The gap between the expected service by students and the student’s expectations in the view of the faculty

Abstract

Higher Education Institutions (HEI) are ever more interested in the development of tools that would enable to evaluate and manage the expectations of their students, with the purpose of attracting and keeping them satisfied. This study has proposed to compare what the gap between what faculty believes the student to expect from a course from a HEI and the real expectations of the student entering higher education. For this purpose, a quantitative research was conducted with students from a HEI through the application of a questionnaire. In order to enable the gap analysis, the faculties’ perceptions at the HEI were also collected through an adapted questionnaire. The results of the investigation demonstrated that the faculty believes that the student expects aspects related to the physical infrastructure, technology, internal processes and the required resources for the teaching service delivery. However, the student expects a placement in the market and their ascension in their professional and personal lives. We concluded that to identify the existence of the gap will enable the HEI to adjust its services in a more assertively manner, which can lead students to satisfaction.