IDENTIFICATION OF THE FACTORS THAT SHAPE THE SATISFACTION IN UNIVERSITY EDUCATION: THE CASE OF THE BUSINESS SCHOOL OF VITORIA-GASTEIZ

As a result of the increasing importance that the universities are recognizing to the satisfaction, attraction and retention of the students, it has increase also the number of initiatives taken by the universitary studies institutions trying to create the trustworthy measuring instruments of satisfaction. That is the case of the Business School of Vitoria - Gasteiz (E.U.E.E.) and the context of this work.

In the framework of the diferent quality programs promoted by the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), and with the goal of perfect its Internal System of Quality Assurance that will be aplicated in the proposed new Degree studies, the E.U.E.E. is developing a procedure whose objective is to analyze the satisfaction of the students (present and with the Degree). In the context of this project a questionnarie was designed and sent by post to the students of second and third course and to the six last promotions´ students with the Degree of the business studies. After the collection and analysis of the data, and even the univariate and bivariate analysis of them yielded high-valued conclusions for management, the additional application of factor analysis techniques are revealed as the best alternative to provide greater ease of reading of the results by reducing the number of variables to interpret (without thereby incurring a loss of relevant information).

Using the technique of principal component analysis it has been summarized the data leading to the identification of five dimensions that make up the satisfaction of the students. These dimensions are: the teaching training of the teachers, the education infrastructure, the information and guidance systems to students, the offering of comprehensive training to acquire skills and the availability and compatibility of teaching presential activities.

On this empirical basis, and considering the components identified, managers of Higher Education institutions can guide decision-making toward improving those aspects which influence more on the satisfaction level of students.

Finally, for future investigations, it would be interesting to study the relationship between student satisfaction and other aspects as their expectations and the perceived image of the University.