Abstract
Globally, higher education institutions (HEI) are required to be more business-like in their functioning. Students are increasingly being recognised as discerning customers, selecting a provider based on its ability to provide a superior value proposition. Unlike their public counterparts, private higher education institutions (PHEI) in South Africa receive no financial support from the government. To ensure students’ patronage, it is imperative for private providers to determine their expectations and how they rate the PHEIs performance. An importance performance analysis (IP) was done based on data gathered from a quantitative survey on 600 full-time students at three different PHEIs. A comparative IP matrix was also constructed to provide the PHEIs with a visual interpretation of the gathered data. The IP analysis yielded significant negative gaps between performance and importance regarding the attributes. The comparative IP matrix indicates important areas for strategic consideration to the three PHEIs respectively. This should assist management in improving their service offerings. This study should also contribute towards the body of knowledge regarding PHEIs in South Africa.
Key words: Choice attributes, customer satisfaction, private higher education, importance-performance, service quality, strategic management.
