What is it about?
Over the past 40 years, universities worldwide have tried to measure and improve their service quality using various frameworks like SERVQUAL, but most approaches have significant blind spots. We reviewed 275 studies from 66 countries and found that while institutions can measure student satisfaction, they struggle to actually improve services because: (1) current models focus almost exclusively on students while ignoring faculty, staff, and employer perspectives, (2) most research uses one-time surveys that can't prove what causes improvement, and (3) traditional frameworks weren't designed for today's digital learning environments. Students consistently report gaps between what they expect and what they receive, particularly in responsiveness and physical facilities. The shift to online learning during COVID-19 exposed these limitations further. To genuinely enhance educational quality, institutions need frameworks that incorporate multiple stakeholder viewpoints, track changes over time to understand what actually works, and integrate digital learning as a core dimension rather than an afterthought.
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Why is it important?
This research matters because universities worldwide are struggling to improve their services despite decades of measuring student satisfaction. Our comprehensive 40-year analysis reveals critical blind spots in current approaches: institutions focus almost exclusively on student opinions while ignoring other key stakeholders like faculty and employers, they use one-time surveys that can't identify what actually causes improvement, and traditional frameworks weren't designed for today's digital learning environments. With the COVID-19 pandemic exposing these limitations further, our findings provide a roadmap for developing more effective quality assessment frameworks. By incorporating multiple perspectives, tracking changes over time, and integrating digital learning as a core component, institutions can move beyond simply measuring satisfaction to genuinely enhancing educational quality and outcomes for all stakeholders.
Perspectives
As researchers based at NIT Raipur, we've witnessed firsthand the challenges Indian higher education institutions face in balancing traditional quality measures with rapid technological transformation. This review project emerged from our observation that while universities collect extensive student feedback, they often struggle to translate these insights into meaningful improvements. What surprised us most during this four-decade analysis was the persistent gap between what students expect and what institutions deliver - particularly in responsiveness and facilities - despite significant research attention. We hope this comprehensive synthesis will help institutions worldwide move from reactive measurement to proactive quality enhancement, especially in developing countries where resource constraints make effective quality management even more critical.
Pawan Kataria
National Institute of Technology Raipur
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Assessing service quality in higher education: a four-decade literature review (1984–2024), Quality Assurance in Education, December 2025, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/qae-08-2025-0229.
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