Measuring the gap between the company expectations and performance of MIT industrial engineering graduating students: A strategic planning tool for the School of Industrial Engineering of MIT

• Main Author: Carlos, Ma Cecilia C.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2004
• Subjects: Graduate students in engineering; Strategic planning; Universities and colleges > Rating of. > Philippines; Consumer education; Business Administration, Management, and Operations
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/33; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_doctoral/article/1032/viewcontent/CDTG003697_P.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

Most studies on service quality and consumer satisfaction in education consider the students as customers. Literature survey indicates, however, that as far as course content and skills development are concerned, schools should look at the employers of its graduates as its customers. This study utilizes the service quality model of Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1985) to measure the gap between the expectations of prospective employers and the performance of industrial engineering (IE) graduating students in specific technical skills and personal attributes. This gap analysis pinpoints the graduating students' strengths and weaknesses relative to company expectations. The study likewise determines the ranking of Mapua IE graduates vis-a-vis the graduates of other schools, giving Mapua a snapshot of its position relative to its competitors. Results show that employers have higher expectations in terms of personal attributes than technical skills. Except for one attribute, employers rated the performance of Mapua IE graduating students as below expectation. Statistically significant gaps were identified for ten attributes. Mapua was ranked second among seven schools offering industrial engineering in Metro Manila. The overall satisfaction of employers was found to be directly proportional to both the performance of graduating students and to the positive gap between student performance and expectations. These result present an evaluation of Mapua's internal capabilities as well as an assessment of its performance relative to competitors, both of which are vital inputs to the formulation of strategic directions aimed at achieving customer satisfaction and service quality.