Modeling undergraduate STEM students' satisfaction with their programs in China: an empirical study

Several major reform areas attempted by 'New Engineering Education' (NEE), China's most recent engineering education reform initiative at university level, are examined for their direct and indirect impact on Chinese STEM-major students' satisfaction with their programs in this study. With data collected from a sample of 619 Chinese undergraduate students, the measurement and structural models both display good model fits. The structural results indicate thatcourse satisfactionfully mediates the impact ofclassroom instruction methodonprogram satisfaction, while partially mediates the impact ofsupport from faculty membersandalternative assessment methodsonprogram satisfaction. The impact ofresource and serviceonprogram satisfaction,however, is direct without any mediating effect in between. Multigroup analyses show that the impact ofalternative assessment methodsoncourse satisfactionis significantly stronger for first-tier university students than for non-first-tier university students. Furthermore, there is stronger impact ofresource and serviceonprogram satisfactionfor junior and senior students than for freshmen and sophomores. Practical implications are discussed.