STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ON THE QUALITY OF SERVICES DELIVERED BY EDUCATIONAL
ADMINISTRATORS AT THE INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION (INSTED), IIUM
BY
MUHAMMAD AWWAL IBN USMAN
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education
Institute of Education
International Islamic University Malaysia
AUGUST 2010
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ABSTRACT
The quest for service quality has been advocated in various instances by many scholars in the present information age where service quality delivery is seen as an important tool for competitive advantage in an institution or organization. Therefore this study is an attempt to examine the students’ perceptions on quality of services delivered at Institute of Education, IIUM. A total of 219 respondents were used in the study and each respondent is requested to indicate his experience and perceptions on the service quality using the SERVPERF instrument. In addition the validity and reliability of the instrument used were established using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and Pearson correlation coefficient for proper items loading. The findings indicated that the overall service quality was perceived positively and Tangible is the most present service quality dimension at INSTED. Also, it is found that the age of respondents strongly influence their perceptions on service quality while no significant difference occur regarding gender, nationality, study level and working experience of the respondents. Implications and Recommendations for future improvement of service quality delivery and practice were channeled to the appropriate authorities.
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ﺚﺤﺒﻟا ﺺﺨﻠﻣ
إ ن ﻟا ﻲﻌﺴ ﻲﻓ ﺔﻣﺪﺨﻟا ةدﻮﺟ ﻰﻠﻋ لﻮﺼﺤﻟا ﻦﻴﺜﺣﺎﺒﻟا ﻦﻣ ﺮﻴﺜآ ﻪﺑ ﻢﺘﻬﻳ ﺮﻣأ
ﻲﻓ
رﻮﺛ ﺮﺼﻋ ة
ﺚﻳﺪﺤﻟا تﺎﻣﻮﻠﻌﻤﻟا ﺚﻴﺣ ،
ﺗ ةﺰﻴﻤﻠﻟ ﺔﻤﻬﻣ ةادأ ﺔﻣﺪﺨﻟا ةدﻮﺟ ﺮﺒﺘﻌ
َ ﻦﻣو .ﺔﻴﻤﻴﻠﻌﺘﻟا تﺎﺴﺳﺆﻤﻟا ﻲﻓ ﺔﻴﺴﻓﺎﻨﺘﻟا ﱠﻢﺛ
ﻰﻟإ فﺪﻬﺗ ﺔﺳارﺪﻟا ﻩﺬه نﺈﻓ
ﺔﻌﻣﺎﺠﻟﺎﺑ ﺔﻴﺑﺮﺘﻟا ﺪﻬﻌﻣ ﺔﺒﻠﻃ تاراﻮﺼﺗ ﺔﺳارد ،ﺎﻳﺰﻴﻟﺎﻤﺑ ﺔﻴﻤﻟﺎﻌﻟا ﺔﻴﻣﻼﺳﻹا
ﺔﺳارﺪﻟا ﻲﻓ كرﺎﺷ ﺪﻗو .ﺪﻬﻌﻤﻟﺎﺑ ﺔﻣﺪﻘﻤﻟا ﺔﻣﺪﺨﻟا ةدﻮﺟ لﻮﺣ 219
.ًﺎﺒﻴﺠﺘﺴﻣ
ﺒﻠﻃو ﺔﺳارﺪﻟا ﺖ ﺐﻴﺠﺘﺴﻣ ﻞآ ﻦﻣ
ةدﻮﺟ ﻦﻋ ﻪﺗﺮﺒﺧو ﻩرﻮﺼﺗ ﻦﻋ ﺮﻴﺒﻌﺘﻟا
" ةادأ ماﺪﺨﺘﺳﺎﺑ ﻚﻟذو ،ﺔﻣﺪﻘﻤﻟا ﺔﻣﺪﺨﻟا SERVPERF
."
ﻦﻣ ﺪآﺄﺘﻟا ﻢﺗو
ﺪﺨﺘﺳﺎﺑ ﻚﻟذو ،ﺔﺳارﺪﻟا ﺔﻨﻴﻋ تﺎﺒﺛ ةﻮﻗو قﺪﺻ بﺎﺴﺣو ﺎﻔﻟأ خﺎﺒﻧوﺮآ ما
ﺞﺋﺎﺘﻧ ﺖﻠﺻﻮﺗ ﺪﻗو .تﺎﻨﻴﻌﻠﻟ ﻞﻀﻔﻤﻟا ﻞﻴﻤﺤﺘﻟا ﺔﺒﺴﻨﻟ نﻮﺳﺮﻴﺑ طﺎﺒﺗرا ﻞﻣﺎﻌﻣ ﺔﻣﺪﺨﻟا نأو ،ًﺎﻴﺑﺎﺠﻳإ نﺎآ ﺔﻣﺪﺨﻟا ةدﻮﺠﻟ ﻲﻠﻜﻟا رﻮﺼﺘﻟا نأ ﻰﻟإ ﺔﺳارﺪﻟا ﺎﻤآ .ﺪﻬﻌﻤﻟﺎﺑ ﺔﻣﺪﺨﻟا ةدﻮﺟ ﻞﻣاﻮﻋ ﻦﻴﺑ ًﺎﻣاﺪﺨﺘﺳا ﺮﺜآﻷا ﺖﻧﺎآ ﺔﺳﻮﻤﻠﻤﻟا ﻴﺠﺘﺴﻤﻟا ﻦﺳ نأ ﻰﻟإ ﺔﺳارﺪﻟا ﺞﺋﺎﺘﻧ ﺖﺼﻠﺧ ﻰﻠﻋ اﺮﻴﺛﺄﺗ ىﻮﻗﻷا ﻞﻣﺎﻌﻟا ﻮه ﻦﻴﺒ
ﺔﺳارﺪﻟا ﺞﺋﺎﺘﻧ نأ ﻰﻟإ ةرﺎﺷﻹا رﺪﺠﺗو .ﺔﻣﺪﺨﻟا ةدﻮﺠﺑ ﻖﻠﻌﺘﻳ ﺎﻤﻴﻓ ﻢﻬﺗارﻮﺼﺗ ﻪﺘﻠﺣﺮﻣو ﻪﺘﻴﺴﻨﺟو ﺐﻴﺠﺘﺴﻤﻟا ﺲﻨﺟ ﻦﻴﺑ ﺮآﺬﺗ قوﺮﻓ دﻮﺟو مﺪﻋ ﺖﺘﺒﺛأ ﻞﺒﻘﺘﺴﻣ ﺮﻳﻮﻄﺗو ﻦﻴﺴﺤﺘﻟ تﺎﻴﺻﻮﺘﺑ ﺔﺳارﺪﻟا ﺖﻤﺘﺘﺧاو .ﻪﺗﺮﺒﺧو ﺔﻴﻤﻴﻠﻌﺘﻟا ﻪﻴﺟﻮﺗ ﻢﺘﻳ نأو ،ﺔﻣﺪﻘﻤﻟا ﺔﻣﺪﺨﻟا ةدﻮﺟ ﻦﻴﻟوﺆﺴﻤﻟا ﻞﺒﻗ ﻦﻣ تﺎﻘﻴﺒﻄﺘﻟا
.ﻦﻴﻴﻨﻌﻤﻟا
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APPROVAL PAGE
I certify that I have supervised and read this study and that in my opinion it conforms to acceptable standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate in scope and quality, as a dissertation for the degree of Master of Education (Educational Administration).
..………..………
Hairuddin Mohd Ali Supervisor
I certify that I have read this study and that in my opinion it conforms to acceptable standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a dissertation for the degree of Master of Education (Educational Administration).
………
Muhamad Johdi Salleh Examiner
This dissertation was submitted to the Institute of Education and is accepted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Educational Administration).
..………..
Siti Rafiah Abd Hamid Director
Institute of Education
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DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the findings of this dissertation are the product of my research efforts. I also declare that it has not been previously or concurrently submitted as a whole for any other degrees at IIUM or other institutions.
Muhammad Awwal Ibn Usman
Signature ……….. Date ………...
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INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA
DECLARATION OF COPYRIGHT AND AFFIRMATION OF FAIR USE OF UNPUBLISHED RESEARCH
Copyright © 2010 by Muhammad Awwal Ibn Usman. All rights reserved.
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ON THE QUALITY OF SERVICES DELIVERED BY EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATORS AT THE
INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION (INSTED), IIUM.
No part of this unpublished research may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder except as provided below.
1. Any material contained in or derived from this unpublished research may only be used by others in their writing with due acknowledgement.
2. IIUM or its library will have the right to make and transmit copies (print or electronic) for institutional and academic purposes.
3. The IIUM library will have the right to make, store in a retrieval system and supply copies of this unpublished research if requested by other universities and research libraries.
Affirmed by Muhammad Awwal Ibn Usman.
……… ………..
Signature Date
vii
This research work is dedicated to my beloving Mother Hajiya Fatimatu Muhammad and My Late Father Mallam Usman Muhammadu Ibbare for their caring, courage
and love in nurturing me in accordance to Islamic guidance and principle.
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AKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to express my profound gratitude to Allah (S.W.T), the lord and sustainer of the Universe for giving me the strength, opportunity, guidance and endurance to successfully go through my studies. Salutation and benediction of Allah be upon our beloved Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W), his household and companions till the Day of Judgment.
My sincere appreciation goes to my courageous mother Hajiya Fadimatu Muhammad for her love, advice and encouragement shown to me. So also to my late father Mallam Usman Muhammad Ibbare for his moral and academic motivation, indeed he support my education fully in his life time. May Allah reward them all abundantly with Jannatul- firdaus.
My immense appreciation goes to my research Supervisor, Associate Professor, Dr. Hairuddin Bin Mohd Ali for his courage, motivation, simplicity and understanding in supervising this research work. To him I say thank you Sir. Indeed, I sincerely acknowledge the great effort of my second examiner Assistant Professor, Dr.
Mohamad Johdi Salleh, Sister Norizah of Postgraduate office and all my lecturers and advisers for their maximum support throughout my studies in IIUM.
Iam greatly indebted to my wife Asma’u, my children Abdussamad and Fadimatu Zahra, my friends brothers and sisters for their tireless support and solidarity throughout the period of this research work and my studies as a whole.
My special thanks goes to Alh. Aliyu Iya, Dr. Tukur Liman, Alh. Halilu Muhammad, Ustaz Ilyas Shuiabu Chiroma, Alh. Babayo Muhammad, Mal. Mukhtar Adamu and to all those that contributed directly or indirectly to the successful completion of my study and this research work particularly. Thank you all and may Allah bless, Amin.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract... ii
Abstract in Arabic... iii
Approval Page... iv
Declaration Page... v
Copy right Page... vi
Dedication Page... vii
Acknowledgement... viii
List of Tables... xii
List of Figures ... xiii
List of Abbreviations... xiv
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION………... 1
Background of the Study... 1
Customer Satisfaction ... 3
Service Quality and the University System... 4
The Need for Quality in Education... 5
Educational Administrators and Service Quality... 7
Institute of Education, IIUM ... 8
Statement of Problem... 12
Objectives of the Study... 14
Research Questions... 14
Significance of the Study... 15
Delimitations of the Study... 16
Structure of the Study... 17
Definition of Operational terms... 18
Conclusion... 19
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW………. 20
Introduction... 20
Definition of quality... 20
An Overview of Quality... 22
Service Quality... 24
Service Quality in Education... 29
Theoretical framework of the study... 31
Measuring models of service quality... 33
Validity and Reliability of SERVQUAL... 38
Validity... 38
Reliability... 39
Limitations of SERVQUAL Scale... 40
Conclusion... 42
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CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY………. 43
Introduction... 43
Research Design... 43
Participants... 44
Population... 44
Sample of the study... 45
Sampling procedure... 46
Instrumentation... 47
Validity and reliability of SERVPERF scale... 48
Data Collection Procedure... 49
Data Analysis Procedure ... 50
Conclusion... 50
CHAPTER FOUR: RESULT AND DATA ANALYSIS……… 52
Introduction... 52
Response Rate... 52
Descriptive Analysis... 53
Demographic Background of Respondents... 54
Validity and Reliability of the Instrument... 55
Validity... 55
Reliability... 57
Overall Students Scoring Response... 61
Perceived Service Quality dimension... 62
Service Quality and Independent Variables... 63
Service Quality, Gender and Nationality... 63
Service Quality and Study level... 66
Service Quality and Age... 66
Service Quality and Working experience... 68
Conclusion... 69
CHAPTER FIVE: DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATION………. 70
Introduction... 70
Discussion and Summary... 70
Summary of the Study... 70
Discussion of the Findings... 73
Overall Students’ perceptions on the Service Quality ... 74
Most Perceived Service Quality... 75
Service Quality Gender and Nationality... 77
Service Quality and Study level... 78
Service Quality and Age... 79
Service Quality and Working experience ... 79
Implication and Recommendation... 81
Implications for Future Research... 81
Implications for INSTED’s Staff and Management... 82
Implications for Student... 84
Conclusion... 84
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BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 87
APPENDICES... 97
APPENDIX A: SERVPERF Instrument... 97
APPENDIX B: Correlation Matrix of... 101
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LIST OF TABLES
Table No. Page No.
2.1 SERVQUAL Quality Dimension 35 2.2 Quality service Models and Dimensions 38 3.1 Population of Students according to their level of Study 44 4.1 Characteristic of Respondents in terms of their demography 54 4.2 Correlations Matrix of Service Quality Dimensions 57 4.3 Reliability of Service Quality Dimensions 58 4.4 Percentage Scouring of Students’ perceptions 61 4.5 Mean scores of Service Quality Dimensions 63 4.6 Descriptive statistics on Service quality y Gender 64 4.7 Independent sample t-test of Total Service by Gender 64 4.8 Descriptive Statistics and t-test of Total service by Nationality 65 4.9 Descriptive Statistics on Total service score by Study level 66 4.10 Analysis of Variance of Total service score by Study level 66 4.11 Descriptive Analysis of Age groups by Total Service Quality 67 4.12 Analysis of Variance of Total service by Age Group 67 4.13 Descriptive Analysis of working experience by Total service 68 4.14 Analysis of Variance of Total service by working experience 69
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure No Page No.
1.1 General Conceptual Model of the study 13
1.2 Outline of the structure of the study 18
2.1 Theoretical Framework of the study 32
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
IIUM International Islamic University Malaysia INSTED Institute of Education
ISESCO Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization SERVPERF Service Performance
SERVQUAL Service Quality
SPSS Statistical Package for Social Sciences UNITEC University of Technology New Zealand
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Education as the bedrock of all civilization and engine room for growth and development, nation building and wellbeing has experienced dramatic changes due to the contemporary global development in information and communication technology (ICT) that intensified the competition within and among institutions of higher education in terms of standard and quality service delivery. The essence of standard is to make education issue-oriented and relevant to the present dynamism of the globe and to foster the development of competent product in the intellectual environment, perhaps promoting a strategic future which is vital for the coming generations (Edward, 2002).
The unpredictable global transformation witnessed in the new millennium has not only changed the context of higher education as a whole but also the task and its demands in fulfilling the needs of relentless changing market particularly and society at large. This has contributed in developing more complexity and uncertainty in the teaching and learning environment as market forces becomes more influential in education now than ever (France & Andrew, 1993; Alma & Axel, 2007). The global quest for qualitative higher education has rapidly increased in the recent information and technological age, more especially in the developing countries, which for several years are facing a lot of challenges and backwardness in higher educational sector especially in academic and administrative services delivery which critically affect the development of academic prosperity, student productivity, science and technology.
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Though, improvements have been seen in Iran, Pakistan and Malaysia, most universities in the Muslim countries are heavily skewed towards the humanities in their curriculum and manual service delivery; only a few of them are oriented towards emphasizing on studying and the use of science and technological facilities in boosting the ability of their students (Babiker, 2007).
Words such as valued-added, competitive advantage, customers, are widely used in education recently compared to three decades ago where the words were only used in business and business-related areas only. The development of customer- oriented approach and intense competition among knowledge providers that was manifested through the phenomenon of commodification of knowledge, no doubt has gained momentum in universities recently across nations. Meanwhile, as the cost of acquiring higher education becoming higher, the students increasingly saw themselves as customers who ought to be served conveniently in terms of norms and values of quality service delivery that is concerned mainly with doing things accurately and better. Prior to strategies of improving quality of administrative service delivery, one has to figure out what “quality” is being addressed to serve in enabling students to engage in effective measures for brightening their future which is gradually becoming more uncertain (Bowden & Marton, 1998).
In order to gain competitive advantage, many institutions of higher education in the present day highly concentrate on quality service delivery and management to enhance global standard in both learning process and instructional facilities which has become a key strategy for maintaining normalcy, students’ retention and managing the overall improvement, effectiveness and adequate performance of institutions/organizations towards achieving academic excellence and world-class status (Chapman and Al-Khawaldeh, 2002). The notion of a “world class university”
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has become not only the concern and pride of the stakeholders but also the employers, investors, alumni, prospective students, applicants and the university themselves.
Quality-driven approach in nurturing and extending service delivery to customers vary from one university to another, yet Quality Assurance is a responsibility of each institutions of higher education and prerequisite for acceptability among prospective students/customers, industries and stakeholders. In this sense, Venkaiah (1995) stressed that Quality Assurance is a philosophy and a process in which all the functions and activities of an institution shall be treated equally, planned, controlled and implemented in a systematic and scientific manner.
Customer Satisfaction
The need to measure and understand customer satisfaction in a service organization has become an important element in the quality management strategy particularly in the academic environment or knowledge enterprise. Customers’ satisfaction is very crucial in gaining his/her loyalty, positive word of mouth, repetitive patronage and retention since a customer can easily express his/her feelings and appreciation regarding the quality of service delivered to him/her which in turn will attract the interest of other potential customers and applicants (Wirtz, 2003).
Customer satisfaction is the overall effective and cognitive evaluation of the service quality delivered in an organization while satisfaction has been seen as achieving what a person wants or as a feeling which results from a process of evaluating what was received against that expected by a customer (Gustafsson, 2005;
Ingrid, 2004; Seyed, 2008). Satisfaction exists in a situation where customers’
perceived performance of service quality meets or exceeds his expectations; in contrary, if perceived service quality is less than expectation, customers will be
4
dissatisfied which is critical to the survival of any service firm in the present competitive market (Lin, 2003). The value of maintaining customer satisfaction and loyalty is highly related to survival of service providers by creating competitive advantage via ensuring of service quality delivery and management.
Service Quality and University system
Higher education constitutes the best and most effective model of system when related to other sectors which remains the hope and root of development and highly appreciable by citizens in the developing nations particularly the Muslim countries (ISESCO, 2008). Meanwhile, in a university system, development of quality instructional and Administrative services need adequate strategies and complementary effort from all layers of employees particularly the academic and administrative staff through the guidance of a visionary leadership supported by the stakeholders and the beneficiary society. However, the continual process of service quality maintenance seems to be more difficult in an institution as it requires a regular quality assessment strategy where customers/students perceptions of service quality are assessed to ascertain the degree to which the services are delivered in the university in order to make improvement. The perception of customers on the service quality can only be obtain according to Jensen and Artz (2005) when data are collected and analyzed in order to provide the yardstick in frequent maintenance and development of a continuous quality service delivery process.
As the world become narrower and smaller in the information age, the acceptance of formal knowledge among individuals grows tremendously resulting in high rate of enrolment all over the globe. This among others has produced a new generation of students with customer awareness than before; getting feedback through
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students’ rating of service quality and delivery is one of the reliable sources of quality assessments to produce high levels of customers/students satisfaction (Michael &
Pamela, 2008). Certified quality Service delivery is a catalyst that links between customers and knowledge providers in the education sector which helps in the retention of customers and upgrading the status of institution to a level of gaining competitive advantage among other competitors in the knowledge industry. Gaining control on customers and achieving a high rate of return on investment have become possible to institutions whose prime concern is on assuring quality of their service delivery since the Interaction between customer and service organization lies at the heart of the quality of service delivery (Oldfield and Baron, 2000).
The Need for Quality in Education
Education is one of the key aspects of sustainable development in every society, as it develops skilful human resources needed for problem-solving across societies in the globe. Quality in education has become an important indicator of institutional survival in a competitive economy which necessitates stakeholders and educational leaders to strive hard and ensure that quality is assessed, defined and maintained in their institutions (Morley, 2003). The issue of quality education has gone beyond maintaining relevancy and identity in the market place, where focus are more laid on producing highly satisfied students with adequate capabilities and employability in the flexible global labour market (Clegg and Smith, 2010).
In order to provide learners with sound academic environment and prepare a platform for retaining and gaining attention of prospective students, likewise maintaining statuesque among knowledge providers, indeed quality need to prevail in all activities of learning institutions. Knowledge has increasingly becoming a
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commercial property rather than a public good as the case in the past three decades where students or their sponsors have mostly shouldered the increasing costs of education more than ever, which as a result has caused parents and students to be critical of what they are receiving in terms of educational service quality in the host institution. Hence, knowledge providers must strive hard in creating changes within the institutional framework and ensure the qualities of both human resources and facilities in order to develop efficiency and effectiveness of the learning environment of the institution in meeting its desired purposes (Ling, 2005, p.6).
Assuring quality in education will enhance student performance and develop stakeholders and faculty satisfaction which serves as an important factor in influencing the overall success of educational program (Bollinger & Wasilik, 2009).
The satisfaction perceived by faculty members on the availability of qualitative material aids and conducive learning climate that helps them in the easy dissemination of knowledge to students have a positive correlation with students’ performance (Hartman et al., 2000). In general, instructors mostly feel more satisfied where they are allowed to actively participate in all academic matters and when they perceive that they can positively contribute to students’ outcomes and achievements (Kashy et al., 2000).
Similarly, individual students are not only the consumers of education in the real context. The potential employers of students and the society that persistently benefit from the skills and contributions of the students are also considered as consumers, therefore assuring quality in education should be centrally based on meeting the need of consumers rather than just merely satisfying a single consumer of knowledge (Rogers, 1993). The pressure laid on educational institutions presently by society and continued challenges faced by knowledge providers has forced a
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significant relationship between quality and student learning in such a way that students are conscious in evaluating the quality of learning services provided to them as clients of the educational institution (Perry, 1990, p.14).
The demand for higher education among individuals in the society has grown continuously and its importance becoming more apparent due to the global changes and the world declaration on higher education in the present decade where nations favour policies towards developing a vehicle of transformation into a knowledge economy. In order to achieve this, educational institutions have to embrace quality in all their functions as a prerequisite encompassing teaching, academic programs, research, scholarship, staffing, student selection, infrastructure and academic environment (Hans et al., 2007).
Educational Administrators and Service Quality
Successful operation of an educational institution in order to maintain quality service delivery and actualization of relevant strategies and policies worth of attracting and maintaining students’ retention requires competent administrators. Educational administrators provide instructional leadership and manage the day-to-day activities in schools, preschools, day care centers, colleges and universities so as to meet the growing expectation of society and changing market needs (Robert, 2002). The emergence of educational administration as separate field few decades ago has caused a positive change in the way educational sector is managed or administered (Richard, 2006).
Similarly, educational administrators set educational standards and goals and establish the policies and procedures to achieve them. They develop academic programs, monitor students’ educational progress, train and motivate teachers and
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other staff, manage career development and other student services, administer recordkeeping, prepare budgets, and perform many other duties through understanding and coping with transformational change and the future achievement (Robert, 2002).
They also handle relations with parents, prospective and current students, employers, and the community. In an organization such as a small day care center, one administrator may handle all these functions. In universities or large school systems, responsibilities are divided among many administrators, each with a specific function in accordance with the vision and mission of the school (Harry, 2004). Educational administrators hold leadership positions with significant responsibility. Most find working with students extremely rewarding, but as the responsibilities of administrators have increased in recent years, so has the stress. Coordinating and interacting with faculty, parents, students, community members, business leaders, and State and local policymakers can be fast-paced and stimulating, but also stressful and demanding to administrators while ensuring that knowledge is produced, reproduced and disseminated effectively with defined quality and standard (Steve et al., 2002).
Institute of Education, IIUM
International Islamic University Malaysia was established in 1983 to cater for the intellectual development of the Muslim Ummah (community) and their neighbourhood which is in line with the recommendations of the Makkah Conference in 1977. The University main campus was situated in the Gombak area of Kuala Lumpur and supported by four other campuses across Malaysia. With concrete mission and vision, it has developed over the years into an innovative, forward- looking centre of comprehensive excellence and achievement (IIUM Students’
Prospectus, 2009).
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The University since its inception has become an institution of divergent academic programmes administered by twelve (12) faculties, centres and institutes which includes the Institute of Education (INSTED). The university environment is highly conducive in terms of Islamic norms, values and virtues, and has brought people of diverse cultural and religious background together from over ninety nations across continents and the university now has over 24,000 students and 3,000 teaching and administrative staff. Similarly, with quality driven knowledge, the University has been producing about 4,000 graduates annually since 1987, who are admired for their intellectual ability and diligence not only in the universities they have gone to further their studies, but also in the organizations they work, throughout the world (Students’
Prospectus, 2009).
In line with meeting Malaysia’s needs for graduate teachers, the Department of Education was established in 1987 and in 1990; the department was placed under the Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed knowledge and Human Sciences. It later became known as the Institute of Education, IIUM. Initially, the department of Education when created offered diploma courses in various specializations in Education, but later in 1990 the planning committee of the Ministry of Education approved the programme of Master’s of Education which was then launched the same year. Going by the increased needs of the nation, the department in 1997 began offering the Bachelor’s programme in Education, which was limited to Arabic language and literature. Later, as both the Master’s and Bachelor’s programmes became more established, various specializations were introduced to ease the choice of students, and they include programmes in Islamic Education, Teaching of Arabic as a second language (TASL), Teaching of English as a second language (TESL), Foundation, Counseling, Educational Administration, Educational Psychology. The Doctoral programme (PhD)
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was approved and started in 1999. The main objective of the Institute of Education presently is abiding by the mission and vision of IIUM in “Developing and refining the Islamic concepts, theory, practice and system of education which is capable of producing successive generations of Muslims who not only serve Allah faithfully and are committed to follow His guidance in all aspects of their lives, but are also knowledgeable and skillful so as to bring maximum benefits and avoid harm to themselves, mankind and the universe” (Institute of Education Handbook, 2007 p.19).
Through the establishment of the corporate strategy and Quality Assurance unit in 2008 at the university, the maintenance of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) has become the order of the day. The Institute of Education among other faculties strives hard in providing quality service to both customers and stakeholders in order to combat challenges from other units of the university and those from other knowledge providers outside university. Despite this effort, assessments and evaluations of service quality provided are needed from time to time through evaluations of customers’ and stakeholders’ perceptions on the services delivered.
The emergence of globalization has given birth to new dimensions on how knowledge is viewed in society. Knowledge is more or less now a private good rather than a public good, determined by the market forces. Therefore universities are presently not only competing on the types of knowledge they provide to attract and retain potential students, competent faculty members, but also on the amount of revenue gained in Return of Investment (ROI) annually for survival in the global knowledge industry. Perhaps, it has become imperative or relevant to conduct a study on how administrators of tertiary institutions influence students’ learning process in relation to quality service delivery. Carrying out a research in a specific field and testing the result and outcomes of a particular hypothesis has enabled scholars to
