An Investigation into Service Quality Delivery at the University of KwaZulu-Natal

KEYWORDS Service Quality. Service Delivery. GAPS Model. SERVQUAL Model/Instrument ABSTRACT As the global economy battles through the credit crunch, universities too, are under pressure to attract students. The way forward in these difficult economic times is for universities to become more market driven and position themselves using quality of their services as a major competitive advantage. In this paper researchers explore how service quality provided by the University of KwaZulu-Natal is perceived by staff, and strategies that may attract students using high levels of service quality offered. The study was conducted using a cross sectional design involving aca demic and support staff at the University of Kwa Zulu Natal. The main objective was to identify staff's perceptions of service quality offered at the university. Since academic and support staff are primary deliverers of the different aspects of the tertiary education service provided to the students, it is important to examine their views on service quality. Staff reported that the university needs to set itself apart from all others by strategically providing high quality service that is reliable, tangible, empathetic, assuring and responsive to students.