A SERVQUAL-Based Framework for Assessing Quality of International Branch Campuses in UAE

Abstract

The quality of education provided in management institutions is a matter of debate in every country. With a rapid growth in the economy, the quality of management education provided in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has also been a topic in the forefront. The burgeoning growth in this sector, with mushrooming “branch campuses” from around the world in the UAE, has led policy makers to reflect on the importance of quality of management education being imparted. The main purpose of this article is to explore the quality of management education in the UAE, and the study draws on the SERVQUAL model for the same. The study investigates the five dimensions (responsiveness, assurance, tangibility, empathy, and reliability) of service quality and identifies the gap between the perception and expectation, examining service standards across seven branch campus universities for management education providers in the UAE. A questionnaire survey with 300 university students from seven different branch campus universities in the UAE was conducted. The key findings of the study revealed a significant difference between the student’s expectations from management education and their perception in all five dimensions of service quality. The gaps were compared across the five dimensions, and the highest and the lowest service quality gaps were given to assurance and responsiveness, respectively.