Service quality ideals in a competitive tertiary environment

Drawing on the experience of an Engineering School in Singapore, the paper explores the success factors of service quality in higher education by integrating the characteristics of SERVQUAL (an instrument for assessing students' experience of higher education) and SQA (Singapore Quality Award). Data were collected by means of structured interviewing from a variety of faculty within the School. Customer orientation, quality course design and delivery as well as support services were found to have a direct impact on the total experience of students. The study reinforces the emerging educational paradigms that seek to challenge norms and assumptions, gearing educators to do the right things rather than doing things right. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.