A fuzzy service quality based approach for performance evaluation of educational units

Educational unites try to make efficient use of resources to achieve higher service qualities. This paper presents a new hybrid fuzzy approach based on service quality for performance evaluation of educational units. The proposed approach includes four stages: firstly, evaluation and gap analysis of students' expectations and perceptions in the service quality of educational units are performed based on fuzzy SERVQUAL questionnaires. In the second stage, the corresponding weights of dimensions and sub-dimensions of SERVQUAL are determined via fuzzy AHP method. In the third stage, the educational units are ranked using fuzzy TOPSIS method with respect to service quality sub-dimensions. Finally, a fuzzy DEA method is applied to determine the efficiency of educational units based on their service quality ratings. The approach is used for performance evaluation of eight higher education institutes in Iran. The proposed approach increased the accuracy of performance evaluation of educational units based on service quality.

Automated summary

The paper introduces a new hybrid fuzzy approach for evaluating the performance of educational units based on service quality, involving four stages: evaluation and gap analysis of students' expectations and perceptions, determination of weights for SERVQUAL dimensions, ranking of units using fuzzy TOPSIS method, and efficiency assessment using fuzzy DEA method. The approach improved the accuracy of performance evaluation for educational institutions in Iran.