Student-Perceived Service Quality in Management Science MS, PhD Programs of Tier 1 Business Schools in Karachi

The contemporary academic environment, marked by the marketization of education, have been observing adoption of the practices and concepts originating from the business world. An example of marketization of education is the adoption of the concept of measurement of service quality which is already established in the business world, and now increasingly gaining recognition in the academia as well. This research is an attempt to evaluate service quality in Management Sciences programs using students’ perception. A sample of MS, PhD program of Tier 1 private sector business schools operating in Karachi. A modified version of the standard SERVQUAL instrument that was previously authorized by a PhD faculty member and three students of the MS program, was used to collect data from the students of this program, both former and current. The findings of this study outlined a gap between expectations and perceptions of students in all the five dimensions, known as: assurance, tangibility, empathy, reliability, and responsiveness of service quality. A detailed analysis of the data revealed that the campus facilities, access to academic and research resources, consultation time, and access to advisors are some of the areas, where the university administrators should be focusing their attention more. Although, this study is not rigorous because of short time horizon and low response rate, nevertheless, the study has attempted to explore into some of the service quality-related problems the management sciences faculty has currently been experiencing. Moreover, the gap model discussed in this study may prove to be a valuable tool for the administrators to enhance the service quality of the faculty.