Assessment of Educational Service Quality Gap: The Students’ Perspectives

Background: No one can deny the importance of educational services and the role it plays in attaining social goals. Proper training and students’ satisfaction leads to system promotion and finally social development. This study aimed to evaluate the educational service quality in Qazvin University of Medical Sciences (QUMS). Methods: This cross - sectional studywasconducted in 2014among327 students of QUMSwhowereselected through simplerandom sampling. The most significant variables were tangibility, assurance, empathy, reliability, and accountability of the educational service quality. The data were collected using the 27 - item SERVQUAL questionnaire. Cronbach’s alpha score ( = 0.88) and test - retest (R = 0.83) method were used to determine the reliability of the questionnaire. Results: The average age of the students was 22.23.1 years. The quality gap of the educational services was -1.62, -1.70, -1.52, -1.31, and - 1.15 for assurance, accountability, empathy, reliability, and tangibility, respectively, which was statistically significant (P< 0.001). The mean educational service quality gap was -1.38 based on the students’ perceptions (P < 0.001). There was no significant relationship between the students’ perceptions and expectations and their gender (P > 0.05). Conclusions: There are significant gaps in the educational service quality regarding accountability and assurance. More attention from policymakers seems to improve the educational service quality.