Pregled pomembnosti dejavnikov zadovoljstva za študente v visokem šolstvu

Background and purpose: Competition among higher education institutions is intensifying and such institutions are increasingly directing efforts towards improving their ranking. In this context, both high-quality programmes and student satisfaction have become major goals of universities. In our study, we tried to identify the importance of various factors influencing student satisfaction in higher education institutions. Design/Methodology/Approach: A paper-and-pencil survey was carried out in the 2017/18 academic year at the University of Maribor in Slovenia. Students were verbally informed of the nature of the research and invited to freely participate. They were assured of anonymity. Mean values and standard deviations of the responses were calculated. Friedman test was conducted to assess which satisfaction factors were a priority for the students. Inde­pendent samples t-test was used to examine whether a significant difference exists between specific groups. The correlations between satisfaction factors and selected study variables (age, average grade and readiness to spread information) were tested using Pearson correlation coefficients. Results: The study results revealed that the most important factors influencing student satisfaction were teaching staff, followed by administrative support, programme issues, physical environment, location of the institution, social life and support facilities. Significant differences between the genders were found for two satisfaction criteria, i.e. programme issues and administrative support, both being more important to women than men. We also found that the higher the level of the class, the lower was the importance of the satisfaction factors. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that higher education institutions need to focus efforts on improving the quality of teaching aspects so as to respond to the needs of their students, but also that they should not neglect non-teaching factors, especially regarding the physical environment. With improving these factors institutions can raise students’ satisfaction, gain on the reputation and impact future enrolment. Keywords: student satisfaction; higher education; teaching staff; support facilities; programme issuesOzadje in namen: Konkurenca med visokošolskimi ustanovami postaja vedno večja. Ustanove si prizadevajo za izboljšanje položaja na trgu in čim višjo uvrstitev na lestvicah visokošolskih ustanov. V zasledovanju tega cilja so postali visokokakovostni programi in zadovoljstvo študentov glavna skrb univerz. V naši raziskavi smo poskušali ugotoviti, kakšno pomembnost pripisujejo študenti določenim dejavnikom zadovoljstva v visokem šolstvu. Oblikovanje/metodologija/pristop: Podatke za raziskavo smo zbrali z anketnim vprašalnikom. Anketiranje je bilo izvedeno v študijskem letu 2017/18 na Univerzi v Mariboru v Sloveniji. Študenti so bili ustno obveščeni o naravi raziskave in povabljeni k prostovoljnemu sodelovanju. Anonimnost je bila zagotovljena. Izračunali smo povprečne vrednosti in standardne odklone odgovorov. Da bi ocenili, kateri dejavniki zadovoljstva so bili prednostni za študente, smo opravili Friedmanov test. Za ugotavljanje razlik med posameznimi skupinami smo uporabili t-test za primerjavo povprečij neodvisnih vzorcev. Korelacije med faktorji zadovoljstva in spremenljivkami, kot so: starost, povprečna ocena in pripravljenost za širjenje informacije o zadovoljstvu z ustanovo, smo testirali z uporabo Pearsonovega korelacijskega koeficienta. Rezultati: Rezultati študije so pokazali, da so najpomembnejši dejavniki, ki vplivajo na zadovoljstvo študentov, učitelji, katerim sledi administrativna podpora, programi, fizično okolje, lokacija ustanove, družabno življenje in pod­porne funkcije. Ugotovljene so bile pomembne razlike med spoloma pri dveh dejavnikih zadovoljstva, in sicer pri pro­gramih in administrativni podpori, ki sta pomembnejša ženskam. Ugotovili smo tudi, da se pomembnost dejavnikov zadovoljstva niža z višjim letnikom. Zaključek: Rezultati te študije kažejo, da se morajo visokošolske ustanove osredotočiti na izboljšanje kakovosti učiteljev in se s tem odzvati na potrebe svojih študentov. Poleg tega ne smejo zanemariti podpornih dejavnikov, kot so: knjižnica, dostop do interneta, prehrana in tudi urejenost fizičnega okolja ustanove. Z izboljšanjem teh dejavnikov lahko institucije povečajo zadovoljstvo študentov, pridobijo ugled in vplivajo na vpis v prihodnosti. Ključne besede: zadovoljstvo študentov; visoko šolstvo; učitelji; podporni dejavniki; program