COMPARATIVE STUDY REGARDING STUDENTS' PERCEPTION ON EDUCATIONAL SERVICES PROVIDED BY INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITIES

Purpose – This paper aims to reach two coordinates: identifying the determinant factors for increasing international students’ satisfaction with the educational service provided by the host university, on one hand, and advancing a set of measures that could increase this satisfaction, on the other hand. Methodology/approach – The applied research method consists in the comparative analysis of different results obtained by various previous researches, based on the application of the SERVQUAL model in universities from different areas of the world, with the aim of determining international students’ perceptions regarding the quality level of the received educational service. Findings – The paper emphasizes the determinant factors for increasing international students’ satisfaction with educational services and the measures that once adopted could increase their satisfaction. Research limitations/implications – The sample of universities taken into account for the study is relatively small and therefore the obtained results cannot be extrapolated to the majority of foreign students that study at universities abroad. Practical implications – The study highlights those elements that could lead to the improvement of quality management in a higher education institution. Originality/value – It is a specific study that could help stakeholders to acknowledge the importance of the foreign student’s perceptions about the quality of university management