A new management element for universities: satisfaction with the offered courses

Purpose - The university environment is experiencing important changes that have to be managed in order to ensure the university's survival. One of the most notable changes is the appearance of a new kind of student who wants to update and/or expand his/her knowledge. This has caused universities to expand their educational offer through seminars, Master's programmes, special courses. This work endeavours a dual objective: to analyse the elements that determine the attendees' satisfaction with the stated courses; and to analyse the relationship between the satisfaction experienced by the course attendees and their loyalty to the institution that offers the courses. Design/methodology/approach - The information from a survey of the attendees of these kinds of courses at a Spanish university has been used. Findings - The work herein developed shows how the teaching staff, the teaching methods and course administration are key elements to achieving student satisfaction and their subsequent loyalty. Research limitations/implications - This research has been applied to a specific university, and it would be appropriate to expand the research to other institutions of higher education. Practical implications - The appropriate management of the determinants of satisfaction is vital to the strategic decisions of universities. Originality/value - The work centres on the analysis framework, on a new kind of student and on these students' specific demands, specifically on the demands satisfied through short courses aimed at updating previously acquired knowledge. Most prior works focus on analysing the satisfaction with university degrees and on the educational offer that these organisations can provide, such as continuing education and/or complementary courses.