Educational Management

Abstract

I also wish to thank the Ethiopian Ministry of Education and Hawassa University for sponsoring my study at UNISA. iv ABSTRACTThe study identifies how different stakeholders perceive service quality improvement initiatives in public higher education institutions in Ethiopia. For this purpose, a mixed research methodology was employed. Furthermore, secondary data were collected from a variety of literature and primary data were collected from academic staff and final year students at public higher education institutions using the SERVQUAL scale and through focus group interviews. The collected data were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics.The research findings indicated that all dimensions of the service quality improvement initiatives were perceived by academic staff and studentsto be verypoor. The reasons for these poor or low perceptions were: the high expectationsof the stakeholders, the government's intention to expand, lack of adequate knowledge regarding the implementation of the BPR process, the lack of motivation by service providers, poor management and the lack of good governance by the universities, inexperienced workers, non-empowered and task specific frontline employees, the low quality of the infrastructure, non-value adding hierarchical structures and approval systems, ethical problems with some service providers, the high staff turnoverand the lack of experienced staff. In addition, at all new universities, construction is underway and as a result,there are problems such as the poor state of the dormitories, classes,bathrooms, recreation areas, lounges, TV rooms, sport fields and internet connectivity, while the libraries are not well stocked with books and periodicals either.This study has recommended that the institutions should have standardised instruments that can be used to measure the status of service quality improvement and deliveryperiodically and to identify the areas that have the highest perceived performance gap scores in order to redeploy some of the resources. It also needs to be pointed out that the service providers lack sufficient knowledge and skillsconcerning the implementation of BPR, thus training is recommended in this regard.It is further recommended that for effective implementation of the BPR process, the importance of the provision of different guiding documents, continuous monitoring of activities and top v management supportshould be kept in mind.

Contribution of Visionary Leadership, Lecturer Performance, and Academic Culture to the Competitiveness of Islamic Higher Education in Indonesia

“…This shows that leadership applied by leaders will influence the formation of academic culture in universities. Organizational culture is one of the variables that determine the success of job implementation [79,88,80]. Gordon, et al [42] research results show that influence organizational culture makes members more satisfied, motivated, and has a significant commitment to the organization.…”

“…Leaders also have a positive influence on improving performance [90,77]. On the other hand, leadership also contributes to shaping organizational reality [41,88]. Academic culture in universities also has a contribution to achieving the goals of the institution [60].…”

A systematic review of conceptual models and methodologies in research on school principals in Iran

“…It is also important to acknowledge that quantitative research methods were used more frequently to examine the specific effects of leadership on school outcomes. Consistent with the scholars in the developing societies, most of the Iranian scholars employed the correlational or descriptive design with a focus on surveys as the instruments of data collection to investigate the associations between principal leadership and school outcomes (Tomlinson, 2013). Moreover, the techniques of data analysis used to study direct-effects models were mainly bivariate.…”

“…Moreover, the techniques of data analysis used to study direct-effects models were mainly bivariate. Researchers typically employed correlation, chi-square and t -tests to analyze principal effects (Tomlinson, 2013). Therefore, in line with the literature in developing societies, the Iranian literature on school principalship suffers from conceptual and methodological weaknesses, especially a lack of utilizing multivariate designs (Hammad and Alazmi, 2020; Hammad and Hallinger, 2017).…”