USING STRUCTURE EQUATION MODELING TO CONSTRUCT STUDENT SATISFACTION MODELS FOR PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES OF PAKISTAN

Globalization and privatization of higher education across the globe have an immense influence over the delivery of service called ‘higher education’. Private universities are in search of Business Excellence Models (BEMS) in competitive global world. They are struggling to build their image and reputation so that they can attract customers and public funding. University image has much to do with establishing the brand in market to attract quality students and faculty and it can be best assured through service quality and student satisfaction. Brown and Mazzarol (2009) have suggested that the university reputation or the institutional image has strong relationship with the perceived loyalty and belongingness with the institution. According to them the student satisfaction had weak and indeterminate link with the service quality of both types “human ware” (people and processes) and “hardware” (tangibles and facilities).A quantitative study was conducted in seven private Pakistani universities to assess students’ perceptions of service quality and the process of reputation-building. The study examines the interaction of students’ perception about the image and satisfaction with service delivery to procure customer satisfaction models predicting future sustainability of the market for the universities. Results suggest that leadership marks the difference; it is the planning and delivering of the most obligatory service—higher education— which is making the desired outcomes reachable to customers and earning outreach to the future market.