Through a different lens: bridging the expectation-perception (quality) divide in higher education

The paper draws on the underpinnings of SERVQUAL (a Service Quality measurement model) and explores three key aspects of service standards as adopted by an Engineering School in Singapore: customer orientation, course design/delivery and support services. Qualitative methodology was employed and data were collected by means of structured in-depth interviewing with 24 respondents. Findings reveal that the way students are perceived, whether as customers or products, has a direct influence on the type of learning dynamics developed both inside and outside the classroom. Service quality needs to be evaluated on the basis of an integrated experience within a network of learning spaces created to promote dialogue, inquiry and reflection. By looking at the correlations of two sets of findings measuring gaps and perceived performance from a foreign study, a number of attributes were uncovered, illuminating our conceptual framework. It reveals another dimension of SERVQUAL such that the internal gaps would be made more explicit through the lenses of performance-based measures.