Ashfaq Afzal, PhD Education, 2022, Supervised by Dr. Ijaz Ahmad Tatlah
Role of quality assurance practices towards students' satisfaction and retention at university level
/ Ashfaq Afzal
- Lahore : Division of Education, University of Education, 2022
- 179 p. CD.
This research study aimed to explore the “role of Quality Assurance practices towards students’ satisfaction and retention at university Level”. The Explanatory Design of Mixed Methods research was used by the researcher to investigate the phenomenon understudy. This design was used with the intent to validate the quantitative findings of the study with the help of the qualitative findings. The first phase of the study consisted of a survey whereas, in the second phase of this study, Phenomenology was used. The sample for the Quantitative study has been selected with the utilization of Cluster sampling. There were 20 public and 10 private universities, so these have been declared clusters. A total of 1020 students and 90 faculty members have been selected as the sample for the quantitative phase of this study. On the other hand, purposive sampling has been used for the selection of the participants in the qualitative/ second phase of this study. The participants of the qualitative phase included 3 x Directors QEC (1 x from each university) and similarly 3 x HODs (1 x from each university) who have been sampled for the qualitative phase. The Quality Assurance practices of the universities have been assessed with the help of the Quality Assurance Assessment Practices Scale (QAAPS) consisting of 36 items ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree whereas the students’ satisfaction was measured with the help of the Student Satisfaction Scale. This scale had 33 items ranging from strongly dissatisfied to strongly satisfied. Similarly, the students’ retention was measured with the Academic Retention Scale (ARS) possessing 23 items ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. However, a semi-structured interview protocol was used by the inquirer for the qualitative data collection. This protocol consisted of eight items including the introductory as well as the closing question. As it was a Mixed Methods study, the data had been collected and analyzed while using Sequential data collection and analysis. The Quantitative data has been analyzed while using descriptive and inferential statistics whereas the semi-structured interviews of the top managers (Directors QEC) have been analyzed with the Thematic analysis. The Quantitative results of this study showed a moderately positive effect of the Quality Assurance practices of the universities on the students’ satisfaction and retention which was validated by the qualitative results. Based on the results, it is recommended that the universities should ensure the Internal Quality Assurance practices as per the directions of the HEC so that their quality of education may remain up to the mark and as or the students’ desires/ needs. This would lead them to make their students satisfied with the quality of the education and retain them in the university.