Abstract

Background and Aim: Higher Education system as a dynamic system has two dimensions of quantity and quantity and its sustainable development requires harmonized growth of both qualitative and quantitative dimensions in parallel with each other. The present study is conducted by examining the gap between students’ perceptions and expectations in Medical Sciences and Health Services University of Hamedan by using SERVQUAL model in 2016. Material and Method: The present study is a descriptive and cross-sectional study. Statistical population of this study consists of all the students of Medical Sciences and Health Services University of Hamedan in medicine.152 out of 260 students were selected based on Morgan’s table and by using simple random sampling method. Data analysis was performed by using descriptive statistics and through SPSS 23.0. Results: The current situation of the quality of educational services in Hamedan University of medical sciences is satisfactory from the perspective of students; however, there is a quality gap in all five dimensions of services and all the indicators related to each dimension. The largest gap was observed in the dimension of assurance (-1.41) which is followed by the dimensions of empathy (-1.03), responsiveness (-0.91), confidence (-0.87) and tangibles (-0.79). The difference observed in the quality gap in various dimension of educational services is significant statistically. Secondary research hypothesis analysis from the perspective indicated that the dimension of assurance had the highest level of importance (4.50) and the dimension of responsiveness had the lowest level of importance and also priority (4.38). Conclusions: The ranking and the level of importance of the five dimensions of educational services was not the same from the perspective of students. Hence, it is necessary to consider these differences in quality improvement and resource allocation programs, in a way that the performance of services would be improved, especially in those dimensions that are deemed as more important by students.