Learners’ Perception of an Institution’s Reputation: Quantitative Evidence from the OUM 2014 Tracer Study

The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between curriculum, assessment system, teaching staff, facilities, knowledge and skills, effectiveness of study programmes against the learners' perception of the institution’s reputation at Open University Malaysia (OUM). The data was derived from an online tracer study conducted by the Ministry of Education (MOE), Malaysia via a set of standard questionnaire, which in part, evaluates the responses from Malaysian graduates on the reputation of their alma maters. This paper presents the results of the study conducted on a total of 1,273 respondents of the 2014 batch of OUM graduates. A total of 933 usable data from the online survey was used for analysis. Focus group discussion was undertaken to provide justification for the content validity of the instrument. A regression analysis was conducted and the result shows that assessment system, teaching staff, and effectiveness of study programmes have a significant effect on learners' perception of the institution’s reputation. [ABSTRACT BY AUTHORS]