Introduction
Education is a process of learning that needs well articulated systems to enable the learners to achieve their intended goals. This is a practice that is almost universal across the globe. It begins at infancy and perhaps never has an end in people’s lives. Scholars say that education is an endless process in people’s live because there is always something new to learn inconsiderate of age.
It is important to note that there are two types of education; the natural learning process and the one taught in learning institutions. Infants are brought into the world completely oblivious of whatever is contained in it. In most occasions, it is the duty of parents to educate their babies on the basics of life including mother-languages and other simple practical activities like walking and sitting.
On the other hand, there is the type of education that is only gotten in classes and in learning institutions like kindergartens, primary schools, high schools and institutions in higher learning. Education is a systematic process that requires an individual to first go through kindergartens to primary and high schools before he/she can eventually join an institution for higher learning; also called the university.
It is imperative to note that those who go through the formal educations (students) must have successfully passed the previous stages of education before they are able to graduate to the next step. In the event that a person does not meet the required qualifications in a previous stage of education, he/she is normally compelled to rewind and attain the pass mark before being given the go ahead to continue (Herbst, 2007).
Education plays an integral part of a country’s economic status. Learning institutions produce all the scholars, entrepreneurs, politicians, religious leaders and the overall society of a nation. For this reason, it is only wise that the education system within a country is drafted by intellects and monitored closely in order to realize the projected economic growth in the nation in question.
This not only applies to the low levels of education like kindergartens but also to higher education institutions like universities. Since education is a process that involves human effort, it is important that favorable environments are created in the learning institutions so as to come up with the very best scholars. This paper is meant to give an insight on students’ satisfaction at universities.
Students’ satisfaction at universities
The higher education sector in quite a number of countries is gradually becoming a competitive market. Countries have gone to an extent of importing labor meant to enhance education at their universities (University of Michigan, 2009). Additionally, quite a number of students have also sought higher education from foreign countries.
This indicates the importance of offering satisfactory services in these institutions. Students’ satisfaction at universities is currently a vital element of quality assurance (Pfeifer, 2011). This implies that the quality of labor produced for universities is highly dependent on the level of satisfaction the students had while still at school.
University students are the easiest to deal with due to their maturity, but only if offered acceptable and favorable environments to operate in. This can be achieved through a number of ways. The most important elements that should be factored in as far as students’ satisfaction at universities is concerned are students’ convenience and adequate time utilization. This is an indication that the duty of students’ satisfaction at universities is purely a managerial duty (Herbst, 2007).
Some universities can be referred to both as a hospitality institution and a learning institution. Such universities accommodate their students within their premises. On the other hand, other universities are purely learning institutions.
Some people have, however, argued that even though universities that do not accommodate their students are referred to learning institutions alone, nearly all of them offer meals to the students and so they are hospitality institutions too. In hospitality, guest satisfaction is the ultimate key to overall success. For this reason, universities ought to offer satisfactory services in satisfactory environments in order to meet their institutional objectives (Hilton, and Wilmington University, 2009).
Key areas of students’ satisfaction at universities
Education
Students have a sole purpose of attending universities; to get educated. As a result, it is only through satisfactory educational procedures that students will be able to attain their goals.
It is the duty of the university management to ensure that the various schools that offer different degree certificates are well equipped with the necessary machineries and staff in order to deliver the expected quality of education (Pfeifer, 2011). These machineries must meet international standards so as to produce the right labor that can be utilized internationally. That notwithstanding, the students have to agree with the machineries and staff as a quality assurance to their education.
Extracurricular activities
Education is normally supplemented with extracurricular activities in order to come up with a blend of knowledge and wisdom. Recent researches have indicated that incorporating games in learning plays an imperative role in nurturing real scholars. Besides, there are students whose passion for sporting activities is impregnable.
The only way to capture full concentration of such students in class is to enable them pursue their talents. This not only includes sporting activities but also drama and music amongst others. Just like in the hospitality industry where the customization of guest services is key to making sales, giving students exactly what they want plays an integral part in enhancing academic performance (University of Michigan, 2009).
Ease of congestion
Universities are probably the largest learning institutions amongst all other learning institutions. This is perhaps due to the fact that they attract quite a large population; both locally and internationally. For this reason, they are vulnerable to congestion. The management of universities must ensure that adequate control measures are deployed in areas that are vulnerable to congestion. For instance, many universities have come up with students’ portals where they can register their units, view their results and fee statements amongst others.
All these services are better provided online than manually as a way of easing congestion. Additionally, some lectures are taught via video conferencing in some universities. Other universities also post notes of some units on students’ portals. These are always done in the event that the number of students registered for a particular unit exceeds the capacity of lecture halls. This is ingenious as it enables students acquire the same quality of education despite their large population (Pfeifer, 2011).
Food and accommodation
Even though food and accommodation are not part of the core services of a university, they are vital in determining the extent of students’ satisfaction at universities. Students tend to value upscale accommodations services and food at school. When the otherwise is provided, they are most likely to cause commotion and a state of unrest in and around the university.
In order to curb this menace, it is important that the management of universities put in place measures to ensure that students are offered satisfactory services in this sector. Universities normally give students a variety of foods to choose from. In addition to that, they normally offer different classes of food outlets with different foods of different prices within the university in order to accommodate both the middle class and upper class students (University of Michigan, 2009).
Implications of students’ satisfaction at universities
The satisfaction of students at universities has quite a number of positive implications. There are institutional, individual and social implications related to students’ satisfaction at universities. The institutions gain in the sense that satisfied students are bound to carry on with their education at the university.
That aside, the students are most likely to do well in their academics and this translates to an enhanced reputation and financial position of the university (Herbst, 2007). This happens as a result of the fact that students’ success helps in retaining and attracting more students at the university.
Socially, students’ satisfaction at universities nurtures high achievers who in turn participate in the growth and development of the community. Any university that intends to maneuver its way to the helm of quality education should invest wholesomely in students’ satisfaction. Similarly, Yamamah University of Saudi Arabia should implement the students’ satisfaction measures too in order to meet its organizational projections.
Conclusion
The assessment of students’ satisfaction is important in providing a mechanism through which universities are able to focus on issues pertaining to quality assurance in a bid to provide high quality education. That notwithstanding, such measure of students’ satisfaction may be imperative in helping in the identification and application of development strategies. In conclusion, therefore, students’ satisfaction at universities is inevitable.
References
Herbst, M. (2007). Financing public universities: The case of performance funding. Dordrecht: Springer.
Hilton, Y. R., & Wilmington University (New Castle, Del.). (2009). The impact of student satisfaction with institutional factors on freshmen-to-sophomore year student persistence at an historically black university. New Castle: Wilmington University press.
Pfeifer, T. (2011). Quality management: Strategies, methods, techniques; with 3 tables$nElektronische Ressource. München [u.a.: Hanser.
University of Michigan. (2009). Total quality management in higher education: From assessment to improvement : an annotated bibliography. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan.