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ISSN 0975 5942Vol.I (2), June-December 2009, pp.214-229Visit: http://www.socialsciences-ejournal.org

The GAP Model Analysis of Service Quality in IndianHigher Education

Mamilla Rajasekhara, M. Muninarayanappa b and S.V. Subba Reddyc

a Professor, Department of Commerce, Sri Venkateswara University,Tirupati 517 502, AP. India.

b Reader, Department of Commerce, Bangalore University, Banglore.cAssociate Professor, Directorate of Distance Education, Sri Venkateswara

University, Tirupati 517 502, AP. India.Corresponding author: [email protected]

AbstractReputed educational institutions have started to choose to be

independent from AICTE and UGC and the parents as well aredistancing their young ones from the government educationalinstitutions. The credible reasons for this could be the overridingimpact of globalization and privatization on one hand, and a cut inthe governmental budget on higher education on the other hand.The Indian higher education system is amphibious and half-baked inits metamorphosis from socialism to capitalism and to graduallytransform itself to follow the marketing concept in this field. It isbeing implicitly reflected by successfully floating the self-financingcourses at the university level, 20% supernumerary seats for theforeign students, 30-40% seats for management quota, establishingstudy centers across the globe, telecasting online classes, designingvarious programs intended to improve the quality of education, etcas a seedling of marketing activity. At this juncture, the authors ofthis article would like to express their opinionated reasons as to howimportant it is to follow the marketing concept and to suggeststrategies to be followed in providing quality education as has beendefined and directed by GATS of WTO, with its 153 members, rightfrom its Cancun (Mexico) meet in 2003 till its Geneva meet in 2009.

Keywords: marketing concept, GAP model of service quality, SWOTanalysis, marketing triangle of higher education services, WTO.

http://www.socialsciences-ejournal.orgmailto:[email protected]

Mamilla Rajasekhar, M.Muninarayanappa and S.V. Subba Reddy

Asia-Pacific Journal of Social Sciences, Vol.1(2), July-Dec 2009, pp.214-229

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IntroductionHigher education scenario in India: It is most evident by the factthat India is lagging behind in higher educational services as itcomprises only 6-7% students as against 16% in most of thedeveloping countries. Of this 7% elite academia, 87% of it isconcentrated in three faculties of arts by 42%, science by 20%, andcommerce by 21%, and remaining 13% is absorbed by professionalfaculties like medicine and engineering though the number ofuniversities and students is increased from just 17 and 3.5 lakhs in1947 to 350 and 1 crore respectively in 2007. As well thedependence on government funds has increased from 57% to 82%,while the percentage of plan expenditure on higher education totaleducation has fallen from 22% in fifth five year plan to 6% ineleventh five-year plan (2007-12).

The universities of India can be classified in variouscategories like Central universities, State universities, deemeduniversities, private universities, agricultural universities, nationalinstitutes of importance and open universities, as shown in table 1.

Realizing the urgent need of revamping the Indian highereducation system the Ministry of Human Resources Developmenthas proposed to establish 8 new Indian Institutes of Technology, 7Indian Institutes of Management and 30 Central universities underthe 11th five-year plan. Of these 30 Central universities, 14 wouldbe of world class type.

Table 1: No. of universities existing in India as on 31st April, 2009

In the changing scenario of globalization and privatization,the education can not remain aloof. The government has taken astand not to bear additional expenditure over the present 10% budgeton higher education, whose output is just 6% of total Indian

Sl.No.

Type of Universities in India No. (31st

April 2009)1 Central universities 252 Open universities 143 Agricultural universities 454 Deemed universities (34 government and 86 private) 1205 State universities 2316 Private universities established by state legislatures 23

7 Foreign universities having branch campuses in India 5 Total: 463



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education. It started allowing private institutions to impart educationpermanently on non-grant basis. In other words, higher education isslowly moving from its era of highest subsidy to low subsidy throughparticipative route i.e., initiation of self-supporting courses, distanceeducation courses, and allowing many unaided affiliated colleges.

Supreme Court judgment in 2002 on higher education: On 31-10-2002 the supreme court of India delivered benchmark judgment that:1. Higher education is a private good but not public good, andhence private institutions are a necessity; 2. Primary education is afundamental right but not higher education; 3. Admissions be onmerit or marks of the qualifying common entrance test orexamination; 4. Autonomy and liberty in the management of theprivate institutions.

Impact of WTO-GATS on higher education in developedcountries

It is estimated that by 2025, 70% of the demand forinternational higher education will come from China, India and otherEast and South Asian countries, while demand from USA and theEuropean countries will be slowed down. Since the launching of theGATS (General agreement on Trade in Services) by WTO (WorldTrade Organization), USA has become the worlds largest exporterof higher education services, making it the countrys fifth largestservice sector export. The USA and the UK account for 80% ofglobal market in higher educational services.

This data makes it evident that developed have taken themarketing move for their higher education services. The agenciesthat are working for this purpose are: USAs Information Centers,UKs British Councils, Australias International DevelopmentProgram, and Germanys Academic Exchange Service. TheUniversity of Phoenix, Americas largest private post-secondaryinstitution and a profit-oriented corporation listed on the New YorkStock Exchange. The Universities 21, a network of universitiesfrom seven countries (USA, Australia, UK, China, New Zealand,Canada, and Singapore) started providing tailor-made highereducational programs targeted at specific markets.

Reaction from educational establishments has come in theform of frequent review of syllabus, diversifying of structures and



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introduction of novel ways of delivering the service. Part-timecourses, self-supporting courses, evening courses, in-service courses,distance learning programs, online courses, twinning agreement andfranchising arrangements are some of the new trends that haverevolutionized the traditional form and structure of education. Theseexamples are indicative of the quick responses to the globalization ofthe educational services on the part of the developing nations.

Impact of WTO-GATS on Indian higher educationEducational service is one of the twelve groups of services

which are to be negotiated under the GATS of WTO. India beingone of the founding members (153 countries in July 2009) in WTO,it has to accept latters condition (Article 13 of GATS) of successfulinternational trade of educational services with minimum restrictions,tariff and regulation. Bill was passed in the parliament to permit tostart private universities including foreign universities or theirfranchisees in India from 01-4-2005 onwards. At present more than100 foreign universities, mostly from UK, USA, and Australia aremarketing their higher education in India in different forms of theirpresence distance education, collaboration with local universitiesand research and development organizations, and lateral entry intotheir universities located in their countries.

Many Indian students are already getting foreign degrees,doing professional courses at local branch campuses of the followingforeign institutions in India: UK-based Wigan and Leigh College;Indian School of Business tie-up with Kellogg, Wharton, and LondonBusiness School; Western International University, Arizona; NIITtie-up with ITT Educational Services, USA; and Tata InfoTech tie-upwith Hertfordshire University, UK. There is no doubt that Indianhigher education will be guided and controlled primarily by GATSand secondarily by UGC, HRD, and AICTE, NBA, MCI, etc in thenear future.

Only IIMs, IITs, NITs, and IGNOU could take up theinitiative to react actively and positively to the agreement withGATS. For instance, IGOU has taken the lead in providingflexibility of time, place and product, and price to the internationalcommunity by making the presence of its 94 programs in 31 Asiancountries. It has collaboration with many open universities in



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SAARC, regional, national and international organizations like COL,WIPO, WHO, and World Bank.

Keeping in view the emerging trends in the internationalarena of higher education, India has to realize that it is the high timefor it to reorient and transform itself from protectionist toparticipative manager by adopting services marketing concept inimproving the quality of higher educational services (by adoptingvarious tools and techniques, where GAP model analysis is one suchtool) to be offered in India and abroad, which otherwise shall besidelined and lose its survival due to cut-throat competition in theinternational market, as was promulgated by GATS Doha 2006 andGeneva 2009 ministerial meets.

GAP model analysis of service quality in Indian higher educationGAP model analysis of quality, developed by Zeithaml,

Bitner, and Parasuraman of USA (1988), can be better utilized inorder to have introspection and to diagnose the syndromes that theIndian higher education system has been suffering from, and tosuggest remedial measures and strategies for preventing orminimizing the specific syndromes, and for revamping the variousstrategic elements of system. This entire article is structured aroundthis model.

The actors that are noted in its original model are nameddifferently for our purpose in this article. The student is substitutedfor a customer (service taker), while the university is substituted for amarketer (service provider).

As is advocated by Booms and Bitner an effective marketing ofeducational services includes the effective management of the following7Ps (the words starting with bold letter P) of services marketing mix:

Product: It includes degrees awarded and their syllabi, paperexemptions, brand name of their degrees and its history, placementfacility, lateral entries, grading given by NAAC, recognition byUGC, AICTE, MCI, NBA or HRD, demand and supply conditionsof the degrees offered, etc.

Price: It includes admission and term fees structure, fee concessionsand exemptions, college affiliation fee, exam fees, etc.

Place: It includes selection of affiliated colleges based on theirstrengths and weaknesses, and evaluation of affiliated colleges, study



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centers (in case DDE courses) based on their performance, and thecontrol desired on affiliated colleges and study centers.

Promotion: It includes media propagation, CRM, public relationswith government, UGC, NAAC, State Councils of higher educationand research organizations, press meets, and public awarenessprograms.

People: This P includes professors, students themselves, otherstudents, and non-teaching staff for which the universities have toplan and implement the number of teaching and non-teaching staff,their qualifications, recruitment and selection, procedure, theirtraining and rewards, and conducting research on needs and wants ofstudents and professors; educating the students about their role andresponsibility, and communicating the cultural values with thestudents; number of students, their background and interest andaptitude for the course in which he is studying.

Physical evidence: This P includes design, aesthetics, functionalityand ambient conditions of the class rooms and buildings, equipmentin the labs, library facilities, dress code of students and professors,and non-teaching staff, annual reports and calendars of the university,visiting cards of the staff, computer labs, gym, hospitals, banks, postoffices, co-operative stores, etc.

Process: This P includes type of the service--standardized orcustomized, number of steps involved in the service processsimpleor complex, and the level of involvement by student, professor, andnon-teaching staff in the service delivery.

The student perceptions are subjective assessments of actualservice experiences. Student expectations are the standards of orreference points for performance against which educational serviceexperiences are compared, and are often formulated in terms of what astudent believes should or will happen.

The success of student expectations consists of marketer-controlled factors (such as pricing, advertising, sales promises) as wellas factors that the marketer has limited ability to affect (innate personalneeds, word-of-mouth communications, and competitive servicesoffered by competing universities). In a perfect world, expectations andperceptions would be identical.

GAPS in the service quality: But in practice, these concepts areseparated by some discrepancies within the universities that inhibitdelivery of quality education. These are:



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Provider (University) gap 1: Not knowing what the studentexpects.

Provider gap 2: Not selecting the right service designs andstandards.

Provider gap 3: Not delivering to service standards. Provider gap 4: Not matching performance to promises. Customer (Student) gap 5: Not knowing what the .university

delivers

Fig.1 conveys a clear message that the key to closing the studentgap is to close gaps 1 through 4. To the extent that one or more of gaps1 through 4 exist, students perceive service quality shortfalls.

STUDENT

Gap

Gap 5

UNIVERSITY

Gaps Gap 4

Gap 3

GAP 1

Gap 2

Fig. 1. GAP model of service quality in higher educational services

Services expectedby students

Services perceivedby students

Student-drivenservice designs andstandards set byuniversity

Universitys perceptions ofstudents expectations

Service delivery byuniversity External

communications tostudents

Past experiences Industry needs Suggestions



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The basic objective of the university is to develop thestrategies in such a way that it can influence the studentsexpectations and perceptions so that all the four gaps that take placedue to differences in expectations and perceptions can be filled up.Let us diagnose the specific causes for each of the gaps as shown infig.1.

University Gap-1: Services expected by students minus Universitysperception of students expectations.Causes for Gap 1:

Inadequate research on market research on what the student, andindustry need and want from the university.

Even if there is any research on this objective, it is not focused onquality of the services offered in the university.

Lack of interaction between university and students, and betweenuniversity and industry.

Insufficient communication between students and professors,professors and administrators, and students and administrators.

Too many procedural layers between the front-end employees(professors and non-teaching staff) and board of management,such as many redundant layers and sub-layers through head,principal/dean, registrar, and vice chancellor in order to have linkby the students, teachers and non-teachers.

Lack of customer relationship management (CRM) with thestudents.

University Gap-2: Universitys perceptions of students expectationsminus student- driven service designs and standards.Causes for Gap 2:

Lack of student-driven service standards. Vague, undefined design of the services to be provided to

students, scholars and teachers. Absence of process (delivery of services) management to focus on

student requirements. Absence of formal system for setting service quality. Inadequate administration commitment towards the services. No systematic process for the development of new courses to be

offered so as to sustain the competition from other establishedpublic or private universities from regular or distance modeservices.



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Failure to connect course to the students and scholars.

University Gap-3: Student-driven service designs minus servicedelivery.Causes for Gap 3:

Ineffective recruitment and selection of professors and nonteaching staff.

Role ambiguity and role conflict among professors. Inappropriate evaluation and compensation system for professors. Lack of empowerment, team-work, collaborative research, etc. Failure to smooth peaks and valley of demand for certain courses. Over reliance on government funds for running the courses. Students lacking knowledge of their roles and responsibilities.

University Gap-4: Service delivery minus external communications tostudents.Causes for Gap 4:

Ineffective CRM to manage students expectations about servicesfrom the universities.

Failure to educate students about their roles and responsibilities. 3. Over or under promising about the quality of education

(placements, lab, teaching, etc) through cues for physicalevidence.

Insufficient communication between teaching and non-teachingstaff.

Differences in the policies and procedures (structure of syllabi,examination schedules and model papers, infrastructural facilities)among affiliated colleges, regular, and DDE courses.

Student Gap-5: Students expectations of service minus studentsperceptions of service.Causes for Gap 5:

The first impression that the students get while interacting with theadministration and professors over phone or in person duringadmission in to the university campus.

Response of professors and staff (employees) to their failure inservice delivery; to student needs and requests; to problematicstudents; and spontaneity in delivering memorably good or poorservice to students.

Student assessment of service quality dimensions*, such asreliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles ofuniversity education, as shown in fig.2.



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Reliability

Assurance

Responsiveness

Empathy

Tangibles

Fig. 2. Dimensions used for judging the quality of university education

* Service quality dimensions:

1. Reliability: Ability of the professors and staff to perform the promisedservice dependably and accurately.

2. Assurance: Knowledge, courtesy, and ability of the professors and staffto inspire trust and confidence among the students about their placement.

3. Responsiveness: Willingness of the professors and staff to help studentsand provide prompt service.

4. Empathy: Caring and individualized attention given to students byprofessors.

5. Tangibles: Appearance of physical facilities equipment in the labs, LCD,OHP, computers, internet, dress code, non-teaching staff, answer sheets,question papers, records, attendance sheet, project reports, letter heads,and other written materials.

Marketing triangle of higher education servicesThe strategies that could be followed by Indian universities can

be broadly divided into three groups in terms of type of marketing: 1.External marketing strategies, 2. Internal marketing strategies, 3.Interactive marketing strategies.

University(Board of Management/Executive Council)

Internal marketing External marketingEnabling the promises Setting the promises

Professors staff Students (Customers)(Employees)

Interactive marketingDelivering the promises

Fig 3. Marketing triangle for higher educational services

Service quality renderedby professors and staff



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Fig. 3 shows that external marketing strategies, internalmarketing strategies, and interactive marketing strategies are to bedeveloped within the encounters (interactions) that take place inbetween the university and the students, the university and theprofessors and staff, and professors and staff, and students respectively.

SWOT Analysis of Indian universitiesHowever, these strategies have to be developed from the

perspective of the universitys strengths and weaknesses (factors that areinternal to the university concerned), and opportunities and threats(factors that are external to the university concerned). This perspectivecan be done by using SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses,opportunities and threats analysis) as detailed below:

Strengths: Huge infrastructure of the Indian universities. Cost effective education offered by the universities. Wide and deep routed network, and large number of affiliated

colleges

Weaknesses:With an exception of 60 institutions like IIMs, IITs, NITs,

IIS-B, NIDT-A, TIFR-M, TISS-M, XLRI-C, BIM-M, and IGNOU-ND, on the whole, Indias response to this global change is passivefor a variety of weaknesses and hurdles, such as:

Lack of market-orientation in designing curriculum. Low quality education. Laxity and inefficiency in the system. Inadequate academia-university interaction and collaboration in

the areas of curriculum design and development, resourcemobilizations, and applied research.

Inadequate collaboration amongst professional organizations. Exodus of talents from one profession to the other solely for

career development purposes. Heavy academic focus. Brain drain. Heavy unproductive expenditure on maintenance. Excessive standardization. Heavy dependence on government funding. Redundant political interference in the university administration.



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Existence of non-committed bureaucrats in the higher educationsystem.

Some of these weaknesses are already noted while explainingthe GAP model.Opportunities:

Huge demand for higher education due to population explosion. Huge inflow of foreign students resulting in the huge revenues. Opportunities to expand the universities beyond the boundaries of

the country. Increased competition resulting in improved efficiency of

universities as happened in the case of LIC and BSNL.

Threats: Competition with foreign universities would enhance the cost of

higher education making it beyond the reach of the meritoriousbut poor students.

Foreign universities through their innovative marketing techniqueswould sell courses that have become irrelevant in their countries tothe Indian students.

Marketing of higher education would adversely affect the cultureof the Indian universities.

There will be mushroom growth of both foreign and domesticprivate universities with the sole objective of profiteering.

The regional disparities and gap between poor and rich would getwidened.

Private universities may not feel social responsibilities inproviding education.

Suggestions: Marketing strategies for Indian universitiesThere could be innumerable number of strategies that could be

developed with the help of 7Ps of marketing. The following could besome possible strategies:

1.The universities should try to expand the market for its offeringsas follows:

a. Offering existing courses to the existing students andscholars.

b. Offering the existing courses to the new students(customers).



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c. Offering new courses to the existing customers.d. Offering new courses to the new customers.

2. It is very inevitable that the universities should identify thedesired service standards by the recruiting industry and thendesign those courses that suit their specified needs.

3. All the universities have to be appraised and rated, besidesNAAC, PCI, BCI, and AICTE, by industrial credit ratingorganization like ICRA, CARE, and CRISIL in order toguide the students in their selection of the best university.

4. They must establish the target levels for each teacher in termsof quality and quantity and then measure their performance atthe end of every half a year.

5. Update periodically the target levels and measures for theprofessors and staff.

6. The ambient conditions have to be created for the students aswell as professors to enable their concentrated study.

7. The signs, symbols and artifacts are to be very attractive tocreate first impressions and for communicating new courses.

8. It is the responsibility of the universities to train the professorsfor technical and interactive skills.

9. Since your students are contributors to teaching quality andsatisfaction, you must define their role in the class rooms, suchas helping oneself, helping other students and participation inthe discussions and debates.

10. The universities should become the preferred employer by the intellectuals, including the practitioners from the industry.

11. Even India's elite institutions - the IITs and IIMs arefinding it increasingly difficult to attract and retain worldclass faculty members in the face of attractive offers fromforeign universities, research institutes and multi-nationalcorporations. So, there is a substantial risk that Indianuniversities and their students could end up as serious losersin the global higher education "game". Hence, the professorsmust be rewarded to attract them and to perform their dutieseffectively.

12. The customer relationship management (CRM) has to beundertaken (develop continuous relationships with prospects,applicants, students, and alumni with relevant communication,rather than one-way blasts and leveraging the most cost-effective and appropriate communication channels) to attractthe best students, retaining the existing students and



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cultivating loyalty although the student life cycle (SLC) asshown below:

Fig.4: Customer relationship management (CRM) through student lifecycle (SLC)

Source: ICFAIs journal Services Marketing

The SLC as shown in fig. 4 explains that student can be acontinuous source of revenue throughout the life span startingwith the: 1. Recruitment phase where the student is aprospect for the institution; 2. Registration phase - where thestudents applies for a course with the institute; 3. Retentionphase where the prospective customers enroll as students;and finally 4. Fund raising phase where students are nowalumni members (earners) and can contribute funds to theuniversity.

13. The universities should retain the best professors even by payingextra increments by treating them as your customers, and bydeveloping a service culture in their universities.

14. The DDE has to be made very strong and healthy with latesttechnology coupled with stricter quality standards.

16. There must be joint ventures (JVs) between Indianuniversities and foreign universities in order to develop theneeded courses and create the demand for those by Indianindustries and international students as well.

17. The role of the public sector has to be gradually reducedwhile protecting the countrys welfare policy towardsbackward students to the extent possible.



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18. The affiliated colleges have to be given credit rating and theymust be regulated to the maximum extent in terms of syllabiand quality of teaching in order to bring them into the fold ofuniversity standards.

ConclusionHigher education is the reflection of ones premium

privilege of any country. Unless and until the parties (marketers)involved in delivering quality higher education in India, it becomeswell-nigh impossible to survive in its present form of metamorphosis,especially in the juncture of cut-throat competition in terms of pulland push strategies proposed by international players in this field,especially from English speaking countries around the globe offeringthe best quality. The government as well as the private sector playersin India involved in providing educational services must change theirparadigm shift in their outlook toward their wards from mere whileelephants to customer-gods through implementing variouscommunication models and consumer research programs.



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References

Christopher and Lovelock, Services Marketing, New Delhi, 2008.

Geraldine Clarke, M.A. Brown, Consumer attitude to the highereducation application process, Journal of marketing for highereducation, Vol. August 1998, UK, pages 83-96.

Icfai University Journal of Services Marketing, Hyderabad.

Ravi Shanker, Services Marketing, Excel Books, New Delhi, 2008.

www.aiuweb.org

Zeithaml and Bitner, Services Marketing, Tata McGraw Hill PublishingCo, New Delhi, 2008.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/eumd-emi-marketing-report-template.htm

www.aiuweb.orghttp://www.britishcouncil.org/eumd-emi-marketing-report-

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