ASSESSMENT OF SERVICES QUALITY AND SATISFACTION: COMPARATIVE STUDY OF TURKISH STUDENTS IN LITHUANIAN AND MALAYSIAN UNIVERSITIES

This study attempts to assess the quality and satisfaction of educational services offered by Lithuanian and Malaysian Universities from the Turkish students' views. Gap analyses based on the SERVQUAL model were used to analyse the perception and expectation quality of service quality rendered by two universities of equal status in Lithuania and Malaysia. Stratified sampling was employed to ensure fair representation of the Turkish students. A questionnaire consisting of 35 items representing five dimensions of services quality, i.e. tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy was developed to measure the service quality gap of the respondents. The results of single mean t-tests for 40 hypotheses show that perception of services quality and satisfaction of the Turkish students varies across two universities. Both universities recorded negative service quality gaps, implying feelings of dissatisfaction among the Turkish students. However, the Malaysian university recorded a higher level of dissatisfaction than the Lithuanian university. Managerial and structural recommendations emancipating from the findings of this study were provided accordingly.