher education institution is concerned, service quality is a pressing subject. With many players in the higher education institutions, ranging from public universities to private colleges to branches of foreign universities, the competition among them is great. Therefore, quality plays a major role for a higher learning institution to gain competitive advantage from its competitors. In light of this development, the researchers decided to engage in a study of evaluating the perceptions of the distance learning (E-PJJ) students towards the service quality offered by the Continuing Education Programme (CDP) at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Dungun campus, Terengganu. The researchers conducted the research based on the SERVQUAL model proposed by Parasuraman et al (1988). They suggested that the Service Quality of an industry consists of five dimensions, namely Tangibility, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy. Based on this model, the researchers evaluated the gap between the expectations and the perceptions of the students towards the five service quality dimensions. A sample of 60 students was chosen from a total population of 77 students. However, only 57 respondents participated in the survey. The researcher discovered that even though there were significant gaps between the expectations of the students with their actual experience of receiving the service (perceptions), the majority shows a high degree of satisfaction towards the service provided by the CDP at UiTM Dungun. © 2011 Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.