Students’ satisfaction in higher education: the role of practices, needs and beliefs of teachers

Published date04 February 2019
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-05-2018-0061
Pages56-69
Date04 February 2019
AuthorFrancesca Bassi
Subject MatterEducation
Studentssatisfaction in higher
education: the role of practices,
needs and beliefs of teachers
Francesca Bassi
Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Padua, Padova, Italy
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of the paper is the analysisof the evolution of studentssatisfaction over time in a
large Italian universityand the effects on it because of some characteristicsof the teachers: didactic practices,
beliefs andneeds with regard to teaching and learning.
Design/methodology/approach The rst step of the analysis identies a latent construct,measured
with items composingthe questionnaire, and proposes a reduced set of indicators to measure satisfactionand
to model its evolution over time (information collected in three consecutive academic years is available).A
second step clusters teachers in homogenous groups with reference to their opinions, beliefs and needs,
collected with a new survey conducted at the Universityof Padova, with the aim of developing strategies to
support academic teachers. Then, a mixture conditional latent growth model is estimated with covariates
affectingthe latent parameters and class membership.
Findings Model estimation identiesa large group of university courses with a highlevel of satisfaction,
which stays constant over time, and a smallgroup of problematic courses with low satisfaction, moreover,
that decreases over the three consideredacademic years. Interesting signicant effects of covariatesrelated to
both the teacherand the didactic activity are estimated.
Originality/value Statisticalanalyses show that the implementation of innovative didacticpractices and
commitment to qualityof teaching are important factors to be encouraged by the universitymanagement. On
the contrary, the traditionalist way of teaching and a low passion for teaching do not improve students
satisfaction.
Keywords Latent growth models, Latent class models, Quality of the didactics,
Academic professors
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Studentsparticipation in university life as well as their perception and evaluation of
teaching quality play a major role in higher education. The role of students seems in fact
relevant as part of the teaching-evaluation process, and studentsevaluation of teaching
(SET) seems to be an almost universally accepted method of gathering information about
the quality of education(Zabaleta, 2007).
The University of Padua was founded in 1,222 and is one of the largest in Italy, with
around 61,000 students and 2,000 professorsworking in 32 different departments and eight
schools: agriculturalsciences and veterinary medicine, economics and politicalsciences, law,
engineering, medicine, psychology,science, human and social science and cultural heritage.
The Italian university system is based on the so called 3 þ2 reform, which started in the
academic year 2001-2002, and it is organizedin cycles with three consecutive levels: a rst-
cycle academic degree lasting three years,a second-cycle academic degree of two years and
a PhD course. There exists a small group of single-cycle degrees lasting ve years,
specically in medicine, veterinary, law and architecture. (Meggiolaro et al.,2017). At the
QAE
27,1
56
Received22 May 2018
Revised30 October 2018
Accepted21 December 2018
QualityAssurance in Education
Vol.27 No. 1, 2019
pp. 56-69
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0968-4883
DOI 10.1108/QAE-05-2018-0061
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0968-4883.htm

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