Title: Factor analysis - AHP approach to enhance the quality of Engineering Education Institutions (EEIs): a case study

Authors: N. Chandra Shekhar; K. Venkata Subbaiah; K. Narayana Rao

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, GICE, Visakhapatnam 530 007, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam 530 003, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Govt. Polytechnic, Visakhapatnam 530 007, India

Abstract: The aim of this study is to determine the students' preferences based on the quality gap of various services provided by Engineering Education Institutions (EEIs). Fresh engineering graduates were selected for the questionnaire survey which measured students' perceptions and expectations on services provided by the EEIs. The quality gap of educational services was determined based on differences between students' perceptions and expectations on 32 items of service quality. Factor Analysis (FA) was carried out to identify the underlying dimensions in the service quality items. The relative importance of these factors is determined through AHP by using pair wise comparison matrix. The results help to focus on items which need immediate attention to enhance the quality of EEIs.

Keywords: engineering education; management in education; factor analysis; SERVQUAL; student expectations; student perceptions; quality gap; AHP; analytical hierarchy process; professionalism; integrated education; student preferences; higher education; educational services.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMIE.2013.054728

International Journal of Management in Education, 2013 Vol.7 No.3, pp.237 - 253

Published online: 13 Sep 2014 *

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