Towards a model of service excellence at a community college in Trinidad and Tobago

Purpose Unless higher education institutions ensure that first-rate academic programme offerings are supported with the provision of high-quality services, student satisfaction, retention, enrolment and ultimately, viability of the institutions will be adversely affected (Canic and McCarthy, 2000). The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the quality of selected administrative and academic support services by a community college in Trinidad and Tobago using a performance-only model of service quality (SERVPERF). This also informed the development of a service quality construct unique to the particular educational setting. Design/methodology/approach A multi-method approach was adopted where qualitative data from focus groups and two routine institutional surveys were triangulated with quantitative data from a slightly modified SERVPERF survey administered to separate random samples of students. Principal component analysis was also used to examine the unique service quality dimensions in this setting. Findings Results indicated that students had major issues with the timeliness of responses and staff not taking time to understand their needs. They also placed a high value on knowledge and courtesy of staff. Three separable dimensions of service quality (effectiveness and efficiency; professional and personal touch; and tangibles) emerged from the analysis. Originality/value This research demonstrated an appropriate approach which could be used to evaluate overall service quality as well as develop an instrument to routinely monitor, assess and inform improvements to service quality at similar types of tertiary-level educational institutions.