Assuring quality service in higher education: registration and advising attitudes in a private university in Lebanon
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09684880210446866 |
| Pages | 198-206 |
| Date | 01 December 2002 |
| Published date | 01 December 2002 |
| Author | Kamal Abouchedid,Ramzi Nasser |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Assuring quality service
in higher education:
registration and
advising attitudes in a
private university in
Lebanon
Kamal Abouchedid and
Ramzi Nasser
Introduction
Since the 1990s many Arab countries such as
Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates have
witnessed a rapid mushrooming of fee-paying
private universities, ostensibly with the aim of
providing liberal education and diverse
academic majors to Arab citizens. For
instance, Lebanon, which is an Arab country
known for its strong tradition in spreading
liberal education through the establishment of
private educational institutions, currently
accommodates 18 officially recognized private
universities that are mostly patterned after the
American credit system of higher education.
These universities attempt to retain students
mainly by providing a variety of academic
majors as well as by adopting aggressive
market-oriented recruitment policies. Despite
the growth of private universities in Arab
countries, the quality of academic services
provided to students is increasingly brought
into question due to a lack of professional
training, and use of modern technology. This
paper addresses how students in a Lebanese
private university assess the service provided
at registration in order to address issues
dealing with student retention.
The service quality concept in higher
education is inextricably linked to the
competitive service and success of an
institution (Parasuraman et al., 1988). Service
quality helps meet the basic objective of
retention and enrollment of students in
universities. With the idea that these
institutions have a market to provide for, how
well they provide students with services as
registering students can be of value to their
stature and academic reputation. Thus, the
retention of students through academic and
administrative provision is often associated
with services that link the registrar with
admission of the academics (Gunn and
Backes, 1992).
The first exposure of the student to the
university is through the admission and
registrar services. ``There is a general belief
that the registrar continues to act as Cerberus
guarding the gateway [to the university]''
(Gunn and Backes, 1992, p. 184). Providing
high quality service to students contributes to
the positive assessment of the university in its
services rendered to its clients. Unfortunately,
epistemological views in the Arab world
reflect educational settings as a place where
traditional instruction takes place. Other units
The authors
Kamal Abouchedid is Assistant Professor at Notre Dame
University, Zouk Mosbeh, Lebanon.
Ramzi Nasser is Assistant Professor at Bishop's
University, Lennoxville, Canada.
Keywords
Quality assurance, Advisory services, Higher education,
Lebanon
Abstract
The first encounter of students at universities is the
administrative office, which leaves a lasting imprint for their
entire experience in higher education. With the exponential
growth of higher education in the Middle East, private
universities face hardened competition in the overall
retention of students. Registrar and academic advising
offices are vital components to the university as well as the
front end to the universities' service quality. This study
attempts to measure student attitudes of registration and
academic advising across different faculties to assure
positive quality service complementing that of the academic.
Keeping in mind that many developing universities in the
Middle East and other nations have not yet utilized
automated services to meet student needs, the present
study provides recommendations in the inroads
en route
to
the development of touch-tone and Web-banner automated
registration for a positive assessment of service quality.
Electronic access
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198
Quality Assurance in Education
Volume 10 .Number 4 .2002 .pp. 198±206
#MCB UP Limited .ISSN 0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/09684880210446866
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