IMPACT OF COST, QUALITY AND SUPPORT SERVICES ON STUDENTS PERCEPTION IN SELFFINANCED HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTES

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GURU JAMBHESHWAR UNIVERSITY, HISAR FOR THE DEGREE OF

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN BUSINESS MANAGEMENT BY

CONTENTS Page Preface :i-v Acknowledgements : vi - viii List of Tables - xiii CHAPTER

: ix

I. INTRODUCTION : 1-54 II. INDIAN HIGHER EDUCATION THROUGH AGES : 55-130 III. LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL CONSTRUCTS : 131-201 IV. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY : 202-231 V. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION : 232-263 VI. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS : 264-290 VII. CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS : 291-312 BIBLIOGRAPHY : 313-323 QUESTIONNAIRE : 324-330

PREFACE

The system of higher education in India has been highly structured, intensely stratified and predominantly publicly controlled and funded. In spite of sever resource crunch, it has been undergoing major transformation since independence. Access, equity and parity issues have been the major concern all through. On one hand political compulsions, social demands, external pressures, internal dissatisfactions have been increasing and on the other hand students unrest and demand for relevance and quality of education is growing day by day. The resultant outcome has been the expansion and growth of higher education system in various dimensions from a relatively small and uniform system with a few universities to a diversified and large number of universities and institutes of higher education today.

As we enter the new millennium, the world economy is experiencing unprecedented change. New development in science and technology, competition, media revolution, and internationalization are revolutionizing the education sector. They make new demands and pose fresh challenges to our established educational system. Quality professional

education has become a key to success in career. Research and innovations have a direct bearing on economic

development and technology process. It has not only opened up possibilities for new methods of teaching, but has also provided new aids to research.

Although, since seventies welfare state concept started paving way for a market economy. Liberalized policies after 1991, adopted by government of India, has further fastened such trends. As on today, it is an accepted proposition of the government that private initiative in higher education is not only justifiable, it is earnestly needed also. Everyone knows that in a globalised environment when everything has to compete to survive it should not surprise anybody that higher education is being reduced to a product, which must roll its wares competitively in open market. It is no longer possible therefore to keep higher education either away from getting evaluated for the quality of its product or the cost at which these products are readied for the market.

The pivotal role of higher education in development of human resources of the country has been one of the inspiration of this research. Not less important are the economic reasons for undertaking such a study. Self-financing higher education institutions are employing huge resources of the country. These resources must be utilized to the maximum benefits of the society, as these have an opportunity cost. In view of this, there is a need for a basic understanding of students perception and their behavior and the effect of the cost of education, quality of education and the type of support services on their behavior. This is to ensure the maximum benefits to the society and to new class of private entrepreneurs in higher education.

The study has been divided into seven chapters. The first chapter is introductory by its nature and deals with the failure of traditional education system, which has led to the emergence of self-financing institutions. Relevant

terminologies also have been touched in this chapter.

Chapter 2 is historical in nature. An effort has been made to walk through ages to highlight the educational system and characteristics of higher education in ancient, medieval and modern India. The chapter also makes an analytical

discussion on national policies on education till date, with special reference to higher education. With reference to the emerging market oriented professional higher education trend in India, an attempt has been made to elaborate paradigm shift in the field of higher education.

Chapter 3 is aimed at developing a theoretical foundation. The chapter reviews the existing literature on the subject. It includes concept and models of consumer behavior and services marketing. It also develops an interface of these with higher education. Research methodology has been discussed at length in chapter 4. Besides discussing the tools and techniques of data analyses and interpretation, the chapter also throws light on the sample and the questionnaire.

Chapter 5 and 6 are dedicated to data analyses and interpretation. The available data have been presented by way of different tables and graphs, keeping the objectives of the study in mind. Results and discussions with reference to the individual characteristics are also part of this. Chapter 7 is concluding and recommendatory in nature.

I have no doubt in claiming that the study is a first systematic research on this emerging field on different dimensions of self-financing institutions so far as they are related to students. Being first venture it might have limitations, which have been duly mentioned at appropriate place. Nevertheless, further research in this area will be highly valuable.

Regards,

LIST OF TABLES

Table No 1.1

Title

PageNo.

Distribution of government expenditure on higher education : 6

1.2

Ninth Five Year Plan outlay on technical and university education : 7

1.3

Ninth Five Year Plan expenditure and Tenth Plan approved outlay :8

5.1

Students perception agreement to : 235

in terms of level of of fee

reasonableness

charged by the institute (N=410)

5.2

Affordable

fee : 236

(cost)

as

reason

of

pursuing the course (N=410)

5.3

Affordable fees (cost) as a reason for joining a particular institute (N=410) : 237

5.4

Perception of the entire population about select variables : 240 depicting reasons that guided them to join an institute

5.5

Perception the entire population about the level of satisfaction for different variables relating to quality and support services. : 241

5.6

Mean values for Importance and availability of each variable of faculty as intellectual capital enhancing the quality of an institute. : 243

5.7

Comparison of importance of faculty as intellectual capital enhancing the quality of an institute and its availability to the students (N=410) : 245

5.8

Perception of the entire population about different reasons that they considered for pursuing the current program. : 246

5.9

Perception of the entire population about the importance of the various indicators of quality in relation to the course being pursued. : 247

5.10 Perception of the entire population with regard to different variables depicting

expectation of the student on completion of the course. : 248 5.11 Students perception of the importance of support services as depicted by different variables (N=410) : 252 5.12 Students perception of the availability of support services as depicted by different variables (N=410) : 253 5.13 Comparison of importance and availability of infrastructure facilities (canteen labs building etc.) and other support services playing an important role in shaping the brand image of the institute (N=410) : 254 5.14 Relationship of level of agreement of the student as regards reasonable fee charged by the institute and other indicators. : 255 5.15 Relationship of assessment of the institute in comparison to the other Institutes and other indicators. : 257

5.16 Relationship of independent variables with dependent variables: : 258 5.17 Determinants of expectation (on completion of the course) of the indicators. : 261 6.1 Comparison of importance and availability of faculty as intellectual capital enhancing the quality of an institute between male and female respondents. : 273 6.2 Comparison of Importance and availability of infrastructure facilities like hostel canteen labs library etc. as support services that play an important role in shaping the brand image of the institute between male and female students. : 274 6.3 Comparison of importance and availability of faculty as intellectual capital enhancing the quality of the institute between undergraduate and postgraduate students. : 275 6.4 Comparison of importance and availability of infrastructure facilities and support respondents by expectation on completion of the course.

services that play an important role in shaping the brand image of the institute between undergraduates : 276 6.5 Comparison of importance and availability of Faculty as intellectual capital enhancing the quality of the institute between management and technical (Engineering & IT) students. : 277 6.6 Comparison of importance and availability of infrastructure facilities and other support services that play a major role in shaping the brand image of the institute between technical and management students. : 278 6.7 Comparison of level of satisfaction between undergraduate and postgraduate respondents for given variables of Cost Quality and Support Services. : 280 6.8 Comparison of level of importance attached to different variables of cost quality and support services by undergraduate and postgraduate students. : 282 and postgraduates students.

6.9

Comparison of level of satisfaction between technical and management respondents for given variables of Cost Quality and Support Services. : 284

6.10 Comparison of level of importance attached to different variables of cost quality and support services by technical and : 285 6.11 Comparison of variables related to cost quality and support services in terms of their importance among respondents by three categories of their parent occupation. : 286 6.12 Comparison of level of expectation on completion of the course among respondents by three categories of their parent occupation. : 288 management students.

CHAPTER - 1

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER

INTRODUCTION

1.1. Failures of traditional education system 1.2. Changing scenario in higher education 1.3. rational 1.4. About the present study 1.4.1. 1.4.2. Objectives Significance Privatisation of higher education: emergence and

1.5. Relevant terminology 1.6. The essence

1.

INTRODUCTION

If all is well with higher education all would be well with the nation Jawaharlal Nehru. education is a first class ticket to life and I want to see that the ticket is given to as many people as possible Tony Blair1

The above two quotations of the towering personalities of their time, emphasise beyond doubt that higher education in general, and professional and technical education in

particular, plays a vital role in the economic and social development of a country. It provides a wide range of increasingly sophisticated and ever changing variety of trained manpower needed in education, engineering,

medicine, agriculture, management, communication, etc. It

1

South China Morning Post,27 January 2000.

produces researchers, who through their activities, deepen and extend frontiers of scientific and technical knowledge leading to innovations, which energise engines of economic growth and development. Apart from developing human resources, higher education turns out thinkers who reflect on critical problems that affect humanity and thereby ensure its survival and growth. Thus the single most important indicator of national future can be said to be the state of his higher education. During ancient times in India the educational system was mostly individualistic education was being provided by a few learned persons, in their individual capacity as a matter of devotion, sacrifice and service, and education was being received by a group of individuals out of their own interest, love and requirement for learning. Teachers used to live in the bosom of nature in a sylvan with very limited needs and hardly any anxieties of life. They were held in high esteem and they devoted their heart and soul to the furtherance of education

Students were living in the Ashrams with their teachers, sharing all the rites as well as responsibilities there. In such residential institutions there was close and cordial relations among the teachers and pupils. The pupils were gaining knowledge and acquiring learning according to their own

individual

interests

and

abilities.

Dhoumya,

Sandipani,

Vasistha, Viswamitra, Vyas and so on were the celebrated Gurus or teachers who imparted education to their pupils with deep love, care and dedication. Nalanda, Taxila, Mithila, Rajagrih, Rajagiri and Lalitgiri were a few renowned seats of higher learning.

But sadly at the time of colonial invasion India was fragmented and weak. Our culture and education were frozen in time, unequal to meet the needs of the society despite their excellent context. The foundation relationship with the world then was isolationist. Today despite our poverty, our low share in world science and technology, markets and wealth creation, there is a reiteration of its native genius.

1.1

FAILURES OF TRADITIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM

After the slow down of 1970s expansion programe of higher education, the decade thereafter (1980s) had witnessed gradual but definite resource crunch almost all over the world forcing administrators and policy makers of higher education to think of alternative modes of funding such education. Scarce resources in two decades thereafter have had lasting and lingering impact on the way higher education is to be funded and managed. Higher education pays heavy dividend

to the beneficiaries. It should not be provided free or at heavily subsidised price at the cost of other welfare sectors and sectors needing investments for economic progress. Cost has risen everywhere and of every thing. Institute of higher education are not out of it. Thus there is a need to be cost effective and quality effective through new techniques, educational technology and by improving efficiency at all levels and ultimately to be competitive in terms of cost, quality and other support services institutions. provided by these

Sadly, after about four decades of political independence people of India started questioning the wisdom in the role of government in almost all service sectors including education. People had started asking for quality in service. Hence, quality consciousness could be explicitly observed as it was talked and written about in a healthy debate. In the fifth decade of our political independence the process of quality

consciousness got further hastened with the globalisation in the market.

Let us first look closely at our university system, its strengths and weaknesses, its reach and amplitude, its relevance and flexibility, its content and curriculum, its professionalism and prestige and much more. The system is such that, no body is

given the right to act in any manner that would run counter to the considered views of those who are in authority. Our university system is still cast in an out dated mould, our curriculum outdated, the content rigidly structured, the teaching stilted, the books out-of-date and the final outcome with no relation to the world of reality. The system of higher education in India is excessively structured, intensely

stratified and predominately publicly-controlled and funded.

University teachers should not be unshackled from their fascination for high salaries and low workload, promotion schemes that lead to the malaise of inbreeding, a cadre structure that creates only generals and no foot soldiers, a system that value research degrees as a precondition for employment but has little to show by way of original contribution.

The achievement of a university is judged not on the basis of the quality of its research or the competence of its students but by its adherence to the schedules of examinations and the prevention of forced closures. No institutional arrangements to evaluate, renew, pretest and monitor curricular work for the universities and college exit.

Teaching and studies in college and universities is no more than a part-time occupation aimed essentially at the award of degrees, which generally lost credibility and value.

Universities and colleges, barring a few honorable exceptions have become virtual battlefield in which political and other factions backed by teachers and aided by other staff, often fight pitched battles for power and supremacy

Linkage between the institutes of management, university departments of business administration and public sector and private institutions are practically non-existent. In conclusion, Government sector education is everybodys concern but nobody concentration. The more it deserves attention the less it is being attended to.

If we look at the financial aspect of higher education in post independence era, it has been both promising and confusing. The system being huge and growing requires increased allocation of funds. Education in India is funded by three main sources, namely, Central and State Government, Local Bodies and Private Sector contribution. Dependence on government funds has been increasing in higher education during the fiveyear plan periods as shown below. The expenditure during the first five-year plan according to the scheme of the central and state governments is given below:

Table 1.1 Distribution of the expenditure (Rs. In Central/state governments Central Government States Total (1954-56) Development lakhs) University education 2,47.0 9,25.1 11,72.1 (7.8%) 1,20.1 Technical/vocationa l education 11,55.0 9,90.4 21,45.4 (14.2%) 2,65.6

Expenditure in 1950-51 (6.2%) (13.6%) Source: First Five Year Plan 1951-56; Planning Commission, 1952;
p.65.

In the ninth five-year plan 1997-02 the government accorded high priority to education in the central and allocated Rs.24908.38 crore against the expenditure of Rs.8521.89in the eighth five-year plan representing nearly a three-fold increase in the fund available to the union department of education. The outlays of university and technical education are shown in the following table: Table 1.2 Ninth Five Year Plan outlay on university and technical education (Rs. In crores)
Sub-heads Eight Five Year Plan
Ninth Five Year Plan

Proportion of funds

Balance amount

expenditure Rs. in crores

outlay

Rs. in crores

allocated during 1997-2000 Ninth Plan (%)

in last two years of the

University higher education Technical

10,55.82 10,86.72

12.4 12.8

25,00.00 10.0 23,73.51 9.5

50.47 52.97

51.55 53.89

education Source: Tenth Five-Year Plan 1997-02; Mid-Term Appraisal; Planning Commission, 2002, p.199. During the plan period it was observed that the importance of higher education was constantly growing till 2000, Rs.2270.92 was spent. The planning commission approved the outlay for the tenth five-year plan (2002-2007). The figures are shown as follows: Table 1.3 Ninth Plan expenditure and Tenth plan approved outlay (2002-07) (Rs. Sub-head In crores) Ninth Plan Tenth Plan

expenditure approved outlay University and higher education 22,70.92 41,76.50 Technical education 21,09.54 47,00.00 Source: Tenth Five Year Plan 2002-07; Planning Commission, 2002, Vol. II, p.65.

The

approved

outlay

for

education

in

this

plan

is

Rs.42850crore, 1.7 times the Ninth five year plan outlay of

Rs.24908.38crore. During 2002-03, the outlay for higher education, including secondary education is 30.25 percent, which includes Rs.615crore for university and higher

education and Rs.650crore for technical education.

From the first five-year plan to the tenth, allocation for education has been increasing significantly. The first plan outlay was Rs.151crore, which increased to 42,850crore in the tenth.

The expenditure on higher and technical education has increased many folds since independence. Consequently, higher education has expanded under different heads such as degrees and diplomas. An analysis of data of the pattern of financing education has revealed that the Central

Governments contribution to financing higher education has been continuously increasing. Besides the Central and State Government grants, the strategy for financing higher

education needs diversification of sources of finance.

It is believed that the minimum expenditure on education should be about six percent of the gross national product (GNP) but hardly 1.2 percent to 3.9 percent was spent between 1950 and 1987. Todays position is very much close to this percentage, which indicate urgent need for reform. The

institutions should manage their finances from their own sources, in addition to the grants from the state government or the affiliating agency or from endowment funds. The expenditure of the institution needs to be based on objectives directly related to targets. The achievement of the objectives needs to be evaluated annually. Private initiative deserves to be encouraged. It is necessary to encourage private initiatives in the interest of higher education as long as it does not harm any section of society. Private funds can be generated through donations, endowments, contributions for

infrastructure and building development, from fees and rental, besides the regular grants.

In the case of central universities, dependence on (Punnayya, 1993) government funds varies from 89% (Delhi University) to 98% (Vishwa Bharti) and, the contribution of fees varies from less than 1% (JNU) to 10% (Delhi University). The amount of fees has kept frozen at a minimum level for the last 2 decades and has not been revised upwards in view of the rising costs. Although, government contribution has been increasing. It has not kept pace with the rapid rise in enrolment and escalation in prices. The enormous in expansion technical accompanied and by

diversification,

especially

professional

courses, and rise in salaries of employees have increased the demand for funds. There are two related problems regarding

resources, the overall paucity of funds and the inequity in the distribution of available funds among different types of institutions.

Development of higher education in India has been subjected to many social pressures. The demand for it generally comes from upper and middle-income groups. The liberal subsidy of about 90% makes higher education cheap and easily available to these classes. This subsidy is not accompanied by rationing of seats by admission standards. In fact, education in India has been considered a social service.

In a study conducted a few years ago, it was found that beneficiaries of higher education received Rs.9,750crores as subsidy while paying only 1.3% of the total cost of their education. During the mid-sixties, a survey conducted by the N.C.E.R.T. (1971) showed that 80% of the university and high school completers form the top 20% of the income groups.

A similar study conducted by the U.G.C. during 1970s showed that 70% of the university students came from top 20% of the income groups. On the other hand, 70% of the government revenue came from indirect taxes, which was paid by all citizens, of which 60% were living in poverty (Mitra, 1993). The heavy subsidisation of university education (about 90%)

by the government means that university education is acting as a via-media to transfer scarce resources from the poor to the rich. Through we cannot ignore the fact that education is a social responsibility, yet the level to which it needs to be subsidised leaves an open question or to be debated upon.

General Maladies Due to negligible cost, the beneficiaries of higher education are not bothered about its quality and pick up promptly whatever is available free. bother to contribute The beneficiaries dont even to educational funds.

something

Consequently, the available government funds are spread thinly over large numbers and wider areas. This obviously has adverse effect on quality of education. In the case of higher education, there is negative correlation between quantity and quality when there is financial crisis. During the last five decades, the academic standards have been allowed to deteriorate in order to accommodate growing pressure of enrolment.

The amount of fees was kept frozen and low in higher education in order to democratise it and equalise

opportunities to benefit from it. Due to monopolisation of seats by the well to do, the major part of the subsidy is going to those who do not need it. Another paradox is that the more

expensive the course, the larger the

subsidy(Balachander,

1993). A graduate in general education (arts, science and commerce) receive a subsidy of 86%, while a graduate in professional and more profitable courses receive a subsidy of over 90%. This goes against all the basic principles of equity and social justice.

A document, Challenge of Education, brought out by the Ministry of Education in August, 1985, highlighted the funding problems for the development of education. It said in para 3.10: While budgetary allocation for Plan expenditure for education have gone up substantially over the years, these have not kept pace with the growth in enrollment or rise in prices. As a result, the total expenditure per students per year, by the Central and the States has declined in real terms. More than 90% of the expenditureis spent on teachers salaries and administration. There is a wide gap between the funds given to Central and State universities. At present, 19 Central Universities and Institutions of National Importance claim about 71% of the total annual budget of the U.G.C (Powar, 1996) and only 29% is available to all the state universities and affiliated college.

1.2

CHANGING SCENARIO OF HIGHER EDUCATION

At the fag end of the 20th century, for the first time representative of 128 nations responsible for education and higher education met to discuss matter in higher education and to agree on the higher education we need for the present century. The Conference was unanimous in considering that a renewal of higher education is essential for the whole society to be able to face-up the challenges of the twenty-first century, to ensure its intellectual independence, to create and advance knowledge, and to educate and train responsible, enlightened citizens and qualified specialists, without whom no nation can progress economically, socially, culturally or politically. The Declaration of the World Conference

emphasise since society is increasingly knowledge-based (), higher education and research now act as essential components of culture, socio-economic and environmentally sustainable development of individuals, communities, even in twenty-first century, feature among the highest national priorities throughout the world.

The globalisation is having impact on the education also and this is happening more immediately because of shrinking space, shrinking time and disappearing borders as a result of information and communication revolution. Hence even though educating the youths will continue to remain the responsibility of public universities, it may not necessarily be

their sole concern. Alternatives like private institutions and spreading of teaching activities by foreign universities are emerging in India. These alternatives, albeit expensive, are equipped to offer better and useful results?

In recent years Indian graduates have done well in knowledge industry and they are now at an advantageous position in knowledge-controlled world economy. Jobs, particularly in disciplines and subjects that have link with knowledge industry, have increased. The Indian youths are now looking for education that would be of quality and immediate utility. The private institutions have come up to fulfill the demand by introducing large number of specific skill oriented courses. The foreign universities are also looking forwards to encash on such demands. The Indian economy also has shown steady growth in recent years. This has enhanced the percentage of families who can afford to spend more money on education. Thus raising interest in utility oriented education and enhanced economic strength of few have encouraged the growth of private institutions and entry of foreign universities in India.

The growing Indian economy and the nation which is relocating itself to face the challenges of globalization, also need highly skilled human power to manage its own affairs.

This demands that our education system must address the question of quality and of producing value added trained human power, in all disciplines and all subjects that would sustain and enhance our advantage as a nation contributing to the Gray Revolution.

In recent times, we have seen rapid expansion of private education institutions in skill oriented professional disciplines. They are attracting large number of students and the question of their legal legitimacy is still open. In addition, foreign universities have started projecting their programmes. Thus the competition to public education system is increasing and enhancing quality of its functioning and working is the need of the hour.

It is also true that even though the world as a whole is passing through a Knowledge Revolution, the four key principle Quality, Access, Equity and Accountability which have been good old prime things in the growth of higher education, continue to be the basic guiding principles even while planning for higher education for the 21st century.

Higher education in India is at crossroad. This may sound like often used clich but in a true sense when we are on the threshold of 21st century, our higher education system is

facing a bigger challenges. This scenario has emerged because of distinct things that have happened in the past few years. It is interesting to note that job opportunities pattern is also undergoing government a change. The jobs in government are and under

supported/funded

organizations

decline. In industry also the job profile is changing. All over the world the manufacturing industry is undergoing a sea changes - there is downsizing, there is outsourcing, and there is otherwise a whole new approach in managing of industries.

Another sector that would be on the rise is the service sector. It is projected that in 20 years time at global level almost sixty to seventy percent of jobs would be in service sector. The world is looking for not only persons who are experts and/or innovators at high end but also for high skilled persons who can work at second or third level. Hence globally the demands are increasing in pure sciences and technology sectors, in social and humanity area, in economics and commerce domain as well as in utility sectors. It is in these areas that there are shortages of human power and the expanding gap between demand and supply.

The developed world is worried about this. The impact is clearly seen in recent moves by US, Canada, UK, Germany

and many nations in Europe to enhance the work permit quota and initiatives taken by countries like Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and Australia to drop their visa barriers,

accelerating the outflow of skilled human power from India. We must also realize that it is not only shear shortage that has made these countries to open the doors for Indians. The world now believes that the trained Indian human-power is of much superior quality and is of significance on its own right.

It must, once again, be emphasized that internally also the job scenario is changing. The universalisation of job market and acceptance of Indian skills at a global level has opened opportunities for creation of new jobs internally particularly at back office. Moreover, the service sector in India, in its own right, is also on the rise. This would call for trained human power at various levels to fulfill our own demand.

The demography is also changing. When many of the advanced nations, in twenty years time, would have large percentage of senior persons, India would have become young. In twenty years from now, 45% of Indians would be in plus twenties. This means young Indians would be on demand for managing administrative and other affairs of other nations. They would have more scope for competing in a global market as entrepreneurs or as service providers. Internally also, as

said earlier, this would open doors for more opportunities. Thus demographic changes offer advantages for the Indians who serve outside India and continue to keep links with their mother nation. They like to contribute for its growth by sharing their knowledge and wealth. The challenges come through demands for quality in higher education. However, to take advantage of this demographic change, we need to produce trained persons who are at par with global standards.

The globalisation has thus spurred demand for quality in education. Interestingly enough, it has pushed the demand for quantity also. There is a genuine demand for Indian brainpower. The recognition of Indian graduates at global level has given rise to enhancement of expectations of masses internally. The student community in rural, semi-rural and urban places are craving to be a part of changing India; they not only want education in modern fields but they want education which is of quality which will give them an identity. They do not want to be neglected of opportunities because of their social or economic background. They want to be a part of new revolution, which has given a place of pride for Indians at global level; they want to have advantages of this emerging economy.

Our higher education system has a role and challenges carved out to give skilled human power at all levels, which is confident, flexible and enjoys knowledge and technical skills needed to effectively confront the social and economic realities of the twenty-first century.

1.2

PRIVATISATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION: Emergence and rational

In

India,

private

initiatives

in

education

came

from

philanthropists who set up educational institutions and nurtured these institutions by endowments and liberal

donation. with the main aim of rendering service to the society. Over a period of time, with the increase in demand and rise in the recurring and non-recurring cost, the private efforts, with the sole aim of service has declined significantly

Great institutions require managements with visions, heads with missions and teachers with commitment. While it is not impossible for government to create such institutions, it is easier for private institutions to do so. The nature of public accountability in such government institutions cannot have kind of independent space that heads will need for converting the vision into a mission. Land and buildings and facilities

provide the base, but it is the ability to recruit good teachers and heads and maintain their level of commitment that is the most critical factor in developing both good and great institutions. Again government rules may come in the way of linking assessment with rewards and punishments. Too many cooks spoil the broth. The continuity of vision and

commitment that comes from good private educational managements cannot be built easily in the public sector. For these reasons alone, if not for other consideration like lack of finance there is need to encourage private educational enterprise.

Private sector has thus a major role in establishing new institutions, new leadership and management, providing enough freedom and space, conditions and facilities for teachers to develop themselves professionally, this

contributing to the welfare and development of the student community and consequentially, the society.

There are enormous opportunities for India to provide education of the highest order that can greatly benefit both generation of knowledge as well as its application. India should be in the lead in establishing these world-class institutions of higher education, technology and research. There is a great reservoir of talented people in our country

whose talent is vastly under utilised. Thus, we should have an aggressive policy of promoting and establishing of high quality self-financing educational institutions with linkages to various universities and technical institutions abroad.

Globalisation and privatisation throw up unprecedented challenges before the educational community, entrepreneurs and government. Together they have a unique opportunity to build institutions that will cater to diverse educational and cultural needs of this country and the world. Also the public system of higher education is neither ensuring the cognitive, affective and psychomotor inputs to the students nor matching the inputs to employment requirements.

Degrees and grades do not generally command credibility due to poor quality of higher education as these mismatches with current requirements of the society. A noted sociologist Dipankar Gupta has recently reported that the total number of diplomas and degrees holders in India is equal to the entire population of one of the most developed countries in the world France.

The private organisations have done wonderfully well in school education and also in computer application education. It is largely due to achievements of such organisations that in

the field of education, India is a force to reckon with. Similarly our MBA graduates from many such organisations are working in MNCs all over the world. In fact many private business school have been rated higher than public funded business schools.

According to a study conducted by Business Today and reported in its May 22 1997 issue, these institutions have established beyond doubt that there is willingness of the students to pay for quality education. Report of the UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty First Century entitled Learning: The Treasure Within 1996 states, Further the Commission feels that it is not only

justifiable but also desirable to raise money from private sources in order to ease the pressure on national budgets. Private funding can come from variety of sources; contribution by individuals families and students towards fees.

What we need is less of proliferation and more of quality, that students and parents should expect less of subsidy and spoon feeding and more of relevant teaching that they would gladly pay for, that emerging vocations have to be locally identified by a constant interaction with those who are the potential employees and paymasters, that courses of study have to contain less of core courses and more of optional, that

flexibility

means

the

bee

way

to

choose

different

permutations and combinations at will, that vocational guidance should relate emerging vocations to flexible choice, that a little theory should be mixed with lots of hands on practice and that there should be a close interaction between academician and captains of industry and commerce.

By enhancing the connectivity between people, resources and skills of entire humanity, the process of globalisation is beginning to unleash profound changes in our lives. Apart from distribution of goods and services, a whole gamut of activities including medical treatment, research, working hours, entertainment and travel etc. are likely to transform our lives in a major way in the near future.

Amongst these changing sectors again, education seems to be the most critical zone: as it is not only a recipient but also a major instrument of the process of globalisation. Indeed, the core concern of education, viz. knowledge, is a resource that is best attuned to the forces of globalisation such as the internet, distance learning, DTH and convergence between computer and wireless communication techniques. These changes will not only internationalise the market of

educational services, but also make continuous learningessential in a world of fast changing skills and careers and

ultimately force the traditional education system to change by linking students to global pools of knowledge and databases. Indeed, the very character of the teacher-taught relation is bound to transform slowly in this backdrop.

Thus, the welfare state philosophy has paved the way for free market economy. In the current scenario, it is believed that, it is not the government but the market that can do everything for everybody. The education sector is also influenced by this philosophy. Corresponding the centers decision of removing higher education from the service sector has further directed higher education to look for alternative resources for its own survival. The resultants out-come has been the establishment of higher education institutions, which are founded, funded and run by private agencies. The primary motive of these private bodies in setting up educational institutions is to earn profit.

These educational institutions subscribe to the view of full recovery of cost from those who derive benefit from education. Such private higher education institutions have been established in India since 1970s and were known as capitation fee colleges, which may be called self-financing colleges. The centre and the state have been favouring this

trend, as these colleges impose no financial burden on the exchequer. Moreover, they meet the ever-increasing, demand for professional education. Majority of these self-financing institutions are catering to the market need and students requirements. It is also considered relevant to mention here that education is not the only input for creating a knowledgebased society. Economic opportunities are equally important.

Education is necessary but not enough. Opportunities to harness that education and knowledge need to be created. This would necessitate an economy free from controls that fosters new opportunities. These new opportunities, in turn, place new demands on education. They also help reverse the process of brain drain. In this sense, reforms in education and in the economy are mutually reinforcing.

1.4

ABOUT THE STUDY

In a globalised environment when every thing has to compete to survive it should not surprise us if higher education has not only been reduced to the level of being a commodity but it must also sell its wares competitively on the open market. Since higher education is an intellectual affair, its quality

should not merely be guaranteed but be market savvy as well. The fact that an institution would be judged by the

quantum of distinctiveness it possesses over others but also how it deals in similar or identical products. Time was when higher education was meant to develop certain faculties only totally unrelated to the job market. Things stand radically changed now. Degrees and jobs have become totally interdependent. Therefore, it is no longer possible to keep higher education away either from getting evaluated for the quality of its product or the cost at which these products are readied for the market. Since seventies, welfare state philosophy has been paving the way for free market philosophy. This philosophy stresses individual values and gains. It gives preferences to individual freedom and choice as against social or public choice. It is argued increasingly now-a-days that it is not the government, but the market that can do everything for everybody.

1990s in India saw the unrestricted play of market forces in all activities. Higher education was no exception. Traditionally universities do not change easily, but they have changed a good deal in 1990s and would continue to change, may be even to an unrecognisable state in the 21st centaury. Changes are not only due to scarce resources. Social accountability and demand by the society for a socially relevant quality

education in lieu of the price being paid are also the contributing factors. The changes in higher education in post globalisation era may broadly be summarized as follows:

Emergence of professional education comprising of technical and management education as the most sought after option.

Private participation in higher education especially technical and management education in a different way.

Changes

in

societal

perceptions

in

general

and

educational entrepreneur in particular from higher education (specially professional education) being a welfare activity to a business activity.

Entry of market forces compelling the institutions of higher learning to become cost effective and

competitive.

The new developments demanding multi discipline orientation and skills and abilities of highest order.

Dr. Hari Gautam, the then Chairman, University Grants Commission, New Delhi, while delivering the convocation address at the Vth convocation of Kathmandu University, Nepal said, The question of encouraging private initiative in higher education needs to be taken more seriously. The time has come to make serious efforts to fully harness the human and material resources of civil society. The main purpose of this is to bring the increasing gap between good opportunities available for higher education and those required to meet the growing demand. Self-financing universities and institutions of excellence should be encouraged, which in fact shall be a private initiative to meet the growing demands of newer forms of education and skill, development being met with private funding and support.

The

government

is

encouraging

establishment

of

self-

financing institutions, which are founded, funded and run by private agencies. These recover the entire cost of providing education from the students. Higher education will effectively be a market of Seller and Buyer, institutions will be forced to market its transparent facilities and capabilities so that students as clients could choose based on their tastes, needs, and buying capacity, the institutions as seller would make best efforts to satisfy their clients with quality and

environment. A strong built-in-market research mechanism is necessary to obtain feedback about the performance of students.

1.4.1 Objectives of the study Till now the need to market their services had not really been felt by the educational sector, as, educational institutions, be it colleges or universities or institutions catering to specific fields, especially in developing countries like ours, have always faced more demands than they could cope with. For specialized fields like management and computer education, where attractive market potentials have increasingly caused more and more institutions to be set up, competitive situation is slowly changing. Even the institutions facing heavy demand have been confronted with the question of being able to choose the desired kind of target customers and are, therefore, face to face with issue like product differentiation, product extension, diversification and service integration. Of a far basic and far reaching nature is their concern with building and retaining organizational reputation for creating a pull in the market. All this has activated interest in the hitherto neglected area of marketing of education services.

A study in the Indian context, concerning management education, reveals that some of the criteria applied by

students while choosing between institutions have been observed as under:

1. Reputation of the institution 2. Number of applicants keen to enroll in the course 3. Past placement record 4. Faculty expertise 5. Range of specializations offered 6. Infrastructure facilities 7. Fees The Traditional 4Ps concept developed for marketing of products has been conceptually extended by Booms and Bitner,2 to include three more Ps, i.e. people, physical evidence and process, to explain the marketing elements used for services. Developing the right marketing mix for marketing of education would mean constantly fashioning and reshaping the components of the mix into the most effective combination at any point of time. Let us, by considering these components, try to study what considerations do education planners and dispensers need to keep in mind with respect to these elements of services marketing.

Students planning to enter self-financing higher education institutions are treated as consumers and coming out of the
2

B H Brooms and M J Bitner, Marketing Strategies and Organisation Structure for Service Firms, in J Donnelly and W R George, (Ed. S), Marketing of service, AMA, 1981

institutions after finishing their course are final products. The quality of final product (students) and the cost at which they are readied are two important dimensions affecting the

decision making process of the consumers (students). As in buying decisions after-sale-service (support service in case of self-financing institutions) also have an impact on consumers decision. Therefore, studying the impact of cost, quality and support services on students perception can lead us to understand the market dimensions of self-financing

institutions. This in fact is the basic objective of the study.

Briefly, the following objectives were intended to be achieved by the present study: (i) To study the cost of professional education (technical and management) to the students both in absolute and relative terms in selected self-financing institutions. (ii) To study the quality of education on various parameters (viz; intellectual capital, delivery system, relevance of curricular etc.) in these institutes. (iii) To assess the scope and utility of various other services provided by these institutes. (iv) To study the impact of each one of the above on students' perception thereby influencing their decision marking.

[v]

To assess the determinants of desired expectation of the students on completion of course being pursued.

(vi)

To identify the weakness of the system on the one hand and pattern of student's perception on the other hand and to lay down certain prescriptions (in terms of ongoing techniques and policy frameworks) to enhance the benefits to both the provider and the receiver of education, ultimately maximizing the welfare of the society.

(vii)

To study the effect of individual characteristics on perception of students as regard to cost, quality and support services of an educational package.

1.4.2 Significance of the study The strengthening of market economy and consequently the mantra of liberalization followed by treaties such as WTO and the issue related to intellectual property right have affected all respective countries, as all our universities and institutions of higher learning. Thus, the modern face of India share all features of fast transforming society where knowledge and information are making significant inroads in tune with global intend of expansion of service sector. The share of service sector in GNP is continuously increasing and shortly expected to make an equal mark of the other components. Higher

education is showing positive trends even at a time when the world economy today seems slowly coming into the grip of recession. In the higher education changes have been phenomenal, changes are utterly fast and changes will continue to be inevitable.

The basic change in higher education as a result of globalisation includes emergence of professional education, private participation in higher education and educational service coming into the category of business activity. According to one estimate the private participation in professional education today is more than 60% and is likely to increase in near future, As in other industrial service activities there is only one Guru now competition. Education sector, especially higher and professional education, cannot remain untouched by the same Guru. Today, as in other fields, the market forces have started dictating and would determine whether institutions of higher learning as brand and students as consumer will survive, excel or go under. It is with this background in mind that the techniques of marketing and consumer perception and consumer behavior become highly relevant forcing all of us to think students as consumer and self-financing educational institution as industry.

1.5

RELEVANT TERMINOLOGY

PERCEPTION The various sense organs are constantly receiving stimuli from the outside environment and also from inside. These sensory inputs or information form the basis of our

knowledge. This selective process by which certain select sensory stimulations from among many come to occupy the center of our awareness is known as attention. If sensation constitutes the first stage of a cognitive act, and attention, the second stage, the third stage involves perception. Perception is a complicated process and involve the

organisation and interpretation of the stimuli which have crossed the threshold of the attention process and get into focus of awareness to make them meaningful.

Perception is much a more complex process involving past knowledge, awareness etc. Perception involves arriving at meanings often leading to action. In addition to the nature of the stimuli, and past knowledge, perception is influenced by many other factors.

Perception is important because human behaviour is based on their perception of what reality is, not on reality itself. We

dont see reality. We interpret what we see and call it reality. The world as it is perceived is the world that is behaviorally important. Perception is like beauty, in that it lies in the eye of the beholder.

Individuals in organizations make decisions. That is, they make choices from among two or more alternatives. How individuals make decisions, and the quality of their final choices, are largely influenced by their perceptions. Every decision requires interpretations and evaluation of

information. Data is typically received from multiple sources and it needs to be screened, processed and interpreted. What data, for instance, is relevant to the decision and what isnt?

The perception of the decision maker will answer this question. Alternatives will be developed and the strengths and weaknesses of each will need to be evaluated. Again, because alternatives dont come with red flags identifying themselves as such or with their strengths and weaknesses largely marked, the individual decision makers perceptual process will have a large bearing on the final outcome.

There can be no behaviour without perception; and perception like personality lies at the base of every individual behaviour.

Human beings are essentially creatures who have the power to give meanings to things and objects they come in contact.

Perceptual Process Human behaviour in its simplest form can be seen as a persons response to a stimulus in his environment. This is known as the S-R (Stimulus-Response) model. A process intervening between S and R is perceptual process, which stands as follows:
Stimulus Attention Response Organisation Interpretation

Perpetual inputs are first received, and then processed by the perceiver and the resultant output becomes the base of the behaviour. In this case, the inputs are equated to stimulus and outputs to response. Then the perceptual process can be depicted as under in figure: Perceptual Process Organisational

Inputs = Stimulus = information objects, Response statements, people behavior,action events etc.

Outputs Attention Interpretation

attitudes,beliefs sentiments,

feelings

Source: G.C.Deka, Organisational Behaviour: A Conceptual and Applicational Approach, (1999), Kanishka Publishers, Distributors, India.

The model has four variables: Inputs : Perceived inputs are the objects, events,

statements, and people etc.

Process

: The received inputs are processed through

attention, organization and interpretation.

Outputs

: Through the processing mechanism, the output

is derived. These outputs are actions, attitudes, beliefs, feelings, sentiments etc.

Behaviour : Behaviour is reflected through response. It is dependent on these perceived outputs, that is, the perceivers behaviour generates responses from the perceived and these responses give rise to a new set of inputs.

COST OF EDUCATION The cost of education is a composite measure comprising the social cost, institutional cost, and private cost. This further involves estimation of the direct and indirect costs. The institutional cost includes the capital and maintenance

expenditure. The private cost would imply the cost or expenditure incurred by students. This would have mainly two dimensions of accounting tuition and non-tuition. (I) Student Cost: Such type of cost can also be termed as

'out of pocket' expenses. This is borne by the individuals from out of their own pockets. This cost has four major

components. These are (1) Direct expenditure (2) Collateral expenses (3) Maintenance expenditure (4) Miscellaneous expenses. Items of cost included under each category are as follows:1) Direct Expenditure: Such type of expenditure includes tuition fees and other types of fees. In other fees we may include the admission fee, laboratory fee, games and sports fee, identity card fee, development fee, union fee, library fee, magazine fee, enrolment fee and examination fee. 2) Collateral Expenses: Apart from tuition fee and other types of fees, there are other cost items, which are directly related to education. These are the transportation

expenses, expenses on uniform or dress, money spent on own books and stationery, and money spent on private tuition. 3) Maintenance Expenditure: Under this head come the

expenses on medicine, money spent on additional diet for study purpose, hostel expenses or house rent. Though

these expenses are not directly related to education, yet because students are the raw material for education industry, so to maintain the raw material in a good condition, these expenses are done. 4) Miscellaneous Expenses: The expenses on laundry, money spent on recreation and cosmetics, pocket money, money spent on hobbies, are the major expenses, which are included under this head. All this is, what we call private cost to the individual or student cost.

(II)

Institutional Cost: The institutional cost would mean,

the cost involved in running the educational unit. This cost is borne by the management or government. The prime cost in the educational institutions is entirely made up of the cost of teaching staff. There is no doubt that they form the major percentage. The non-teaching staff, as we call them, can be divided into two categories, one is auxiliary to the teaching and the other is administration. The auxiliary to the teaching staff, as we call them, can be divided into two categories, one is auxiliary to the teaching and the other is administration. The auxiliary to the teaching staff can consists of those employed on sports, workshops, laboratory and other

incidental activities. Administration will consist of office staff, accounts, bookstores and supporting staff.

This cost has three major components i.e., (1) Capital cost (2) Equipment cost (3) Operating cost. Items of cost included under each category are as follows:1) Capital Cost: These include cost of acquiring land and construction of laboratories, hospitals, waterworks, college buildings, library buildings, staff quarters and hostels buildings. Apart from these, this category also includes the rent or rental value, cost of water, electricity and telephone bills, and the value of taxes as building tax, water tax. These items of cost are of nonrecurring type. 2) Equipment Cost: This component of cost includes as estimated value of services rendered by total stock of books in the library, equipment in the laboratory, gas plant and printing presses. This is also non-recurring type expenditure. 3) Operating Cost: Items of costs under this head include, teachers salary, laboratory cost, examination cost, current expenditure on books and journals added to a library, scholarships and free ships paid.

(III)

Opportunity Cost: This is an important component of

educational cost. It is most wider concept and includes transfer cost, which in case of education would mean the earning forgone by students by taking to education instead of

going in for employment. This is the loss of income by the students while the study equals to the amount of money they would have earned, had they not attended the college. The cost thus involved is not only a private cost to the students or their parents but it is also a social cost, because the potential addition to GNP remains unrealised.

Social cost of education is the sum of institutional cost, student cost and opportunity cost. But when we come to underdeveloped countries, social cost of education is only a sum of institutional and students cost. The concept of opportunity cost however seems to have a doubtful validity in this context. In by underdeveloped wide, spread economies, which are

characterized

unemployment,

under

employment and non-employment, the opportunity cost of matriculates or other students will be equal to zero. Thus on the whole there were the strange grounds for the omission of opportunity costs in underdeveloped countries. QUALITY The word quality is derived from the Latin word such as the thing really is. The Oxford Dictionary describes it as degree of excellence. Another meaning given to the word quality by the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary is to reach the standard of ability and knowledge. required to enter a particular profession. Quality is defined as the totality of

features and characters of a product or services that bear on its ability to satisfy stated or implicit needs3. All those definitions are general definitions of quality, which are not useful in the field of education. They do not help us to define the quality of education or in understanding the features of the quality of education. Quality in education is a complex concept. Terry melia states, Quality is an elusive concept. All claim to recognize it but few can adequately describe what they mean by it, much less define and measure it4.

It is said that quality like beauty is an elusive concept. Quality in higher education is a complex idea, but above all it is about what students learnt (what they know, what they can do and what their attitudes are) as a result of their interaction with their teachers, department and university5.

Quality is also a relative and subjective concept. What is considered as of good quality may not be considered so at all times and in all places. Perceptions and conceptions regarding quality differ from person to person. Quality being vague, relative, subjective and related to value judgment is difficult to define. Inspire of all those difficulties, specifications for the quality of products and even services are formulated and the
3

K.B. Powar and S.K.Pande (eds.) Higher Education In India In Search of Quality, p.330 4 Terry Melia, Inspecting Quality in the Class room, an HMI Perspective, in Diana Green (ed.)( What is Quality in Higher Education?p.38 5 Malcom Frazer

quality of those products or services are measured with reference to the specifications. The guidelines or

specifications regarding quality will naturally vary from one group of goods or services to another group of goods or services. However, inspite of the wide differences, regarding specifications for quality, certain principles or conditions of quality are uniform to all products and services. Some of those principles are:

Specific and Clear The specification of quality in any field, to be followed for quality control or maintenance or measurement should be specific and clear. Vague, ambiguous conditions give scope for lot of problems.

Capable of Quantification The feature of any quality is that it should be capable of quantification. Any quality is related to quantity. The two are inseparable. But with regard to even abstract matters like love, teaching, and learning, though quantification is not possible, by comparison they are capable of some kind of quantification.

Measurement

Material products or goods can be measured. Hence their qualities can also be measured. So one of the qualities of all goods is that they can be measured. The same thing cannot be said about services. But here again it is possible to have a rough measure of services by comparison or by detailed description. We may not be able to express the services of a doctor, a teacher, a writer in terms of weight and measures but we do measure those services by using words like outstanding, excellent, very good, good, bad, poor and so on.

Comparison Another common feature of the quality of goods and services is that they can be compared. Comparisons are always made while describing the quality of material objects or abstract services. The quality of one type of car is described by comparing it with another type of car. Similarly the quality of teaching of a lecturer or professor is described by comparing it with the teaching or work of another lecturer or professor. Comparisons help in describing quality or in measuring quality. Institutional Components Of Quality It is not possible therefore to talk about quality as a unitary concept, quality must be defined in terms of qualities with recognition that an institution may be of high quality in

relation to one factor but low quality in relation to another. The important parameters can be as follows.

Research What exactly do we mean by quality in higher education? By quality do we refer to the quality of research in Universities? Research is an important part of the work in the universities. As such there is no denying the fact that quality in higher education includes the quality of research also. But research is not the only activity in the educational institutions. Many other academic and intellectual activities are undertaken. Hence quality in higher education does not refer to research only.

Inputs By quality do we mean the quality of inputs in the institutions of higher education? The buildings, furniture, scientific and other equipment, library facilities, teachers and even the students and various services provided in the institutions can be considered as the inputs of higher education. The quality of the outputs or the quality of education in the educational organizations depends on the quality of the inputs. If the institution lacks good infrastructure, good teachers and if the students admitted are poor quality, the quality of education is bound to be low. Hence it can be safely said that the term

quality of higher education includes the quality of inputs also. But the quality of the product of any organization is ultimately judged by its quality when it comes out of the organization. Though the inputs have a bearing on the quality of the product, by quality we do not refer to the quality of inputs only.

Teachers The staff or teachers play a crucial role in determining the quality of education in educational organisations. So can we say that quality in higher education means the quality of teaching or the quality of teachers? The competence and the efficiency of the faculty are very important factors in shaping the quality of education in a college or university. Quality, however, does not depend on the faculty only. The work of the students,environment in the institution, the management, are also deciding factors which contribute to quality. So by quality in higher education we do not mean the quality of teaching only though that is a very important aspect of the quality framework in higher education.

Outputs Quality in an industrial or commercial arena formally refers to the quality of the outputs or products. Quality in the context of a cement factory refers to the quality of cement produced

in the factory. Quality with reference to a steel plant refers to the steel produced in the plant. Similarly, can we say that quality in the higher education means the quality of the students or the products of the educational institutions. Generally by quality in a college or university, people mean the quality of the students.

With reference to the knowledge and skills acquired by the students of an institution, comments are made on the quality of education. In this context, the following lines of Malcolm Frazer, are worth quoting: In summary quality in higher education is a complex idea, but above all it is about what students have learnt (what they know, what they can do, and what their attitudes are) as a result of their interaction with their teachers, departments and the university6.

Does Quality Include Discipline? A very important question that has to be answered in the discussion on the quality in higher education is, does quality include discipline? Without discipline in an institution, nothing of good quality will emerge. Indiscipline, chaos and confusion are the opposite of quality. Wherever the students and staff, (teaching and non-teaching) are disciplined, there can be education of good quality. If the students are undisciplined
6

Malcolm Frazer, Quality in Higher Education: An International Perspective, in Tom Schuller (ed.) The Future of Higher Education ,pp. 104-105.

inside and outside the class and the staff quarrels among themselves and are not amenable to rules of discipline, the quality of education is bound to be low. T.N. Seshan, former Chief Election Commissioner, speaking in the convocation function of the Allahabad University said that the disruption caused by some students to the function speaks about the standard of education. True, disruptions in meeting,

misbehavior by students in and outside the classes, aping the politicians in college or university elections, will all affect the quality of education. Hence one can say without any hesitation that discipline is an integral part of quality.

SUPPORT SERVICES Indian education is currently experiencing a massive and, to some, a terrifying expansion. Not only is the number of students demanding admission to higher education

increasing, but there is also a great diversity of students with respect to educational and social backgrounds. If for no other reason, the numbers and the increasing diversity of the student would be enough to demand the attention of persons specially trained to handle the problems students face. The Indian college students non-class hours were too often wasted, or at least relatively unproductive, not necessarily due to students slothfulness, responsibilities at home,

necessity of working, or other extra-college factors. University

do not just equip the student with marketable skills; they attempt to give him a whole personality, In a word, universities, like schools, are socializing agents. Increasing attention is being paid to the development of students as individuals and increasing concern is being shown for the educational experiences, both within and outside the classroom that facilitates this individual development. Student services programme are being introduced on some campus to fill part of the void created by an educational system that has long focused its attention on lectures and examinations.

Need For Student Services One need not look far long at the Indian higher education scene before spotting factors which have helped produce a need for student services. An obvious fact of university life in India in the 1960s was student unrest, or indiscipline, in various forms. A second major negative factor is the massive wastage of human time, energy, and talent on the part of the thousands of students each year who fail their final

examinations. It may be stated that student services, no matter in what quantity, are not apt to cure these ills by themselves. However, assistance provided to students

through such services and directed at increasing their effectiveness and efficiency as students may well be

instrumental in achieving the removal of many of the causes of these maladies.

A third factor contributing to the need for student services is the fact that students spend two to three times as many hours outside college class-rooms as in them during a college session. This makes a strong case for giving careful attention to ways in which colleges can provide positive direction to students by influencing how they use those non-class hours.

A fourth important factor is that adolescents need assistance on successfully making the transition from secondary school to college and must get that assistance from someone. Colleges can aid their cause by having someone as a teacher with high motivation, a trained counselor, or an interested dean willing to take time to listen and talk sympathetically with students. This is infinitely better than permitting the influence to come from a senior student with perhaps questionable motives or adults unrelated to the college with motivations not necessarily in the students best interest.

By another approach one can relate student services to the fundamental goals of higher education. Mueller has listed four such goals as: (1) preserving, transmitting and enriching the culture, (2) developing all aspects of a students personality,

(3) training for citizenship, and (4) training for leadership. In each of theseincluding number onesome of the student services can play a major role. The manner in which students spend their non-class hours clearly affects their success in achieving both academic competence and personal

development of all sorts.

Other forces are at work at present, which provide special pressures for student services at the college level. They include the following: (i) Larger and more heterogeneous campus groups (ii) Expanding scope of education for a more complex world (iii) New techniques available for assisting students. Larger numbers of students have produced

crowded conditions in the existing colleges and a need for completely new colleges with resulting problems for both teachers and administrators. The greater heterogeneity of students has presented problems as students from a broader range of family and educational backgrounds have met in college classes for instruction, in hostels for housing and in cafeterias and mess halls for eating. Indias current national and international relationships have forced teachers and students to a more complex interpretation of ways to apply knowledge in their fields to the broader spectrum of problems facing this country. The successful development of a variety of tools

and techniques within the field of psychology has provided college staffs with better means of assisting students in reacting effectively to the many problems they face. Many pressures, therefore, are bearing upon principals, deans and vice-chancellors forcing them to consider carefully the needs of their student bodies and the most effective ways of meeting those needs. Additional statements concerning the need for specific student services are included in the following chapters as the services are described individually. EDUCATION SERVICE Before going into the detail of education service marketing, it is important to understand the concept of education as a service. One of the first to define service was the American Marketing Association, which, as early as in 1960, defined service as activities, benefits, or satisfactions, which are offered for sale, or provided in connection with the sale of goods. This definition took a very limited view on services as it proposed that services are offered only in connection with the sale of goods. Education as a service, then, can be said to be fulfilling the need for learning, benefit acquiring, (increment knowledge-providing in knowledge, an intangible aptitude,

professional expertise, skills) produced with the help of a set of tangible (infrastructure) and intangible (faculty expertise and learning) means, where the buyer of the service does not get any ownership. A number of classification schemes have been developed to schematically classify the whole array of services according to some chosen variable. One of the simplest schemes has

classified services as consumers intermediate and industrial services. Education is a service that is geared primarily to the consumer market; therefore it can be classified as a consumer service rather than an intermediate or industrial service, though packages of industrial training are also designed for organizational customers. Another classification scheme categorises service as

equipment based and people based, depending upon which resources is primarily used in the production of the service. Classification by T.Thomas7 by its very nature, education is essentially a people based service, though some service delivery systems may make heavy use of technology and equipment. Services have also been classified as the level of personal contact or high contact services. Education, in its conventional form, is a high contact service. Shostack8, who in her studies stressed the intangibility characteristic of services, has classified services on the basis of dominance of tangibility/intangibility, along a continuum of a pure tangible product with high tangibility dominance to a pure service with intangibility content. 1.6 THE ESSENCE dominance. Accordingly, education can be classified as a pure service with dominant intangibility

There is an obvious case for encouraging innovation and for establishment of quality institutions through private initiative. There is a shift from education as per supply, to education as per demand. Professional education, especially in technical and management areas, is in great demand and the demand
7

C H Lovelock, Classifying services to gain strategic marketing insights,, Journal of marketing, summer 1983, pp.11-12. 8 G L Shostack, Breaking Free From Product Marketing, Journal of marketing Vol.41, no2April 1971, p.77.

is worldwide. Self-financing higher education institutions are therefore to grow in number and to survive in the market situation. It requires students to be at center stage of the whole scenario because he is both a consumer and a final product. Consumer and the product are the twin most important players in all theories of consumer behavior. Cost of the product being offered to the market, its quality and the services attached to (offered with) it will make all the difference. Realising this, the present study aims to measure and analyse the perception of students pursuing professional courses in self-financing institutions.

CHAPTER - 2
INDIAN HIGHER EDUCATION THROUGH AGES

Chapter 2
INDIAN HIGHER EDUCATION THROUGH AGES

2.1 Higher education in ancient India 2.1.1 Educational systems 2.1.2 Institutions and centers. 2.2 2.3 Higher education in colonial India Higher education in post independent era 2.3.1 Indian education policies

2.4 2.5 2.6

Globalisation and afterwards Internationalisation of higher education The essence

2.

INDIAN

HIGHER

EDUCATION

THROUGH

AGES

India has the longest history and the oldest tradition. Here education can be traced back to over 3,500 years. There is perhaps no country where education had so early an origin. Indian educationists and philosophers had greatly contributed to educational thought and practices. Some of them flourished at a time when the great civilizations of Greece and Rome were yet unborn.

2.1

HIGHER EDUCATION IN ANCIENT INDIA

The system of education in ancient India served as an effective instrument for the transfer of oral and written tradition from one generation to another. The most striking feature of ancient Indian education system was its

predominantly religious character through there is evidence of princes receiving training in the techniques of warfare and statecraft. We also know that craftsmen received and imparted vocational education through their caste guide. But formal education was focused mainly on the primarily of the knowledge of various concepts of religious discourse to upper three castes and primarily to Brahmanas through the gurushishya tradition.

2.1.1 Educational systems9 Brahmanical education During the Vedic Age, Education was mostly individualistic and education was provided by the learned saints in their own habitations. A group of disciples used to learn the various branches of Vedic Literature under the guidance of these saints called Gurus. These habitations were called Gurukul ashrams and teaching was organized as a matter of service and sacrifice. During the age of Epics, Gurukula Ashrams were well organised and the hermitages providing Vedic and Puranic education were famous centers of learning. Some of
9

Moonis Raza, Higher Education In India,(1991) Association of Indian Universities, India.

these Ashrams, for example, those belonging to Vyasa, Kanva, Vasistha, Viswamitra, Valmiki and other were

described vividly in the Mahabharata and Ramayana. The well-organised centers of higher learning belonging to

celebrate hermits were the Forest Universities and their reputation as distinguished teachers attracted students from far and near.

The early Vedic period was marked by stratified, through essentially, non-class society. Not surprisingly in this period we do not find monopolization of education by any particular social group. The institution of education was still not very complex. The Rig Vedic education concerned itself only with an attempt to preserve contemporary religious texts oral transmission. Although the Rig Veda mention the ceremony of upanayana (investiture) and the concept of brahmacharin as essential preconditions for the student, these were elaborated in subsequent times. The Rig Vedic education mainly consisted of the oral transmission of the sacred texts by the teacher to his on pupil them who, and after memorizing in them, learned

contemplated

participated

assemblies, which were institutions of higher learning.

The Rig Vedic educational institutions consisted of small domestic schools run by teachers who admitted resident

pupils. Every rishi was a teacher who would start by imparting to his sons the knowledge he had personally acquired and such knowledge would be the special property of his family. Each family of rishi functioned like a Vedic school admitting pupils for instruction in the literature or texts in its possession. Women were admitted to full religious rites and educational facilities. Women sages were called rishikas and

brahmavadinis. A number of women are mentioned as authors of hymns in the Rig Veda. It is mentioned that unmarried, learned and young daughters were married to learned bridegroom. Women thus enjoyed equal status with men in the sphere of education in the Rig Vedic period.

The later Vedic period saw continuity as well as definite changes in education. While education still remained religious in its content transmitted through oral tradition, some remarkable changes also took place. For example, there took place a decisive turn in favour of ritualistic and sacrificial religion. While only seven types of priests are known in the Rig Vedic period, we find sixteen types of priests in the subsequent period. The Brahmanas were only one of them along with Hotri, Udgatri and Adhvaryu as some of the most prominent members. Higher education now was subservient to the requirements of this period and ritualistic religion. The

external, material and mechanical aspects of worship and sacrifice became now the principal subject of study.

The educational institutions were of three types. First, there was the usual system under which the teacher, as a settled household, admitted to his instruction pupils of tender age who left their home for study after the upanayana or initial ceremony. Debating circles and parishads were another type of institutions where students discussed various aspects of knowledge. The Upnishads seem to be the product of such discussion. The third type of institution was represented by conferences summoned by kings in which the representative thinkers of various schools were invited to exchange their views. Such conferences are referred to in the

Brihadaranyaka panishad and the Shatapatha Brahmana.

Whatever the institution framework of higher learning, education gradually came to be monopolized by the upper castes, especially the brahmanas, from the later Vedic period, which saw the crystallization of the caste system. Although women still managed to have some influence in the sphere of education, they were increasingly relegated to the

background. Thus while we find names of 72 women rishis in the Rig Veda, we get only a few of their names in the later Vedic period, e.g. Gargi and Maitreyi.

The post-vedic period (600-300BC) saw the elaboration of rituals relating to education. For instance, the pupils first introduced to education was made by his performance of a ceremony called vidyarambha at which he was to commence to learning of the alphabets for the first time. The ceremony was to be performed when the child attained his fifth year. This was followed by the ceremony of chudakarna or tonsure, which was followed by upanayana.

The formal and regular introduction to education was made after the ceremony of upanayana. The minimum age for it is eight for brahmanas, eleven for kshatriyas and twelve for vaishyas. The maximum age limit was sixteen for a

brahmana, twenty two for a kshatriya and twenty four for a vaishya. Besides the age of upanayana, its time is also different for different castes, The upanayana of a brahmana should be performed in sporting, of a kshatriya in summer and of a vaishya in autumn. Those who do not have their upanayana were condemned and socially boycotted. This ceremony was considered a second birth and that is why all the three upper castes were twice-born or dvija. The shudras did not have the right to perform this ceremony.

The studentship could continue life long if the student did not have any desire to become a householder. Some students could continue as long as 24, 36 or 48 years. But those who would be householders would have to confine their

studentship to a period of 12 years. After that they could spend two months every year in the house of the teacher.

The life of the student was regulated on the principle that he must do what is pleasing and serviceable to his teacher. He was to serve his teacher as a son, a supplicant or a slave. His duties included such activities as collecting sacred fuel, kusha grass, cow dung, earth and flower for sacrifice and also to fetch water, gather fuel for cooking or begging alms. They might beg from everybody except low-caste people,

outcastes, the guru and his relatives. He was to deposit the proceeds of his begging to his teachers. A list of instructions to be observed by students is found in the brahmanical literature of the post-vedic period.

Formal

education

ended

with

the

ceremony

called

samavartana (graduation). It included a number of acts signifying the end of the austerities imposed on the student. The brahmachari, coming out of his room in the midday, cut off all the marks of studentship, took luxurious bath and dressed nicely with ornaments. After bath he was called

snataka, i.e., one who had bathed. After this ceremony, the snataka was permitted to return home and become a householder. Theoretically, all the three upper castes were allowed to receive education but in practice it was almost completely monopolized by the brahmanas.

We have some information about formal secular and military education also. Kautilyas Arthashastra (400-300B) provides details of studentship of a prince which should continue only up to sixteen years when he must marry. During this short period, he had to acquire the knowledge of religion, philosophy, agriculture as well as trade and statecraft. Even after marriage a prince was supposed to continue his education especially military practice. The Sanskrit texts also speak of vocational education, which was imparted through the caste guides or through apprenticeship under certain craftsmen. The Sushruta-samhita provides elaborated

information regarding medical education.

Buddhist education The Buddhist education, religious as well as secular, centered around monasteries and was in hands of the monks. In a sense, therefore, the history of the Buddhist system of education is the history of the Buddhist Samgha or Buddhist Order.

For the first time in India and perhaps in the world a type of education institutions developed under Buddhist influences, which can be compared with modern universities. The Brahmanical system of education mainly functioning in the home of the individual teacher was superseded by the monasteries with the emergence of the Buddhist system. The Buddhist center of education developed into a place of concentration of number of teachers and students. The nature of administration in the Buddhist educational center was secular and republican; and in contrast to the Brahamnical educational, Buddhist education was not enmeshed in

ritualism. However, just as in the Brahmanical system, in this case also a student had to find his teacher to whom he could make formal request for admission to studentship. The first in Buddhist initiation was called pabbajja or going forth. The Order was open to all persons irrespective of caste except slaves, army-deserters, the disabled and the sick.

Minimum age limit was fixed at eight and maximum period of studentship was twelve years. A layman under twelve years of age seeking admission to the order approached the vihara of his choice in yellow robes where the elder called upon him to take the oath of three refuges three times: I take refuge with the Buddha; the religion; the order. Membership of the order

was conferred in a meeting of the ten senior most bhikshus of the monastery. The student had to make a formal application to his proposed preceptor, upajjhaya, for accepting him as his pupil.

The curriculum of Buddhist education during the earlier phase of Buddhism consisted of what are termed as suttanta, dharma and vinaya, together with the Suttas and Suttavibhanga The courses of study also included such subjects such as the Lokayata system, astrology and witchcraft. A Buddhist text of the early Christian era, however, lists a wider range of subjects studied at Buddhist centers of education. It mentions, for examples, the four Vedas and Vaisheshika, music, medicine, magic, art of war, poetry, a number of arts as well as crafts and arithmetic. The Buddhist methods of teaching, like The Brahmanical, were largely oral. Although writing was known, texts were not committed to writing for quite some time and the Chinese travelers (Fahein, HuienTsang) had quite a difficult time collecting them. The importance of debate and discussion was very much

emphasized as modes of teaching. Not surprisingly the whole Buddhist canon is organised in the form of a dialogue.

The institutional structure of Buddhist education permitted a teacher to entertain two novices at a time. The viharas

functioned as residential schools where groups of students and teachers stayed together. Although an individual teacher was responsible for teaching a particular student, he did not live in isolation and students federated themselves into larger units called vihara. Another agency of education was the institution of periodical gathering of the monks from different monasteries twice a month. These meetings helped the monks cross the limits of their own monasteries and contract with the people outside.

Although the Buddhist canonical texts do not talk about fees, the Jatakas refer to the practice of paying fees. We are told that students were admitted by their teachers on payments in advance of their entire tuition fee. The university of Taxila, for example, had 1,000 pieces of money as a fixed sum of fee. Poor students were, however, allowed to pay in the form of services to their teachers. Some times the community also helped needy students to pay their fees. The fee paid by the student was not the individual earning of any teacher but went to the vihara.

Taxila was the most famous Buddhist seat for higher education. The Jatakas tell us that students from far-off flocked here. It was famous especially for the school of medicine, law and military sciences. Varanasi was also an

important center of learning but its distant specialty was the teaching of music.

The

Buddhist

texts

throw

much

light

on

vocational

education in ancient times. Although in its earlier phase Buddhism did not incorporate vocational training in its mainstream education, with the development of monasticism (especially during the period of Nalanda and Vikramshila) vocational education and other types of secular education were given much importance. Apart from medicine and surgery, various others arts and crafts were studied. But mostly their study was pursued through guilds and the system of apprenticeship.

The position of women in the Buddhist system of education was better than in the brahamanical system. In spite of all these restrictions, the Buddhist system produced numerous learned women.

Hiuen-Tsang, the Chinese traveler, who come to India in the seventh century AD, informs us that the Buddhist monasteries produced some outstanding teachers and scholars like Asanga, Ashvaghosha, Vasumitra, Nagarjuna, Dinnaga and Bhadraruchi. He has described several monasteries (e.g., Kashmir, Jalandhara), which were famous for their learned

teachers. I-tsang, another Chinese scholar, informs us that the monks were graded according to their capacities from the lowest grade of shramana to the highest grade of

bahushruta . Their privileges in the monasteries also varied accordingly. But all teachers were not equally capable and the incompetent teachers were condemned by the Vinyapitaka

The Madarsa system The Medieval centuries (12th 18th) in the history of India signified a major phase of social and cultural synthesis, resulting from an interaction between the widely diverse life of the new settlers from central and western Asia, on the one hand, and of the early inhabitants of the subcontinent, on the other.

The period has, however, been noted by historians more for a significant change. With the new settler their madrasa, already developed in the Islamic east, representing a system of higher education suited to their genius. Many of the features of central and west Asian madarsa were retained in medieval India. Still the medieval Indian madarsa responded to the existing social norms as much as it influenced them. The early Indian traditions of learning, thus, co-existed with the newly instituted madarsa, making continuity and change

both as important features of the history of higher education during the period.

Thus Islam also inspired them to generously help the establishment and growth of madrasas. Ilm or knowledge, and literacy as a source of enlightenment and adl while jihl or ignorance and illiteracy, as cause of darkness and zulm, was taken as an article of faith by the Muslims. The first verse revealed to the Prophet emphasized the necessity of learning. To promote learning thus was also a religious duty of the Muslim rulers, more so all medieval Muslim centers of learning almost compulsorily provided the studies in Muslim theology. Belief and religion, however, was not the primary

consideration for the medieval rulers concern for the madrasas. Among other things, the significant variations in the curriculum to suit the regional elites interests possibly indicated how mundane concerns together with the demands of faith conditioned their promotion to madrasa education at higher levels.

It is more in the sphere of madrasa system that achievements and failures of medieval higher education could be

appreciated. Madrasa not only had the support of the dominant political elites in a very large part of the medieval

tears over a large chunk of the subcontinent, it served like the keystone of medieval Indian elite civilization.

When Delhi become the capital on the Turkish rule, the city became one of the greatest centers of Muslim higher learning in the East with almost the entire body of science and culture of the Islamic world having been imported into India by the middle of the 13th century. From Delhi, it spread all over the northern plain.

Madrasas enjoyed political patronage with lands to maintain their structure and organisation and, often, with individual cash or land grants to the teachers and students as well. The pre-Mughal Sultans had no clearly defined education policy, even though the intellectuals and bureaucrats trained at the madrasas served the state.

The Mughal rulers (1526-1857) showed a comparatively greater interest in higher education. Akbars reign (15561605) marks a new epoch for the system of madrasas education. The monarch was sincerely eager to further the education of the Hindus and the Muslims alike. They were encouraged to study in the same madarsas. He also introduced changes in the mode of study and in the curriculum. The success of these measures gave his historian,

Abul Fazl ample reason to feel proud of the achievements of his time.

By the time Jahangir (1605-27) came to power, Agra acquired central position in education in the Mughal empire. In his memoir, Tuzuk-I-Jahangiri, the Emperor notes:

The inhabitants of Agra exert themselves greatly in the acquirement of crafts and the search after learning. Various professors of every religion and creed have taken up their abode in the city.

The curriculum and organization of the major medieval madrasas, particularly of those situated in the key

administrative centers, were standardized yet they were also considerably influenced by the personal beliefs and whims of the reigning rulers. Ancient Greek philosophy which was often taken as an antithesis of theology eventually became an integral part of the madrasa syllabus; in old indigenous tradition, at least, two full-fledged schools of philosophy developed in Mithila and Nadia.

2.1.2 Institutions and centers During the Buddhist age, Vihars and Monasteries came into existence in a large number and got prominence and

distinction as centers of higher education and learning. Most famous seats of such higher learning were Nalanda, Taxila, Banaras, Vikramasila, Valabhi, Mithila, Jagadala, Nadia,

Ratnagiri, Lalitgiri etc. which were renowned universities of the ancient India. Mention of these universities is found in the old scriptures, particularly, in the Buddhistic Jatakas and other literature. Brief description of the then centers of education and culture is necessary for any historical review of the educational scenario of India.

Nalanda Nalanda was the birth place of Sariputta, a great disciple of Buddha. As reported by Fa-Hien, in the 4th Century it was called Nala and was well-known as the greatest center of Buddhist learning. According to Hiuen Tsang the Jataka story referring the name of Nalanda means Insatiable in giving. Hiuen Tsang remarks, In this establishment, the work of a succession of sovereigns, the sculpture was perfect and really beautiful. I-Tsing saw as many as eight halls and 300 apartments in the whole monastery.

Nalanda University was noted as an institution of higher learning of post-graduate studies. The academic standard was insisted upon for admission into the university. According to Hiuen Tsang only about 20% could succeed in obtaining

admission by passing the entrance test and yet the university was never running short of students whose strength was

10,000 at the time. The normal age of candidates for such admission was about 20 and was released for under graduate courses only.

The quality and standard of the students who were selected through such shift process was good and the academic as well as moral life lived there was very high. As observed by Hiuen Tsang the students of Nalanda were looked upto as models by all India. Out of total, 10,000 monks of Nalanda as many as 1,500 belonged to the ranks of teachers who used to explain collection of Sutras and Sastras. Over them all, and over the establishment, presided Sailabhadra who was unique in learning and character. His eminent virtue and advanced age caused him to be regarded as the chief of the community.

The daily duties of the monks at Nalanda were strictly regulated according to fixed time schedules. There was adequate harmony of relation among the teachers and students of Nalanda, which was a meeting place of diverse groups and creeds. It set a model of amity amid diversities for other monasteries in the country.

Nalanda possessed a well-equipped library which was situated in a special area known as Dharmaganja (Mart of Religion) and comprised three huge buildings called Ratnasagara, Ratnadadhi and Ratnaranjaka.

Nalanda played an important role not only in the religious and educational field but also in the cultural arena of the ancient India and Asia. A host of talented scholars like Arya Deva, Silabhadra, Dharmapala, Chandragomin, Santarakshita,

Padmasambhaba, Kamalasila, Sthiramati, Buddha-kirti and others were not only outstanding scholars and teachers, but they immensely contributed to the development of art, literature, religion, universal love and harmony among the Asian countries. They worked as missionaries in Tibet, China, Nepal, Srilanka, Burma, Malay, Java and other Asian countries. Similarly, a good number of foreign scholars had their higher learning at Nalanda in particular and in India in general. Besides, Fa-Hien, Hiuen Tsang, I.-Tsang, there were Hiuan Chao, Tao-Hi, Aryavarma, Taso-Shing, Tang and many others from China, Tibet, Korea and so on. Thus the cultural intercourse was promoted by these immortal and many other unknown Buddhist scholars.

Taxila or takshasila

Taxila or Takshasila was the most famous seat of learning and attracted scholars from different parts of India. The Jatakas have many references to show that students came from Benaras, Rajagrih, Mithila, Ujjain, Koshala, Sivi, Kurn and so on. Taxila was elevated to a center of higher learning mainly due to world-renowed teachers who were experts,

specialists and authorities in their subjects and field. It was therefore well known as the intellectual capital of the Indian continent and exercised prominence in education, literature, religion and culture.

Students were coming to Taxila from far-off places through wild forests and rivers, leaving their parents and home behind. They were invariably sent there at the age of sixteen or when they come of age. They were coming to Taxila to complete their education and not to begin with. This indicates that Taxila was a seat of higher learning, of colleges or a university as distinguished from schools. Students were required to pay tuition fees to their teachers in cash or kind or in shape of service. Some were getting public contribution also when there was need and some state scholarships were available to the deserving students. There were some day scholars or even a few householders who were getting education from Taxila. Admission was open to all castes

excepting chandalas and there was freedom in choice of studies or courses.

Democratic principles and spirit were prevalent in the educational environment - in learning, in discipline, in organization and management. Senior students were

occasionally acting as Assistant Masters. Even some birds were utilized in the field of education, for example, crows for rousing students to their studies, informing the start of learning and Tittari birds for reciting Vedic mantras and helping students to get them by heart. Writing was developing and assuming a place of importance in education. Different courses of study were offered by the colleges of Taxila and these included Literacy education, Arts, Scientific and

Technical education. Both theory and practice were given due emphasis and adequate scope was left for specialization. At Taxila, there were some special schools of Medicine, Law and Military sciences. Besides, the culture of Vedic and Buddhist literature was emphasized in educational system of Taxila.

Benaras or kashi Benaras or Kashi was the most renowned seat of higher learning. It was largely created and managed by the exstudents and teachers of Taxila. They carried with them the same cosmopolitan and cultural values in education. The

same courses of study were introduced and subjects were taught at Benaras. There were also special schools of study. There were about 500 students and there were some distinguished teachers particularly in Music. Both teachers and pupils were after the pursuit of Truth and were leading the life of renunciation. A Good number of hermitages flourished as the centers of higher education and there was high standard of philosophical and religious discussions and culture in many schools around Benaras. These schools were mostly established on the bank of the river Ganges amid the solitary and sylvan surroundings.

Vikramasila The Vikramasila University had six colleges each with a staff of the standard strength of 108 teachers and a central hall called the House of Science with six gates opening to six colleges. The whole monastery was decorated with artistic work and beautiful portraits. The President or Kulapati of the university was always the most learned and religious saint.

The distinguished foreign travellers- Hiuen Tsang and I. Tsang had given first hand experience about real functioning of the university. In Tibetan literature also we find a good account of its teachers and students who contributed a lot to the growth

of its culture and civilization. The scholar of great eminence association with the university as teachers and gateKeepers were Jhanasari, Ratnavajra, Dipankara, Viryasimha, Abhayakara, Ratnakirti, Dharmakriti and so on. Another scholar of great distinction was Tathagata Rakshita who is supposed to have hailed from a Kayashtha caste of Orissa, a well known family of physicians. He was an ex-student of Vikramasila and won the title Moha-Pundit and

Upadhyayas. He was also an eminent Professor of Tantra and an author of many good works (lbid., p.594). But unfortunately the Vikramasila University was destroyed and its scholars and teachers were massacred by Muslim invaders as reported in Tabakat : Nasari (Raverty, p.552)

Valabhi The Valabhi University was established by the Princess Dudda and subsequently given rich grants by King Guhasena and Dharmasenai in 580 A.D. According to I-Tsang Nalanda and Valabhi were the two places in India where scholars used to stay for two or three years for completing their education. Like Nalanda, Valabhi also attracted students from far and wide in India and even abroad. There were occasional discussions on Buddhist doctrine and once any ones opinion was approved by the master of Valabhi, he was recognised as a great pundit in the subject.

According to Huien Tsang, Sthiramati and Gunamati were once in-charge of the Monastery at Valabhi. The monastery possessed great library, and got royal grants for purchase of books. The students of Valabhi after their graduation were to present themselves at the courts of Kings to prove their proficiency and talent in administration, so that suitable of them were appointed for government jobs. This shows that besides religious and spiritual objectives, the then education had secular purposes also.

Mithila Mithila was the stronghold of Vedic and Brahmanical culture from the time of Upanishads under its renowned philosopherKing Janaka. In the ancient time it was also known as Videha. As in Ramayana, and Mahabharata in Buddhist literature also, Mithila has been mentioned as a country of unique culture and great distinction. As a seat of higher education it flourished under the royal patronage not only in the field of education, but also in the arena of arts, crafts and literature.

The most famous scholars of Mithila were Jagaddhara, Vidyapati and others. Jagaddhara wrote commentraries on Gita, Meghaduta, and Gita Gobinda, He Malati also Madhava, some Dev

Mahatmya

the

like.

had

original

contributions to his credit like Rasika-Sarvasva and Sangita-

Sarvasa. Vidyapati was a very talented poet who composed padavali and inspired the Vaishnava poet later on in Eastern India. The special School of Nyaya made outstanding contributions to the field of Logic, Smriti and other Scriptures. Important writers of logic were Gangeshan, Vardhamana, Pakshadhara and others. Many teachers were not only great scholars but also achieved all-India reputation.

Jagaddala According to Ramacharita Manas, the historical epic, King Rama Pala who reigned covering Maghadha and Bengal between A.D. 1084-1130 founded a new city on the banks of the rivers Ganga and Karatoya. The city was equipped with a Vihar or a University called Jagaddala. Unfortunately this Vihar lasted only for one hundred years as it was destroyed by Muslim invaders in 2003 A.D. But during its short span of time , the university produced a good number of scholars who contributed a lot to the development of art, literature and religion. Its noted scholars were Vibhuti Chandra, Danasila, Subhakara, Mokshakar Gupta and so on.

Odantapuri Although very little account is available about the university of Odantapuri, it is ascertained that it was flourishing at the time of Abhayakaragupta. There were about 1,000 monks and

several thousand of pupils. The university existed long before the Pala kings were ruling Magadha and its library were expanded by these kings with rich grants. This library contained many Brahmanical as well as Buddhist works. This monastery was taken as a model for the first Tibetan Buddhist Monastery established in 749 A.D. by king Khrigon-deu-tsan as per the advice of his Guru Santa Rakshita. There were a host of reputed teachers and writers among whom the name of Pravakara is worth mentioning.

Nadia Nadia or Nabadvipa situated on the bank of Bhagirathi in Bengal was an important center of trade. It was patronized by Pala Kings and gained its prominence during the period from A.D. 1063-1138. King Laxman Sena made it his capital from 1106 A.D. and his court was renowned as a center of learning. His Prime Minister was Halayudha who had many famous works to his credit.

Nadia was a great center of education and literature. Although the dynasty of Laxman Sena came to an end in 1197 A.D. by the conquests of Bakhitiar Khilji, Nadia continued its traditions of learning under the Muslim rule. Consequent upon the destruction of the Buddnist Vihars at Nalanda, Vikramasila etc. Brahmanical education got a fillip and Nadia become a

famous center of learning. The proud practice of Mithila and some other Vihars was, not to allow students to take notes of the lesson, and so graduates were leaving the Vihars with their diplomas and without any kind of writings. This tradition was broken at Nadia and monopoly of learning and teaching was discredited there.

There were provisions for teaching Nyaya or Logic, Smritis, Astronomy etc. at higher level. The Nadia university

possessed three main centers of learning at Nabadvipa, Santipura and Gopalapara. The Maharaja of Nepal patronized all these centers. In 1680 the total number of teachers was 600 and that of students was 4,000. The post-graduate departments used to organise seminars and discussions on various topic. Learned open discourses were the chief method of education through ages.

Institutions in south India South India, like north India, developed its own tradition of formal education. It was predominantly religious in character and was imparted at various Brahmanical, Buddhist and Jain centers, which flourished mainly from the sixth century AD onwards. Vocational education, however, was largely

imparted by master craftsmen either in the homes or through caste or craft guilds.

During the Pallava and Chola periods, the Brahmanical mathas, the Jaina pallis and the Buddhist viharas were centers of higher learning. They often owned large libraries and transmitted, by successive copying, a vast mass of

manuscript literature on a variety of topics. This literature grew both in volume and diversity from generation to generation over the centuries. We have also evidence of numerous endowments to brahmanas for the pursuit of particular branches of study under the guidance of individual teacher. This made it possible for teachers of eminence in south India as in the north to set up and run a number of domestic schools. In contrast to the north, however, students in the domestic schools of south India were not required to beg for their teachers or for themselves.

Kanchipuram was the most important of the ancient centers of education in south India. Although it was already a seat of higher learning from earlier times, it reached its zenith during the Pallava period. The ghatika of Kanchipuram was the most important among the various educational centers and it attracted students from all corners of the country. The ghatika has been understood as a store house of the 4th century AD; and it is recorded that king Mayurasarman sought admission to it. A Kadamba inscription of the fifth-sixth

century mentions it in glowing terms. Several inscriptions refer to ghatika as an association of the learned twice-born (dvijas) and other scholars. The numerical strength of ghatika of Kanchipuram must have varied from time to time. Inscription do not provide the exact number of teachers and students associated with it and merely describe these in terms of thousands, a conventional way of indicating a large number.

The ghatika of Kanchipuram was not the only institution of its kind. Several Kannada inscriptions refer to the existence of ghatika at many other places. An inscription of Rajendra Chola I testifies to the fact that a merchant guild supported and maintained a ghatika.

It is clear that the member and scholars of the ghatika devoted themselves to the study of the scared lore, which was broadly called pravachanam. The study of the four Vedas and Vedangas was specially insisted upon in the curriculum. The ghatikas also played a political role. Sometimes they played a part in electing a ruler as well as in the ceremony of coronation. This may, perhaps, partially explain the royal support to the ghatikas.

Ghatikachala at Sholingar hill near Banavaram in the North Arcot district was another famous center of higher learning. During the Pallava period, it had already become well known as an institution of Sanskrit learning and a stronghold of Vaishnavism. Apart from these ghatikas, the Pallava ruler supported learned brahamanas and scholars through

Bhattavritti. These individual teachers admitted pupils to their domestic schools, as is born out by many inscriptions.

Agraharas, created by kings and chiefs mentioned in South Indian epigraphical record, also served as center of learning. A large number of chaturvedimangalams are mentioned in the inscriptions. The learned brahmanas of these agraharas actually imparted education and served as miniature centers of Vedic learning and auxiliary studies. The supreme importance of the South Indian temples as an agency of education and a center of all-round culture development during the later days of the Pallavas and during the Chola period cannot be overlooked. The Kailasanatha temple at the Pallava capital, for example, was an important center for imparting education and training in music. An important role played by the temple was that of a veritable storehouse of learned texts and as an archive of public documents.

The vidyasthana and mathas were other institutions of learning. The Bahur vidyasthana was a famous center of Sanskrit learning where the Vedas, Vedangas, various

philosophies like Mimansa and Nyaya and subjects like Dharmashastra, Puranas, Ayurveda, Dhanurveda, Gandharve and Arthasastra were taught. Early mathas were perhaps established in the seventh-eight centuries and were attached to both Vaishanava and Saiva temples. They provided boarding and lodging to scholars and teachers in addition to devotees. Several literary references to the establishment of mathas by Saiva devotees are available. The great

philosopher Shankaracharya flourished in Kanchipuran during period of the Pallava rule and established Kamakoti Peeth in that abode of higher learning.

Tiruvorriyur was another important center of Saivism, wherein education was imparted at an advanced level. Brahmanical educational centers of various categories, which had come into prominence during the Pallava rule from the Sixth century Ad. Onwards. Continued to flourish during the period of the Chola kings who dominated the South Indian political scene up to the end of the 13th century. But references to Buddhist and Jaina centers of higher learning are rather rarely available in historical records pertaining to the period following the 8th century.

The

Chinese

travellers,

Fahiun

and

Hiuen-Tsang,

have

provided some accounts of the Buddhist centers of learning in South India. According to Fahiun, a monastery was located on a great rock and its building had five storeys. It has been suggested that this is a reference to the Nagarjunakonda hill monastery, which was a flourishing Buddhist center in the 5th century AD. Fihun also referred to a flourishing Buddhist monastery near Vengi.

Huien-Tsang, who visited India in the seventh century, records that there were numerous Buddhist monasteries around Dharanikotaka (the present Kaharanikotta). He has also referred to Purvasila monastery, which is reported to have been located near Vijayawada. He informs us that

monasteries of the Cholsa were in ruins. According to him, Kanchipuram was renowned for Buddhist learning. Various secular subjects like medicine, astrology, arts and crafts were also probably taught at the Buddhist centers of learning along with Buddhist philosophy and Brahmanical texts.

The Jaina seats of learning played a special role in the academic life of South India. The Jaina contribution to South Indian learning and culture, especially to Tamil literature, is substantial. The Jainas of Digambara School formed a

separate Sangam in the Madurai district during the 5th century. It was modeled presumably on the earlier Tamil Sangam with the main object of serving as a literary academy. The formation of this body was to a great extent instrumental in the rapid progress of Jainism in the region around Madurai.

The Jain monastery of Pataiputra, situated in South-east Arcot, had a long historical tradition as it is mentioned in the Lokavibhaga, a Digambar Jaina work on cosmology. JainaKanchipuram was considered as the most important seat of Jaina learning. It has been identified with the village of Tirupparuttikunram on the right bank of the Vegavati at a

distance of two miles from the town of Kanchipuram. The Jaina institutions continued to be patronized by the Pallava rulers until King Mahendravarman I took a rigid position in favour of the Brahmanical found at seats. Remains of Jaina e.g.,

monasteries

are

several

places,

Panhappandavamali and Triuppanmalai (south-east Arcot), Vedal (north Arcot), Shittannavasal (Pudukkottai), Tenimalai (Tirumayyam), and Narthamalai (Pudukkattai).

Thus a host of scholars from Tibet, China and some other foreign countries came to India for higher learning in a spirit of adventure. Learning was taken by them as a self-sacrificing

exercise. Similarly, Indian scholars had been to other countries for propagation of Indian culture and civilization. The Muslim invasion and political disturbances hindered such cultural interaction among the scholars. The burning zeal for learning, wholehearted devotion to religion and self-sacrifice for the good of the mankind enabled scholars to make such adventures. It was also the great credit and achievement of the then Indian Universities which could attract the

innumerable foreign scholars and deputed a host of Buddhist and Hindu scholars and saints to the unknown land for enkindling the light of learning and enriching the human culture and civilization through ages.

2.2

HIGHER EDUCATION IN COLONIAL INDIA

Warren Hasting, the first Governor General of India took initiative in establishing Culcutta Madrasa in 1781, and this paved the way for founding a number of institutions of higher education through different agencies. The Woods Despatch 1854 known as The Magna Chatra of English Education in India entrusted the government with the responsibility of creating a properly articulated system of education from the primary school to the university and of establishing

universities at Presidency towns, on the model of London University, with the purpose of conferring degrees upon such

persons as would come from any of the affiliated institutions after passing some required examinations.

The Universities of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras were established in 1857 and it is worth-mentioning that Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, the celebrated author of Vande

Mataram was one of the two successful candidates out of 13 who appeared at the first-degree examination of the

university in 1858. Due to increase in the number of colleges and vast extent of jurisdiction of these universities, the Punjab University was founded in 1882 and Allahabad University, 1887. The next important document was the Education Commission (1882) recommendations of the state about the colleges: direct That the and

withdrawal

from the

support

management of institutions of higher education could only be possible by slow and cautious steps; that provision would be made by ordinary and special grants to colleges; that there should be alternative courses in larger colleges; and that an attempt should be made to prepare a model textbook. Thus, the recommendations of the Commission promoted rapid expansion of higher education. The number of affiliated colleges rose from 68 in 1982 to 192 in 1902 and this created a large number of problems in relation to enrolments.

The Universities Commission of 1902 was appointed by the government to enquire into the conditions and prospects of the universities established in British India; to consider and report upon any proposals which have been or may be made for improving their constitution and working; and to

recommend such measures as may tend to elevate the standard of university teaching and to promote the

advancement of learning.

The

main

recommendations

were

incorporated

in

the

Universities Act of 1904. Conditions for affiliation to a university were clearly laid down and were required to be followed rigorously. The new affiliation regulations were considered an obstacle to private enterprise in the field of education. Lord Curzon was therefore charged with a deliberate attempt to throttle higher education in India. Consequently, the number of colleges came down from 192 in 1902 to 170 in 1912. The public demands however increased and enrolment in individual colleges showed a rise.

The

Government

Resolution

on

Education

Policy

1913

supported the establishment of more colleges and suggested the more universities need be set up and the area of each university should be reduced as the right road to educational

efficiency. The declaration of this policy led to the education of five new universities between 1913 and 1921.

Lord Curzon (1898-1905) took the lead in educational reconstruction and acknowledged the duty of the state to maintain Model educational institutions in India. He started a drive for qualitative improvement in education. Curzon laid the foundation of the reform of Indian Universities, which gathered momentum in later years.

Curzon emphasised University reform because this stage was realised to be of crucial importance and needed the most strenuous efforts. In order to help him in this task he appointed a Commission in 1902 to inquire into the condition and prospects of the university established in the British India and to report upon the proposals for improving their constitution and working. The important Indian Universities Commission (1902) made some recommendations, which were incorporated in the Indian Universities Act, 1904. There were mixed reactions to the Act. On the whole, reforms particularly the principle of election and teaching functions of the universities were appreciated but the interference of the government in the university management was disliked by the Indian educationists.

It was found that the Indian Universities Act could not achieve much. There was review of University Education in England and its echo was heard in the arena of Indian Higher Education. It was felt essential to hold an expert enquiry into the University Functioning and as such the Calcutta University Commission was appointed in 1917 and its report was made available in 1919.

The Constitution introduced by the Government of India Act, 1919, provided a system of dual administration called diarchy. Under this system education for the first time came to the control of Indians and unprecedented expansion was evident in all stages of education. Particularly there was great advance in higher or university education. Important

landmarks include:

1.

Inter University Board: With a view to bringing about coordination of the Indian universities, especially for coordinating the courses of study and securing uniformity in their recognition abroad, an InterUniversity Board was established in 1924.

2.

New University: As per the Government Resolution on Educational Policy, 1913 the principle of each province having one university and setting up of

teaching universities was adopted for expansion of higher education. Accordingly, 5 more universities Delhi, Nagpur, Andhra, Agra and Annamalai came into existence.

3.

Changes

in

the

Old

University:

Many

older

universities amended their Acts and Regulations for improving administration and to provide greater facilities for higher education and research in the universities.

4.

Expansion of University Education:

The number of

University Departments and constituent or affiliated colleges increased from 207 in 1921-22 to 446 in 1936-37 and the number of students from 66,258 to 1,26,228. Besides some new faculties were opened and provision was made for the teaching of several new courses.

5.

Research

Activities:

Considerable

funds

were

provided for research programs of the universities. Unlike the previous years, during the period 1901-21 more attention was given to teaching and research and in the period 1921-37, research activities were organised by Indian Universities at far larger scale

than ever before. This was done by maintenance of libraries institutions of research degrees, provision of scholarships and research fellowships.

6.

Inter-University During this

and

Inter-Collegiate Inter Collegiate

Activities: and Inter-

period

Universities competitions in sports and cultural activities were organised as a result of which healthy contacts were developed between students and teachers of various universities.

7.

Military Training:

During the period under review

provision of military training through the university training corps became popular and considerable demand was made for its extension and making it compulsory.

8.

Hostel and Health of Students: Great attention was paid to the provision of hostel and health facilities to students of all the universities. Provision was also made for medical inspection and compulsory

physical training/education. In several universities regulations were framed for provision control and management of hostels.

9.

New Institutions:

The commission recommended

that a new type of institutions called Intermediate Colleges should be set up by adding two classes to selected high schools and that the university course should begin after the Intermediate Examinations and be spread over three years instead of two. The commission, therefore, recommended that a Board of Secondary for and Intermediate high Education schools be and

established

reorganising

Intermediate education.

The period from 1937-1947 witnessed a large expansion of university education and the number of students reading in the universities rose from 1,26,228 in 1936-37 to 2,41,794 in 1946-47. A clear picture of university education can be seen from the table given below.

Universities In India From 1857 to 1947

S.No Name of the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 University Calcutta Bombay Madras Allahabad Banaras Mysore Patna Osmania Aligarh Date of Foundation 1857 1857 1857 1887 1916 1916 1917 1918 1920 Affiliating & teaching -do-do-, Federative Teaching Teaching Affiliating & teaching -doTeaching -doType No. of

Students** 45008 43090 28888 3502* 5083 9350 5471 4862 4009

10 S.No

Lucknow Name of the University

1920 Date of Foundation

-doType

No.

3893* of

Students**

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Delhi Nagpur Andhra Agra Annamalai Travancore Utkal Saugar Rajputana Punjab

1922 1923 1926 1927 1929 1937 1943 1946 1947 1947

-do- & Federative Affiliating & teaching -doAffiliating Teaching Teaching -doAffiliating & teaching -doAffiliating

4311 5734 9445 9936* 1981 5175 3662 1828 N.A. N.A.

Source: Report of University Education Commission 1948-49,

Government of India, New Delhi, 1950, and Nurullah, S. and Naik, J.P: Students History of Education in India; Macmillan Publishers, Calcutta, 1971, p. 235. * Does not include Intermediate students. ** in 1946-47

The Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) had been examining various aspects of Indian education since its revival in 1935 and at last it reached a stage in 1943 when consolidation of all its findings gave shape to a

comprehensive plan of educational development. Accordingly it submitted a detailed report on Post-War Educational Development in India popularly called Sargent Report in 1944.

The Sargent Report pointed out certain defects in the Indian Universities and Important of them was their failure to make

the university programme practical and relevant to the community need. There was no systematic attempt to adjust the output to the capacity of the employment market. The Sargent Report very aptly observed, Indian Universities as they exist today, despite many admirable features, do not fully satisfy the requirements of a national system of education.

On the whole, development of higher education during the British period especially from Lord Curzons rule to the attainment of Independence cannot be underestimated. Undoubtedly a strong foundation of higher education was laid by the British rule. British rule gradually supplanted the precolonial indigenous system of education and imposed a new language and curricula. The purpose of education was also altered. In the traditional Indian institutions, education had mainly a religious and cultural aim while the new English high schools and colleges were degree-granting institutions which enabled students access to power in the colonial political and economic system.

2.3

HIGHER EDUCATION IN POST INDEPENDENT ERA

The educational system must be responsive to changes in order to realise the individual and social objectives. It has to

undergo

various

changes-modifications,

adaptations,

orientations and innovations. The fight for freedom visualised a national system of education for promoting national unity, integrity, patriotism, self-sacrifice and commitment.

The constitution of India has provided a large number of clauses and articles, which have a direct or indirect bearing on education. The imperial system of education intended to prepare an army of ministerial assistants was to be modified and reoriented to reflect the national ethos and aspirations and to prepare creative and productive citizens. Hence the need to reorganize and reorient educational system is operative for preparing the future citizen of the country.

The Directive Principle of state Policy in the Constitution of India has envisaged that free and compulsory education should be provided to all children upto the age of 14 years. Since their were many barriers and deprivations in the society, steps were taken for providing elementary education to all irrespective of caste, creed, location and economic conditions by removing or reducing these shortcomings.

At the outset educational responsibilities were divided between the government of India and the states. As the Entry II of the list II of the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution,

education was declared to be a state subject. Education in the union territory and generally Administered areas become the direct responsibility of the Government of India. The Entries 63,64,65,and 66 of list I and Entry 25 of list III are known to be central function and joint functions of the central as well as state government respectively. Subsequently, Education was made a subject in the concurrent list by a Constitutional Amendment in 1979.

2.3.1 Indian education policy10 Broad educational policies for the country were laid down in the Constitution of India inaugurated in January 1950. Further details needed to be filled in , The Central Advisory Board of Education at its 18th meeting held in 1951 reiterated its former decision taken in January 1948 regarding the

appointment of a Commission to examine the prevailing system of secondary education in the country and suggest measures for its reorganization and improvement.

Accordingly, the Government of India set up the Secondary Education Commission by resolution dated 23rd September, 1952. The Commission headed by Dr. A. Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar, Vice-chancellor, Madras University, submitted its

10

J.C.Agarwal,National Policy on Education 1986: An Appraisal(1986), Doaba House, India

report in June 1953. The recommendations of the Report of the Commission by and large , remained unfulfilled.

Dissatisfaction continued to be expressed with the system of education and it was felt that the state of education in its entity should be reviewed. This led to the appointment of the Education Commission 1964-66, under the chairmanship of Dr. D. S. Kothari. The Education Commission (1964-66) provided a blue print of educational development spread over 20 years and advised the government on the general principles and policies for the development of education at all stages and in all aspects. The commission recommended that the government of India should issue a statement on the National Policy on Education, which should provide guidance to the state government and the local authorities in preparing and implementing education plan in their areas.

In 1967, the Government of India constituted the committee of members of parliament on education to prepare the draft of a statement on the National Policy on Education. As a result the discussion and agreements, the Government of India issued the resolution on the National Policy on Education in 1968.

NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION 1968 With a view to accelerating the pace of national development and promoting emotional integration, it was felt imperative to frame an imaginative and unified educational policy for the country. As a corollary to this, various committees and commissions were set up to review various aspects of education and suggest measures for improvement of the situation. The University Education Commission1948-49, the Secondary Education Commission1952-53 and the Indian Education Commission1964-66, contributed immensely to the growth of the national system of education. Education has been designed as a tool for meeting the national challenges and geared to the needs of democracy, socialism and secularism included in the Constitution of India.

The Education Commission, 1964-66, visualized a revolution in education with its social, economic and cultural dimensions. A nationwide discussion on the Report of the Commission resulted in general consensus on evolving the national policy on education. Accordingly the National Policy on Education (NPE) 1968 was resolved by the Government of India for promotion of the development of education in the country. The salient features of NPE 1968 are as under:

1. With a view to realising the directive Principles of the Constitution under Act. 45, special efforts should be made for providing free and compulsory education for all children upto the age of 14.

2. The teacher is undoubtedly the most important of all factors, which determine the quality of education and its contributions to national development. The teacher must, therefore, be accorded an honored place in the society and be given employments and service facilities adequate to his qualification and responsibilities.

3. Development of Indian language and literature is essential for educational and cultural development. The state government should adopt and vigorously

implement the three-language formula at the secondary stage. According to this formula a pupil will be required to study a modern Indian language, preferably one of the southern languages apart from Hindi and English, in Hindi speaking states and Hindi and English along with regional languages in non-Hindi speaking states.

4. All efforts should be made to promote the development of Hindi. Sanskrit is essential not only for the

development of Indian language, but for the cultural

growth and unity of the country. Special emphasis should be laid on the study of English and other international languages for enabling Indians to keep up their standard of growth and also to make their contribution to the world of culture.

5. Strenuous efforts need be made to equalise educational opportunities, for removing regional imbalances in the provision of educational facilities and for promoting social cohesion and national integration. The common school system as recommended by the Kothari

Commission should be adopted.

6. In view of promoting excellence, talent in various field should be identified at an early stage/age and

opportunity be given for its full development.

7. Work experience and national service should form an integral part of education. Emphasis should be laid on self-help, character formation and developing a sense of social commitment.

8. Science education and research should be given high priority for accelerating the growth of national

economy. Science and Mathematics should be an

integral part of the general education till the end of the school state. 9. High priority should be accorded to the development of education for agriculture and industry.

10. The best writing talent should be attracted for improving quality of books through a liberal policy of incentives and remuneration.

11. Necessary reforms should be introduced in the Examination system for improving the reliability and validity of examination and making evaluation a continuous process aimed at improving performance of students.

12. With a view to making educational opportunity a major instrument of social change, facilities for secondary education should be extended expeditiously to areas and sections of the society so far denied or deprived.

13. Correspondence

courses

and

part-time

education

should be developed on a large scale at the university stage.

14. Eradication of mass illiteracy is essential for promoting participation accelerating agriculture in the democratic programmes of activities and for specially

production

15. With a view to improving the physical fitness and sportsmanship among the students, sports should be developed on a large scale.

16. Every effort should be made not only to protect the rights of minorities but to promote their educational interest.

17. With the object of having a uniform educational structure throughout the country, the 10+2+3 pattern should be adopted by all states.

18. The number of whole-time students to be admitted to a college or university department should be determined with reference to the laboratory, library and other facilities and to the strength of the staff.

19. Considerable care is needed in establishing new universities. These should be started after an adequate

provision of funds has been made for purpose and due care has been taken to ensure proper standards. 20. Special attention should be given to the organization of postgraduate courses and to the improvement of standards of training and research at this level.

21. Centers of advanced study should be strengthened and a small number of clusters of centers aiming at the highest possible standards in research and training should be established.

22. There is need to give increased support to research in universities generally. The institutions for research should, as far as possible, function within the fold of universities or in intimate association with them.

To conclude, the National policy on Education 1968 marked a significant step in the history of education in post-

Independence India. Its objectives were to promote national progress, a sense of common citizenship, strengthen

emotional and national integration and introduce a uniform pattern of education. It emphasized the need for radical reorientation of education for improving its quality at all stages and for giving greater attention to science and technology. It also laid stress on cultivation of moral values

and bringing about a close relation between education and the life of the people.

NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION 1986 The National Policy of 1968 laid stress on the need for a radical reconstruction of the education system, to improve its quality at all stages, and gave much greater attention to science and technology, the cultivation of moral values and a closer relation between education and the life of the people.

Since the adoption of the 1968 Policy, there has been considerable expansion in educational facilities all over the country at all level. More than 90% of the countrys rural habitations now have schooling facilities within a radius of one kilometer. There has been sizeable augmentation of facilities at other stages also.

Perhaps the most notable development has been the acceptance of a common structure of education throughout the country and the introduction of the 10+2+3 system by most states. In the school curricula, in addition to laying down a common scheme of studies for boys and girls, science and mathematics were incorporated as compulsory subjects and work experience assigned a place of importance

A beginning was also made in restructuring of courses at the undergraduate level. Centers of Advanced Studies were set up for the post-graduate education and research, and we have been able to meet our requirements of educated manpower.

While these achievements are impressive by them-selves, the general formulations incorporated in the 1968 Policy did not, however, get translated into a detailed strategy of

implementation, accompanied by the assignment of specific responsibilities and financial and organizational support. As a result, problems of access, quality, quantity, utility were in such massive proportions that there was a requirement to tackle them with the utmost urgency.

The NPE 1986 has, therefore, said, In our national perception education is essentially for all. This is fundamental to our allround development, material and spiritual. It emphasized the development of a National System of Education (NSE) in the light of the Constitutional provisions and principles.

The NPE 1986 has aptly enunciated, The concept of a national system of education implies that, upto a given level, all students irrespective of caste, creed, location or sex have access to education of a comparable quality. To achieve this,

the

government

will

initiate

appropriately

funded

programmes. Effective measures will be taken in the direction of the common school system recommended in 1968 policy. This envisages a continued effort required to develop a national system of education, which does not mean uniform and rigid educational system. It allows for considerable flexibility within a broad national framework. The concept of a national system of education implies, (1) equal opportunities to all, both in terms of access to education of a comparable quality and conditions of success; (2) common education structure; (3) a national curriculum framework; and (4) minimum level of learning for each stage of education.

1. The Education Commission 1964-66 had recommended 10+2+3 as a common structure of education

throughout the country. Regarding the further breakup of the first 10 years efforts will be made to move towards an elementary system comprising 5 years of Primary Education and 3 years of Upper Primary followed by 2 years of High Schools.

2. The NPE 1986 has made it clear that the National system of Education would be on a national curricular framework which contains a common core along with other components that are flexible. It has been said,

Minimum levels of learning will be laid down for each stage of education.

3. It is suggested that in higher education in general, and technical education in particular steps should be taken for facilitating inter-regional mobility by providing equal access to every Indian of requisite merit, regardless of his origins.

4. Higher education provides people with an opportunity to reflect on the critical social, economic, cultural, moral and spiritual issues facing humanity. It contributes to national development through dissemination of

specialized knowledge and skills. It is therefore a crucial factor for survival. Being at the apex of the educational pyramid. It has also a key role in producing teachers for the education system. explosion In of the context of the

unprecedented

knowledge,

higher

education has to become dynamic as never before, constantly entering uncharted areas.

5. There are around 150 universities and about 5,000 colleges in India today. In view of the need to effect an all-round improvement in these institutions it is

proposed that, in the near future, the main emphasis

will be on the consolidation of, and expansion of facilities in, the existing institutions.

6. Urgent steps will be taken to protect the system from degradation.

7. In view of mixed experience with the system of affiliation, autonomous colleges will be helped to develop in large numbers until the affiliating system is replaced by freer and more creative association of universities with colleges. Similarly, the creation of autonomous departments within universities on a selective basis will be encouraged. Autonomy and freedom will be accompanied by accountability.

8. Courses and programmes will be redesigned to meet the demands of specialization better. Special emphasis will be laid on linguistic competence. There will be increasing flexibility in the combination of courses.

9. State

level

planning

and

coordination

of

higher

education will be done through Councils of Higher Education. The UGC and these councils will develop coordinative methods to keep a watch on standards.

10. Provision will be made for minimum facilities and admission will be provided regulated according to capacity. A major effort will be directed towards the transformation of teaching methods. Audio-visual aids and electronic equipment will be introduced;

development of science and technology curricula and material, research, and teacher orientation will receive attention. This will require preparation of teachers at the beginning of the service as well as continuing education thereafter. Teachers performance will be systematically assessed. All posts will be filled on the basis of merit.

11. Research in the universities will be provided enhanced support and steps will be taken to ensure its high quality. Suitable mechanisms will be set up by the UGC for coordinating research in the universities, particularly in thrust areas of science and technology, with research undertaken by other agencies. An effort will be made to encourage the setting up of national research facilities within the university system, with proper forms of autonomous management.

12. Research in Ideology, the humanities and social sciences will receive adequate support. To fulfill the

need for the synthesis of knowledge, inter-disciplinary research will encouraged. Efforts will be made to delve into Indias ancient fund of knowledge and to relate it to contemporary reality. This effort will imply the

development facilities for the intensive study of Sanskrit and other classical languages.

13. In the interest of greater coordination and consistency in policy, sharing of facilities and developing interdisciplinary research, a national body covering higher education in general, agriculture, medicine, technical, legal and other professional fields will be set up.

14. Although

the

two

stream

of

technical

and

management education are functioning separately, it is essential to look at them together, in view of their close relationship and complementary concern. The

reorganisation of technical and management education should take into account the anticipated scenario by the turn of the century, with specific reference to the likely changes in the economy, social environment,

production and management processes, the rapid expansion of knowledge and the great advances in science and technology.

15. The infrastructure and services sectors as well as the unorganised rural sector also need a greater induction of improved technologies and a supply of technical and managerial manpower. This will be attended to by the government.

16. In order to improve the situation regarding manpower information, the recently set up Technical Manpower Information System will be further developed and strengthened.

17. As computers have become important and ubiquitous tools, a minimal exposure to computers and training in their use will form part of professional education. Programmes of computers literacy will be organized on a wide scale from the school stage.

18. In view of the present rigid entry requirements of formal courses restricting to access of a large segment of people to technical and managerial education, programmes through a distance-learning process,

including use of the mass media, will be forced. Technical and management education programmes, including education in polytechnics, will also be in a flexible modular pattern based on credits, with provision

for multi-point entry. A strong guidance and counseling services will be provided.

19. In order to increase the relevance of management education, particularly in the non-corporate and undermanaged sectors, the education system will study and document the Indian experience and create a body of knowledge and specific educational programmes suited to these sectors.

20. Appropriate formal and non-formal programmes of technical education will be devised for the benefit of women, the economically and socially weaker sections, and the physically handicapped.

21. The

emphasis

on

vocational

education

and

its

expansion will need a large number of teachers and professionals in vocational education, educational

technology, curriculum development, etc. Programmes will be started to meet this demand.

22. To encourage students to consider self-employment as a career option, training in entrepreneurship will be provided through modular or optional courses, in degree or diploma programmes.

23. In order to meet the continuing needs of updating curriculum, renewal should systematically phase out obsolescence disciplines. and introduce new technologies or

24. In the area of

research and development,

and

education in science and technology, special measures should be taken for establishing network arrangements between different institutions in the country to pool their resources and participate in projects of national importance. The Nation as a whole will assume the responsibility implementing of providing resources of support for

programmes

educational

transformation, reducing disparities, universalization of elementary education, adult literacy, scientific and technological research, etc.

25. Electronic media and other modern facilities are going to revolutionise the whole process of teaching and learning. Life-long education is a cherished goal of the educational process. Therefore, open and distance learning system is to be emphasized. Continuing education, covering established as well as emerging technologies, will be promoted.

26. It has been emphasized that the institutions like UGC, AICTE, NCERT, ICAR, IMC should be strengthened in order to cope up with emerging demands at the national levels and to play their parts in giving shape to the National System of Education. Integrated planning should be instituted among all these bodies for establishing functional and reinforcing progrmmes of research and post-graduate education.

2.4

GLOBALISATION AND AFTERWARDS

There can be no denying to the fact that our education system is heavily tilted towards the rigid and moribund colonial apparatus derived from Macaulay and strengthened further by overzealous expansion of the public sector in this country. Initially the private initiative in education in India was prompted by philanthropy. The main purpose before the private individuals and private organizations for setting up educational institutions was to render service to the society. Nowhere were the private bodies motivated to establish these institutions to earn profit. Through endowments and liberal donations, the private bodies established educational

institutions to serve the society. With the increase in demand

for education and with abysmal rise in the recurring and nonrecurring cost of providing education, the private effort in setting up such institutions declined significantly.

Educational entrepreneurs lately started subscribing to the view that full recovery of cost should be made from those who derive benefit from education. Such private higher education institutions, which have been established in India since the seventies were known as Capitation Fee Colleges.

Dr. T.M Pai was pioneer in conceiving and giving practical shape to the idea of establishing capitation fee colleges. These colleges charged capitation fee from every student for giving admission to a course of study of his/her liking. Depending upon the demand, the amount of capitation fee charged varied from course to course. As a result of initiative of Dr. Pai, a number of educational institutions were set up in the field of medicine, engineering, management etc at Manipal. These institutions have now been accorded the status of Deemed University.

Following the footsteps of Dr. Pai, a number of entrepreneurs who enjoyed the support of politicians came forward to set up capitation fee colleges specially in the state of Maharastra and Karnataka. The raisin darter for this new brand of college

was the shortage of seats in the related courses at the Government and Government aided institutions and

willingness of parents/guardians to buy seats for their wards. They look upon the expenditure involved as an investment expected to yield rich returns in the form of higher lifetime earnings.

A number of arguments have been advanced in support of capitation Fee College. Chief among these are the following: 1. They do not depend on the public subsidies. The money saved can be utilized for the other purposes.

2. They have an ideal infrastructure and environment condoned to teaching and learning

3. They maintain higher level of internal efficiency

4. They are able to monitor and regulate educational activities with ease and

5. They are responsive to manpower requirements of the economy. As such they can introduce new courses whenever the need arises and drops any course for which the demand has fallen.

As of now these are called Self-financing Colleges. The trend toward establishment of self-financing colleges by private organizations has been continuing. Self-financing courses have also been introduced in the regular universities and colleges at both affiliated and constituent colleges with high fee structure. The trend has been reinforced with the establishment of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprashtha University by the Government of Delhi through the Indreprastha Vishwavidyalaya Act 1998. It is an affiliating and teaching university to facilitant and promote studies, research and extension work with focus on professional education in emerging areas of higher education in the discipline of engineering, technology, management studies, medicine, pharmacy, nursing, education etc. Apart from these there are universities and institutions that have gone to the extent of franchising their institutions title and the courses are run by different institutions at far and distant places.

2.5

INTERNATIONALISATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION

During

early

1990s

some

of

the

foreign

universities

attempted to market their programmes of higher education in India. Delegates of several countries visited India to market certain percentage of seats in medical and engineering education in India. Some foreign universities have also

engaged the Indian agencies and firms to recruit the students to study in their universities. Some foreign universities have started franchisee in India. Some also have twining

programmes between foreign and Indian Universities. The last among these varities is to offer programmes through distance mode, through print, computer, television and electronic mode, i.e., the virtual universities.

A recent estimate given by Global Alliance for Transnational Education (GATE) indicates that about $27 billion worth higher education is exported to Asia and Pacific by three countries namely USA, UK and Australia. A business of $37 billion trade in tertiary education services in Asia and Pacific region is projected for future.

The statistics on the aspects of number of foreign students studying in India is very scanty. Not many Indian Universities seem to have attempted to market their programmes abroad. Some attempts have been made here and there. Hyderabad University is offering a programme for foreign students for a shorter period. CIEFL is also offering a programme on demand in language ,training students from abroad. Academic

programmes of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) are offered in United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait and Sultanate of Oman in Middle East Asia.

Management, commerce, social sciences, tourism studies and library and information sciences, computer and certificate in guidance are some of the programmes that are presently opted by the students in these countries.

GATE has been engaged in certification of universities offering transnational education. It has surveyed the extent of transnational education in the world and examined the rules, regulation and policy barriers in promotion of transnational educational in the countries of GATS of World Trade Organisation (WTO)

Under the provisions of GATS each country lists the specific commitments on service sectors and activities within those sectors. These commitments guarantee access to countrys market in the listed sector and their activities. These commitments also spell-out the limitations on market access and national treatment. For example, if the Government of India commits itself to allow the foreign university to operate in India i.e. the Market Access Commitment and if the Government of India limits the number of such universities to be set-up in the country than it is a Market Access Limitation. If the Government of India says that it would allow only one branch of the university and no other branches, however, it may allow branches of universities in ones own country, an

example of multi-campuses of deemed to be universities, it could be treated as an exception to the National Treatment Principle. The market access commitment along with any limitations and exemptions from national treatments or MFN (most favoured nations) principles are negotiated as

multilateral packages. The commitments, therefore, contains the negotiated and guaranteed conditions for conducting international trade in service. If the agreed conditions have to be changed for worse then government has to give at least three months notice and it has to negotiate compensation with the affected providers of services. However, the commitment can be improved at any time.

India has yet to make the commitment and request offer. One of the studies done by ICRIER sees a good prospect for India for trade in education services. However, this study was based on expectations and opinions of the key persons in the institutions. A quick survey done by NIEPA revealed a decline in number of foreign students studying in India. This finding is corroborated by a recent publication brought out by AIU. The data compiled by AIU revealed that actual number of students enrolled has declined to almost half since 1994 to 2001.

The issue of opening of higher education is quite hot these days; when the agenda for the forth-coming meeting of WTO

is being formulated. As on today there is no final shape to the extent and the manner in which foreign university will be allowed in India.

2.6

THE ESSENCE

From being highly informal and centered around individual growth to highly religion oriented, ancient higher education in India has no doubt contributed to not only Indian society and culture but to the culture of different destinations. The journey of higher education in India passed through many tough and smooth phases. From highly structured and utterly equitable and uniform, it is now striving to be need and student friendly. Though slowly, yet surely higher education is striving to be free from the shackles of public control and is allowing itself to be played by market forces.

The period 1947-2003 has witnessed considerable increase in higher education. At present there are 320 university-level institutions in India (including private and deemed

universities). Of these, 17 are Central universities under the administrative control of the Ministry of HRD, 162 are traditional universities (including 34 institutions for

specialized studies in disciplines) while the others are professional/technical institutions. The total number of

colleges in the country are 13,150 (provisional) including 1,525 womens colleges. The total enrollment of students in the universities and colleges is more than 82 lakh, while the number of teachers is 3.95 lakh.

Globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation policies on the one hand, and technology advancement and information technology on the other hand, have made education to be viewed differently. All over the world institutions are making efforts to draw the students. Competition and availability of choices have made the students and institutions to work towards catering to the needs. It appears that the principles of struggle for existence and survival of the fittest have become the order of the day. Self-generation of resources in the education sector has become a subject of renewed interest.

Private universities, which subscribe to the principle of recovery of full cost from the beneficiaries of education, have not taken root in India so far. Lack of funds for financing higher education may force the government to pass private universities bill thereby paving the way for their

establishment.

Four distinct periods of development can be marked in the history of Indian education-Ancient, Mohammedan, British, and Post-independence Period. A singular feature of ancient Indian civilization was that it had been molded and shaped more by religious than by political or economic influences. Indian philosophy asserted that the individuals supreme duty was to achieve his expansion into the Absolute, his selffulfillment, for he was a spark of the Divine. The purpose of education was to aid in this self-fulfillment, and not in the acquisition of mere objective knowledge.

CHAPTER - 3

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL CONSTRUCT

CHAPTER

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL CONSTRUCTS

3.1 Research in general marketing 3.1.1 Consumer perspective I 3.1.2 Consumer behavior II 3.1.3 Theory of consumer behavior

3.1.4 Models of consumer behavior 3.2 Research in service marketing 3.2.1 Theoretical foundation 3.3 Market approach to higher education 3.4 The essence

LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL CONSTRUCT

Efforts to understand the totality of students perception take the researcher into the field of consumer behaviour, with some of the most fruitful results in terms of both theory and practice coming from the behavioural sciences. Two

conceptual areas of behavioural sciences relevant in the present context are self-theory and learning theory. A substantial amount of work has been done in these areas, but marketing researchers do not seem to have developed the marketing potential of the available theory and substances11.

3.1 RESEARCH IN GENERAL MARKETING

The first part of this chapter reviews and summaries the results of empirical research on consumer behaviour. The objectives are to discover specific buying activities which have been investigated in a competent professional manner and adequately described, to seek explanations of buying behaviour which have been hypothesized and empirically tested, and to establish more general set of empirical

11

George A. Field, John Douglas and Lawrence X.Tarpey, Marketing Management: A Behavioural System Approach, Columbus Ohio: Charles E Merrill Book, 1966 p.106.

propositions. The discussion runs under the following subheads:

3.1.1 Consumers perceptives - I

Under this category four types of research is worth

mentioning: Consumer Anticipation: Two aspects of research in this area are important. The first is the decision-making process for purchase of specific products. Katona and Mueller12 report an extensive study of purchase decision related to four major appliances. The emphasis has seeking process. Another aspect is the utilization of the consumers attitude towards total economic situation as a predictor of behaviour. Morrissett13 found that an attitude index can successfully predict purchase of many durable appliances.

Attitudinal Preferences Attitudinal preferences especially towards products have been utilized in grocery products to predict consumer behaviour. G. H. Brown14 suggested that attitudinal data may help the company to formulate
12

G. Kotona and E. Muller, A Study of Purchase Decision, consumer Behaviour, (ed.) L.H. Clarck New York, 1954, pp.30-87 13 I.Morrisett, Consumer Attitude: Expectations and Plans, Some Application of Behavioural Research, (ed.) R. Likert, UNESCO, 1957, pp.277-300 14 G. H. Brown, Measuring Consumer Attitude Towards Products, Journal of Marketing, April 1950, pp.691-698

proper strategies with respect to product change and promotion and help measure effectiveness. Perception Some researchers have employed the perception phenomenon in understanding human behaviour.

Allison and Uhl15 report that when brands of beer are given in unmarked bottles, beer drinkers are unable to identify the brands. Brand perception as developed by company promotion is, therefore, quite important in keeping the customer loyal.

Learning Learning provides direction of behaviour in terms of systematically choosing one course of action. Alderson16 places heavy emphasis on the usefulness of learning theory in consumer behaviour. The most serious work in this direction has been done by Howard and Seth17 Reconciling the learning theory and the decision-making theory, they have formulated a theory of buyer behaviour in which one of the central processes is learning. It is perhaps the most complex theoretical research in the area?

15

R. I. Allison and K. P. Uhl, Influences of Beer Brand Identification on Taste Perception, Jouranl of Marketing, Vol.1, Aug. 1964, pp.36-39 16 W. Alderson, Psychology for Marketing and Economics, in Journal of Marketing, vol. 17, Oct., 1952, pp. 119-135 17 7 John A. Howard, Marketing Theory, Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1965, pp.100-112

Product
Brand Choice A phenomenon that a number of investigators

designate as brand loyalty can be inferred from several studies on buying behaviour. Tucker18 reports a

controlled experiment in which 42 housewives were observed. The participants made 12 successive choices among four identical brand lovers. Throughout the experiment, a significantly larger number of women the same brand in three consecutive trials can be expected by chance at the .05 level of significance.

In further support of the existence of the brand loyalty phenomenon are studies that report expressed brand preferences. Interviewed in consumer surveys, most new car buyers say they made their choice of brand before shopping (W. Alderson, Ibid., p.130).It may be concluded that there is some evidence that brand loyalty in buying behavior exists for some of the time.

Variation Within Product Classes

18

W. T. Tucker, The Development of Brand Loyalty, journal of marketing research, Aug. 1964, pp.32-35

There appears to be difference in degree of brand loyalty among product classes, but the evidence is largely confounded with other factors. Farley19

concludes that: Much of the apparent difference over products in some important aspects of brand choice can apparently be explained on the basis of structural variables describing the markets in which the products are sold, and does not depend on specific

characteristics of the products or on attitudes of consumers toward products.

Uncertainty about Quality Several investigators attempt to explain how buyers evaluate products under conditions of uncertainty. Donald F. Cox20 assumes that consumers assign value to information about a product on two independent dimensions-predictive value and confidence value.

Promotion

Promotion and Other Sources of Information: All of the following studies investigate the use of information sources as reported by individuals:

19

J. V. Farley, Why does Brand Loyalty Over Products, journal of marketing research, Nov. 1964, pp.9-14 20 D. F. Cox , The Measure of Information Value: A Study in Consumer Decision-making, in W. S. Decker (ed.) Emerging Concept in Marketing, AMA 1962, pp.413-421

I. Personal contact with friends, relatives or neighbors, specialised papers are very frequently mentioned sources of information in many of the studies made in this field.

II. Use

of

advertising,

publicity,

sales

promotion

and

personal selling appears to vary among product classes.

III. In crossing new food and household products, buyers mention use of radio-advertising, newspaper advertising and sales persons in that order of frequency.21

IV. Buyers of new major appliances mention shopping among stores infrequently. Those who do consult reading material frequently mention buying guides.22

Distribution
I. Store offerings either as a deep assortment or a wide variety of product line are preferred stores with medium depth or breadth of assortment-both in a laboratory experiment and in survey interviews.23

21

E. Katz and P F. Lazarsfeld, Personal Influence, Glenco, Ill, Freepress, 1955.

22

W. E. Bell, Consumer Innovators: A Unique Market for Newness, Proc. AMA, Dec. 1963. p. 85-95 23 W. Alderson and R. E. Sessions, Basic Research on Consumer Behaviour, Quantitative Techniques in Marketing Research, (ed.) R. E. Franket al, Irwin 1962, pp. 129-145

II. A wide range of price lines offered by an individual store is preferred to a medium or narrow range of line. Trading up (purchase of higher priced brand) is more likely to occur when quality differences among brands are

perceived to be large than when they are small or no difference is perceived24.

III. Among brands that are seen as all alike, the purchaser is more likely to choose the lower priced brand.25

3.1.2 Consumer behaviour - ii There are a number of factors or variables, which affect buying behavior. For example, people go on a holiday during vacation time, thus, vacation becomes a variable. Similarly, a person may not buy any of the saving schemes till he comes in the tax bracket, so that tax payer becomes a variable. A person may visit an exclusive restaurant, which he normally does not visit during Happy Hours. In this case, the marketing effort of the organization (sale person and the scheme) becomes a relevant factor influencing the buying decision. Similarly, there are other factors
24

H. J. Leavitt, A Note on some Experimental Findings About the Meaning of Price, Journal of Business, XXVII No. 3, July 1954, pp.205-210 25 H. J. Leavitt, A Note on some Experimental Findings About the Meaning of Price, Journal of Business, XXVII No. 3, July 1954, pp.205-210

which

affect

the

buying

decision

which

can

be

classified into four major categories, namely, situation variables or environmental variables, buyers sociocultural factors, personal and psychological

characteristics. These variables can be summarized in the form of a diagram as given below:

S ituational Variables Time stores atmosphere, mar Buying keting stimuli Decision
Personality, lifestyle, other demographic Culture, reference, factors groups, family

Buyers Psychological Factors

Perception, attitudes, motivation

Buyers Personal Factors

Figure 3.1

Factors influencing Buyers Behavior

Situational Factors The situational factors influencing the buying behaviour include the influence of time pressure on product and brand choice, the environment of the retail outlet, occasion of purchase, etc. For example, if one is travelling, then demand for lodging and boarding does arise.

Buyers characteristics

socio-cultural

Buyers or consumers do not take buying decision, or the decision not to buy, in a vacuum. Rather, they are strongly influenced by cultural, social personal and psychological factors.

Cultural

Factors:

Children

acquire

from

their

environment a set of beliefs, values, and customs, which constitute culture. These beliefs, values and customs go deeper and deeper as one grows.

Therefore, it is sometimes said that culture is learnt as a part of social experience.

The various sub-categories within a culture can be identified as based on religion, age, gender, occupation, social class, geographical location, etc. This

classification is significantly relevant from the consumer behavior point of view. It has been observed that people from Gujarat go out on vacation, more often. Eating out is a very common phenomenon in the north of India.

Reference Groups: There are certain groups to which people look to guide behavior. These groups may guide the choice of a product, but not necessarily a product

brand. Peer group and peer pressure has generally been observed to play an important role in the purchase of credit cards, cell phones, etc.

The knowledge of reference group behavior helps in not only offering substitutes but also in pricing and positioning them. While at reference groups, it is important to note that there are negative reference groups also and some people dont want to associate themselves with these groups. The negative reference groups guide the behavior in terms of what not to do.

Family: consumer

The family is another major influence on behavior. Family consumption behavior

depends, to a large extent, on the family life cycle. The stages in family life cycle include bachelorhood, newly married, parenthood with growing or grown up children, post-parenthood and dissolution. Knowledge of these stages helps greatly in knowing the buying process. Often family members play a significant role in the purchase of a particular service. For example, it is teenage children who influence the parents to decide on a destination, whereas middle aged buy more of insurance services than the younger ones. Buyers psychological variables

 Perception: It is the process by which buyers select, organize and interpret information into a meaningful impression in their mind. Perception is also selective when only a small part is perceived out of the total of what is perceptible. Buyers perception of a particular product greatly influences buying behavior. For

example, if the buyers perception of a product is not positive, it requires much harder efforts on the part of the salespeople to convince the buyer on the qualities of the product and thus suggesting him to purchase it.

Attitude: An attitude is a learned predisposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a market offer (i.e., a brand, a particular shop or retail outlet, an advertisement, etc.). Attitude is a disposition term indicating that attitudes manifest themselves in behavior only under certain conditions. Knowing a buyers attitude towards a product without knowing the personal goals is not likely to give a clear prediction of his behavior.

Motivation:

Motivation is a driving force within

individuals that compels them to action. This driving force is subconscious and the outcome of certain

unfulfilled needs. Needs are basically of two types that is, innate needs and required needs. The innate needs are those needs with which an individual is born and they are mainly physiological. They include all factors required to sustain physical life, such as food, water, shelter, clothing etc. The acquired needs, on the other hand are those which a person acquire as he/she grows and these needs are mainly psychological, like love, fear, esteem, acceptance, etc. 3.1.3 Theory Of consumer behaviour Consumers are neither simple in themselves nor in their behaviour towards the world of production objects. As Berelson and Steiner26 write: Human Behaviour itself is so enormously varied, so delicately complex, so obscurely motivated that many people despair of finding valid

generalizations to explain and predict the actions, thoughts and feelings of human being-despair, that is, of very possibility of constructing a science of human behaviour. The consumer is subject to many influences which trace a complex course through his psyche and lead eventually to purchasing response. This connection of the buying process is illustrated in figure 3.2. The inputs are stimulus variables in the commercial and social environments. The output are a
26

Bernard Berelson and Gary A. Steiner, Human Behaviour: An Inventory of Scientific Findings, (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World Inc.), 1964

variety of responses which the buyer is likely to manifest, based on the interaction between the stimuli and his internal state.

Besides the inputs and outputs, there are a set of four influences appearing as controlling variables in the diagram. Their function is to provide a means of adjusting for the interpersonal differences. These have been labeled by Howard and Seth27 as exogeneous variables. In the center stands the buyer and his mysterious psychological variables. Changes in them are explained but are not well defined. Their values are inferred variables. variables. The theory of consumer behaviour has four major from relations have among been the output as intervening hypothetical

These

described

components: 1. Buying Influences 2. Hypothetical Variables 3. Response Variables 4. Controlling Variables Buying influences When the consumer is just beginning to purchase a product, he lacks experience; he does not have a set of decision mediators for that product. To develop them, he actively
27

John A. Howard and Jagdish N.Seth A Theory of buyer Behaviour Perspective in Consumer Behaviour, ed. (Kessergian/Robertson)p.470.

seeks

information

from

his

commercial

and

social

environments.

Commercial activities of

Environments various firms

consists by which

of

the

marketing attempt to

they

communicate to the buyer. From the buyers point of view, these communications basically come via either the product objects or some symbolic representation of product attributes. If product element such as price, quality service or availability is communicated through product object, the stimuli are defined or availability is communicated through product objectives, the stimuli are defined as significative. If product attributes represented by symbols are communicates via mass media, salesmen etc., the stimuli are classified as symbolic.

Social Environment provides variables for a purchase decision. The most obvious example is word-of-mouth

communication.

Culture provides a comprehensive social framework. It consists of patterns of behavior, symbols, ideas and their attached values. At the culture level, one study revealed that Negroes are more brand conscious, more brand loyal and

that loyalty seems to be positively related to the level of income28

Social Class: Warner has classified society into upper-upper, lower-upper, upper-middle, lower-middle, upper-lower and lower-lower based on variables related to income, education and occupation. Kahl29 argues that a person belonging to lower class is ill-at-ease when she shops at a place usually visited by higher class people.

Reference Groups: The theory of social interaction has received attention in consumer behaviour through reference groups influences on buying decision. Bourne30 suggested a possible dual effect of a reference group on the consumer in determining (1) his goals and (2) specific courses of action. Based on this hypothesis, Katz31 suggested a tentative theory of opinion leadership and two step flow of communication. The latter states that flow of information from the company reaches a certain small segment of each class called the opinion leaders, through the mass media. There is then a second step in the flow of information from the opinion leaders to the masses of each class.
28

Bauer, R.A., Negro Consumer Behaviour, On Knowing the consumer. (ed.) J.W.Newman, Wiley 1996 p.161-166 29 Kahl, J.A. The American Class Structure, Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1957. 30 Bourne, F.S., Group Influences in Marketing, Some Implications of Behavioral Research. (eds.) R.Likert, UNESCO, 1957, pp.208-224. 31 Katz, E. Two Studies on the Diffusion of Innovation, Human Organisation vol. 20, summer 1961, pp.70-82.

Family: The wife remains the major purchasing agent for the familys every day needs. Other members bring some influence to bear where the product or service is destined for their use. The husband is the dominant decider in a few limited areas. The children influence the choice for toys, etc. A research study32 show that while buying a car, the initial suggestion to buy a car came from the husband, and he exercised the most influence on brand choice. While the model was largely chosen by both of them, the wife had the greatest influence on the colour.

The input to the buyers mental state from the above sources are processed and stored through their interaction with a series of psychological constructs.

Hypothetical variables These variables fall into three classes: (1) Self-concept (2) Learning (3) Perception

Self concept

32

Starch, Daniel and Staff, Male Vs Female: Influence on the purchase of selected products, Greenwich. Conn: Faweett Publications, Inc. 1958.

Because the self-concept is of value and of central importance to the individual, he will direct his behaviour to maintain and enhance his self-concept. The self develops not as a personal process, but it involves through the process of social experience. From the reaction of others, man develops his self-perception. According to Roger33, a portion of the total perceptual field gradually become differentiated as the self as a result of the interaction with the environment, and particularly as a result of evolutional interactions with others, the structure of the self is formed-an organised, fluid, but consistent conceptual pattern of perceptions of characteristics and relationships of the I or the me together with values attached to these concepts.

Enhancement of the self-concept can occur through an intraaction process whereby an individual communicates with himself through the medium of goods and symbols. This is an internal process, which is without response from others. The consuming behaviour of an individual will be directed towards the furthering and enhancing of his self-concept through the consumption of goods as symbols.

Learning variables

33

David Krech, Richard Crutchfield, quoted in Individual In Society.

The learning variables are labeled as (1) felt need, (2) product potential of the evoked set, (3) decision mediators, (4) predispositions, (5) inhibitors, and (6) satisfaction with the purchase of a product

Felt Need is impetus to action. Specific needs are those for buying a dietary product-nutrition, taste and value. Similarly, the specific need in buying an air conditioner might be durability, cooling power, and design. There are non-specific needs, such as anxiety and fear and the social motive of power, status and prestige.

Product Potential of the Evoked Set is a second learning variable. A buyer who is familiar with a product class has an evoked set of alternatives to satisfy his motive. Through a learning process, the buyer obtains and stores knowledge of each goods potential and then ranks them in order of their potential to satisfy his wants. Decision Mediators are the consumers mental rules for matching alternatives with needs and ranking them in terms of their want satisfying capacity. In addition, decision mediators also contain a set of criteria by which the buyer discriminates between the products. There are two broad sources of learning, vis; (1) actual experience and (2) information. Some evidence that experience plays a role in

choice among major appliance brands is presented by Muller34. She define that regular users of an appliance say they looked at and considered only one preferred brand more frequently than those who reported no experience with the product.

Predisposition is the summary effect of the previous three variables. It refers to buyers preference toward product in his evoked set. It is in fact an aggregate index expressed in attitudes.

Inhibitors are forced in the environment, which create important disruptive influences on the actual purchase of a product even when the buyer has reasoned out that a given product will best satisfy his need. We postulate at least four types of inhibitors. These are (1) a high price, (2) lack of availability, (3) time pressure, and (4) the buyers financial status. Satisfaction, the last of the learning variables refers to the degree of congruence between the actual consequences of purchase and consumption of a good and what was expected from it by the consumer at the time of purchase.

34

Muller and G.Katona, A Study of Purchase Decision , L.H. Clark (ed.) Consumer Behaviour: The Dynamics of Consumer Reactions. New York: University Press, 1955. pp. 36-87.

Actual consequences > expected consequences means satisfaction

Actual consequences < expected consequences means dissatisfaction

Boyd and Levy35 have suggested that there is value in thinking about the consumption system in which a product is imbedded. The consumption system describes the way a purchaser of a product performs the total task of whatever it is that he or she is trying to accomplish when using the product. While purchasing orange juice, the interest of the consumer is not in the particular product but in the contribution it makes to certain tasks, which he must perform within the larger systems of consumption activity.

Perceptual variables Another set of variables serves the function of procuring and processing information relevant to purchase decisions. These are:

1.

Sensitivity to Information: It refers to the opening and closing of sensory receptors which control the intake of information. In response to a single

35

Harper W. Boyd and Sidney J. Levy, New Dimension in Consumer Analysis. Harvard Business Review, Nov. & Dec. 1963, pp.129-140

communication, the buyer may find the information complex and tend to ignore it. As the information continues to enter his nervous system, he may pay attention

2.

Perceptual Bias:

The buyer not only selectively

attends to information, he may actually distort it. In other words, the quality of information can be altered by the buyer.

3.

Search for Information: During the total buying phase, which extends over time and involve several repeat purchase of a product class, there are times when the buyer has to establish a routine decision process and seeks a change. In order to obtain this change, he searches for information on other alternatives.

Response variables There are a variety of buyer responses, which become relevant for different areas of marketing strategy. The wide variety of consumer responses can be easily appreciated in the diversity of measures used to evaluate advertising effectiveness. These stages have been described as follows:

Awareness Knowledge Linking Preference Conviction Purchase The central idea36 is that as the buyer moves from product awareness to product knowledge, linking, preference and conviction, each succeeding stage increases the probability that he will move soon to action to satisfy the need.

First, response variable called awareness is crucial because it indicates whether or not a communication is received by the buyer. Second, several different aspects of the cognitive realm of behaviour, such as attention, recall and recognition are called knowledge to suggest that they are all varying indicators of the buyers storage of information about a product. Third, linking is defined to include its affective aspects, since any attempt to establish causal relation between attitude and behavior must take into account the motivational aspects of attitude. Variables are preference and conviction. To the extent that they incorporate a

36

Kristian S.Palda, The Hypothesis of Hierarchy of Effects: A Partial Evaluation, Journal of Marketing Reaserch, Feb.1966. pp.13-24.

buyers forecast of his inhibitors, it might form a basis for marketing strategy designed to remove the inhibitors before actual purchase behavior is manifested37

During this period the firms communications program represents an investment in trying to guide the receptive persons attention to the values of the firms products. The communications can inform and persuade, but only

infrequently are they sufficient to trigger decisions. Controlling varibales There are several influences operating on the buyers decisions. Many of these influences come from the buyers social environment. Figure 3.2 presents a set of controlling variables which provide the control essential to obtaining satisfactory predictive relation between the inputs and outputs of the system.

Time Pressure: When a buyer feels pressed for time, because of any of several environmental influences, he must allocate his time along alternative uses. In this process a reallocation unfavorable to purchasing activity can occur. Time pressure

37

Philip kotler, Marketing Management, (Prentice Hall)Inc., New Jersey,

1967, p.70.

will create inhibition. It will also unfavorably affect the search for information.

Financial Status: This can affect his purchase behaviour by creating a barrier to purchasing the most preferred brand of a product.

Personality confidence,

Traits:

These

are and

such anxiety.

variables These

as

self-

self-esteem,

individual

differences exert their effect across product classes.

Social and Organisational Factors: These factors involve the group, a higher level of social organization than the individual. Organisation both formal and social, is a crucial variable. It influences most of the learning processes.

3.1.4 Models of consumer behaviour Several researcher have presented fairly comprehensive models of consumer behaviour. These models do not consider all possible variables that might affect consumer actions. Rather each represents a particular point of view. Their comprehensiveness is due to their indepth presentation of a certain point of view and the specification of the relationships among several variables affecting consumer behaviour.

The Andreasen model In a customer behaviour model developed by Alan R. Andreasen38, the entire process from stimulus to outcome comprises an information processing cycle. The stages involved are input stimuli, perception and filtration,

disposition changes, and various possible outcomes. The input stimuli consist of information about competing products and their varying attributes. This information is subject to selection and distortion by the individual buyer. He filters it in a unique way based on his constellation of attitudes and prior information. The filtered information affects the disposition of the prospective buyer towards the product. The outcome of this information processing may take one of three forms, vis; selection, search or action.

Andreasen proposes a general model built upon several specific conceptions about formation and changes. The key to attribute change, according to him, is exposure to various kinds of information. Information relevant to consumer decision is of a wide, yet definable variety. It comes over time and exposure to such information may be voluntary or involuntary. This model ties together several elements of the

38

Alan R. Andereasen, Attitudes and Customer Behaviour: A Decision Model ,In New Research in Marketing, (ed.) lee E. Preston (erkeley, Calif. ) University of California Institute of Business and Economic Research, 1965, pp.1-16.

buying process. It suggests various points at which marketing management can make contact with the prospective buyer through thoughtful communications.

The Nicosia model The model presented by Francesco M. Nicosia39 is a simulation of the consumer decision-making process. Nicosia takes the case of a firm introducing a new product and structures the resulting consumer decision sequence.

A first approximation of the structure would consist of the flow consisting of the firm, its advertisement, the consumers possible exposure to it the interaction between the

advertisement and the consumers pre-dispositions operation or evoked at the time of exposure, the possible formation of an attitude, the possible conversion of this motivation into an act of purchase, and then back to the consumers

predispositions and to the firm.

Nicosia believes that consumer behaviour can be diagrammed in a flow chart as a decision-making sequence similar to a complex computer program. He then argues that simulation technique can be used to explain in depth the structure of a

39

F.A. Nicosia, Consumer Decision Process, Prentice Hall, 1966.

consumer

decision

process

in

order

to

better

predict

consumer behavior.

From this point if view, the model is a valuable step towards an encompassing theory of consumer behavior and its adaptability to similar and other mathematical techniques opens up promising avenues of further research.

The Howard-Seth model

The model presented by John A. Howard and Jagdish N. Seth40, has its theoretical roots in the stimulus response learning theory. Unlike other approaches to consumer behaviour, they focus on the element of repeat buying by presenting a theory, which incorporates the dynamics of purchase behaviour over a period of time. Basically, their view is that, given a drive and the perception of a cue, the individual may make a response which is reinforced or rewarded, may lead to learning.

Once the buyer is motivated to buy a product class, he is faced with a brand-choice decision. The elements of his decisions are (1) a set of motives, (2) several courses of action, and (3) decision mediators. Over time, in the face of repetitive brand choice decision, the consumer simplifies his

40

J.A.Howard and J.N. Seth, A theory of buyer Behaviour, in perspective in consumer behaviour (ed.) Kassarjian/Robertson, scott, Foresman and Company, 1968, pp.467-487

decision

process

by

storing

relevant

information

and

establishing a routine in his decision process.

This type of learning theory approach is viewed by a number of researchers as a powerful tool for explaining consumer actions, especially for frequently purchased convenience goods where brand preferences and brand loyalties emerge. 3.2 RESEARCH IN SERVICE MARKETING

Business Week, in its October 23, 2000 issue, carried a story on Why Service Stinks41 Since 1994, customer satisfaction in the United States dropped by 12.5% for airlines, 8.1% for banks, 6.5% for stores, and 4% for hotels. Customers are increasingly complaining about inaccurate information, unresponsive, rude or poorly trained personnel, and long waiting time. However, service is not uniformly bad for all customers.

Companies are now driven to seek ways to squeeze more profit out of the different customer tiers. Firms have decided to raise fees and lower service to customer who barely pay their way, and to coddle big spenders to retain their patronage as long as possible

41

Diane Brady, Why Service Stinks Business Week, October 23,2000, pp.119-28.

In 1963, Regan42 suggested that services represent either intangibles, yielding satisfaction directly (transportation,

housing), or intangibles yielding satisfaction jointly when purchased either with commodities or other services (credit, delivery). For the first time, services were considered as pure intangibles capable of providing satisfaction to the customer, which could be marketed like tangible products. Robert Judd43 defined service as a market transaction by an enterprise or an entrepreneur where the object of the market transaction is other than the transfer of ownership of a tangible commodity.

About the same time when Rathmell was defining the distinct features of services, the following three more definitions were proposed:

In 1973, Bessom44 proposed that for the consumers, services are activities offered for sale that provide valuable benefits or satisfactionss activities that he cannot perform for himself, or those he chooses not to perform for himself.

42 43

W J Regan, The Service Revolution, Journal of Marketing, July 1960,p.57 Robert C Judd, The case for Redefining Services, journal of Marketing, Vol.28 January,1964 44 R M Bessom, Unique Aspects of Marketing of Services, Arizona Business Bulletin, Nov. 1973, p.157..

The second definition was given by Blois45 in 1974. According to him, a service is an activity offered for sale which yields benefits and satisfaction without leading to a physical change in the form of a good.

The third definition was proposed by Stanton46 in 1974. He defined services as separately identifiable, intangible

activities which provide want satisfaction when marketed to consumer and/or industrial users, and which are not

necessarily tied to the sale of a product or another service.

A decade later, a significantly different set of definitions were proposed based on which the present workable definition has been given.

Lehtinen47, in 1983, defined services as an activity or a series of activities which takes place in interactions with a contact person or a physical machine and which provides consumer satisfaction.

Kotler and Bloom48, in 1984, defined services as any activity or benefit that one party can offer to another that is
45

K J Blois, The Marketing of Services: An Approach, European Journal of Marketing, summer 1974, p.157.
46 47

W J Stanton, Fundamentals of Marketing (Tokyo: Mc Graw Hill), 1974, p.545. J Lehtinen,Customer-Oriented Service Firm,)Finland:Espoo), 1983, p.21. 48 Philip Kotler and Paul N Bloom, Marketing Professional Services New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1984,p.174

essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything, Its production may or may not be tied to the physical product.

Gummesson (E Gummesson, LIP Service-A Neglected Area in Service Marketing Journal of Service Marketing No1, 1987, p.22) highlighting the intangible nature of services defined, services as something which can be bought and sold, but which you cannot drop on your foot. This definition also pointed out one basic characteristic that the services can be exchanged even though they are not tangible.

Taking a lead from the last three definitions proposed by Lentinen, Kotler and Bloom, and Gummesson in 1990, Gronross49 proposed a working definition. According to him, a service is an activity or series of activities of more or less intangible nature that normally, not necessarily, takes place in interactions between the customer and service employee and/or physical resources or goods and or system of the service provider, which are provided as solution to customers problems.

After the above discussion, it might suit us to go by the modified AMA definition, which states that services are those
49

Christian Gronross, Service Management and Marketing(Massachusetts: Lexington Books, 1990, p.27

separately identifiable, essentially intangible activities, which provide want satisfaction and are not necessarily tied to the sale of product or another service. Providing a service may or may not require the use of tangible goods. However, when such use is required, there is no ownership transfer of these tangible goods in a service buying transaction50.

3.2.1 Theoritical foundation in service marketing As India moves increasingly towards a service economy, marketers need to know more about marketing services product. The competition, simultaneously, in service

organization, is becoming intense and severe. It is in this context that the role of marketing is gaining importance in service organisations.

Services are widely used by people today particularly in all aspects of life, from education to entertainment, finance to fast food, travel to telephone, advertisement to amusement parks, market research to maintenance services, retailing to recreation and so on. Services, thus, are increasingly being used by the corporate as well as the household sector.

50

W J Stanton, Fundamentals of Marketing ,(Mc Graw Hill, New York), 1981, p.441.

As our knowledge of characteristics of services grows, so does our ability to deal with them both in an economic & marketing prospective. Services are intangible, inseparable, variable and perishable, as shown below.

Intangibility
Cant see, touch & feel

Perishability
Lack of inventory

Inseparability Service Characterstics

Time consumed in delivery & quality values Services are produced, distributed & consumed simultaneously

Heterogeneity
Figure 3.6 Service Characteristics

Consumer Decision making model In his article Towards a Consumption/Evaluation Process Model for Services Fisk, R P Fisk51 suggested a

comprehensive purchase model.

He divided the purchase

behaviour into three distinct stages and the service is progressively evaluated as shown in Figure 3.7. The first comprises what is called the pre-purchase stage in which some activities take place before the actual purchase decision. These activities are typically called problem/need
51

in Donnelly and George, Marketing of Services, 1981,pp.191-195.

recognition/information research on various alternatives and evaluation of alternatives to select the best of them.

PRECONSUMPTION PHASE

CONSUMPTION PHASE

PRECONSUMPTION PHASE

Need Recognition

Service Encounter

Post Purchase Evaluation

Information Search Further Evaluation Decision to Buy Decision Not to Buy Figure 3.7 Evaluation in Use Continuous Consumption Purchase

The Consumption & Evaluation Process for Services

The second stage is called the consumption stage in which the expectations of pre-consumption stage are compared with the actual service delivery. This stage is called the service encounter stage. Finally, there is the post-purchase stage, which results in a decision whether to purchase the same service again or not.

Marketing mix traditional 4ps

in

services:

The

Neil Bordens concept of marketing mix was given due recognition in the marketing theory and the concept of marketing mix was accepted as the set of marketing tools that a firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market, influenced by specific environmental variables.

In practice, the core of marketing is considered to be the marketing mix. Neil Borden52, while quoting from an article by James Culliton53, wrote that a marketer is viewed as a decider, or an artist or a mixer of ingredients who plans various means of competition. He may follow a recipe prepared by others, or prepare his own as he goes alone, or adopt a recipe to the ingredients immediately available, or experiment with or invent ingredients no one else has tried. If a marketer was a mixer of ingredients, what he designed was a marketing mix.

Borden further wrote that it was logical to proceed from a realization of the existence of a variety of marketing mixes to the development of a concept that would comprehend not
52

Neil H Borden, The Concept of Marketing Mix, Journal of Advertising Research, June 1964, pp.2-7 53 James W Culliton, The Management of Marketing Costs )Boston: Graduate School of Business Administration. Harvard University), 1984

only this variety, but also the market forces that cause management to produce a variety of mixes. It is the problems raised by those forces that lead marketing managers to exercise their wits in devising mixes or programmes to fight competition.

It was McCarthy who summed up twelve elements of Bordens marketing mix into 4Ps product, price, place (i.e.

distribution) and promotion. He even clarified that the customer is not a part of the marketing mix, rather he should be the target of all marketing efforts.

About the same time when McCarthy proposed the 4Ps approach, two more classifications were put forward. Frey54 proposed that all marketing decision variables could be put under two sub heads the offering and the methods or tools.

Lazer and Kelly55 proposed a three factor classification, namely, goods and services mix, distribution mix, and communication mix. However, these classifications did not go beyond the scope of Bordens original concept.

Service product or service package (First P)

54 55

Albert W Frey, Advertising, 3rd ed. (New York: Ronald Press), 1961, p.30 William Lazer and Eugene J Kelly, Managerial marketing: Perspective and View points (Homewood: Richard D. Irwin), 1962, p.413

Conventionally, we describe a product as an object which is developed , produced, and consumed. However, in service there is no, or only a little, tangible element because of which they are considered as benefits which are offered to the target market. There are two important things to note. First, a service is a bundle of features and benefits, and second, these benefits and features have relevance for a specific target market. Therefore, while developing a service product, it is important that the package of benefits in the service offered must have a customers perspective. Service pricing (Second P) Pricing is yet another variable of the marketing mix. A particular product or service is acceptable to the customer at a particular price and if the price increases, it is likely that the same product or service might become less acceptable to the customer. The other issue, which is related to pricing, is that of perceptions about quality. Service pricing follows the principles and practices of pricing of goods and, therefore, they are either cost-based or market-based.

Place or distribution (Third P) Because of intangibility (from production to sale) of services, they cannot be stored, transported, and inventoried. Hence traditional distribution channels available for product

marketing like wholesalers and other intermediaries cannot be used. Even the retailing cannot be an independent activity. Similarly, because of the inseparability,(in case of services

production cannot be separated from selling), services must be created and sold at the same time. These two

characteristics make the channel very short and direct. Most services are distributed through direct sales. At best, one agent or middleman can be added to it, like in the case of insurance, travel agency, courier services, etc.

Promotion (Fourth P) It is now established that there are clear differences in information usages between goods and services. First, the difference is that consumers of services are less likely to purchase without information than those of goods. Second, the consumer of services will prefer personal sources over impersonal sources of information. And third, the basic characteristics of services have implications for

communication strategy.

George and Berry56, keeping in view the intangibility of services, proposed that in the case of services a customer is buying the performance of the service personnel and, therefore, advertising in service industries should not only restrict itself to encouraging consumption, but should also encourage employees to perform well.

56

William R George and Leonard L Berry, Guidelines for the Advertising of Services, Business Horizons, July-August, 1981

People or internal marketing (Fifth P) Judd57, in 1987, came out with yet another P, this is people. Judds argument was that it is the employees of an organization who represent the organization to the customer. If these employees are not given training in how to go about face-to-face customer contact, the entire marketing efforts may not prove to be effective. He even went further by recommending that people-power should be formalized, institutionalized, and managed like the other 4Ps as a distinctive component of the market mix and, consequently, as an element of an organizations marketing or business plan.

In a service organization, employees are essentially the contact personal with the customer. Therefore, an employee plays an important role in the marketing operations of a service organization. Although the discussion on the

significance of employees in a business activity started in mid-seventies, the person of internal marketing was

introduced only afterwards.

Physical evidence (Sixth P)

57

V C Judd, Differentiate with the 5th P: People, Industrial Marketing Management No 16, p. 241-247

G Lynn Shostack58 once observed, a physical object is self defining; a service is not and therefore the marketing task in service industries is defining for service what the service cannot define for itself.

Though a customer cannot see a service, but definitely he can see various tangible clues of the service offer like facilities, communication material, objects, employees, other customers, price, etc. On the basis of his perceptions on the tangible clues, the customer makes the decision. These clues might be both intended and unintended ones and, therefore, managing evidence is integral to the service marketing mix. Shostack even observed that the management of evidence comes first for service marketers.

Obviously, the primary role of evidence management is to support the organisations marketing programme by making it possible to manage both intended and unintended clues, which can give adequate evidence to a customer and thereby influence his perceptions. Interestingly, the physical evidence also influences employees who ultimately interact with Shaping first customers during the service impression Parsuraman et al., delivery. identified six specific role of evidence as represented in figure Socialising employees 3.8. Facilitating quality of services
G Lynn Shostack, ServiceProviding Through Structural Changes, Journal of Positioning Marketing, Vol. 51, Jan. 1987, pp34-43 Managing
58

sensory stimule Changing the image

trust

Role of Evidence

Figure 3.8 Role of Evidence in Services Marketing Depending on the competitive situation, marketing objective and the resources, an organization can use evidence for some or the entire above role, though these roles are not mutually exclusive.

QUALITY IN SERVICE MARKETING The concept of quality is very important to marketers because quality drives the development of all marketing strategies. This means that quality must also be a major focus of all marketing strategies for services.

Buyers will look for evidence of the service quality. They will draw inferences about quality from the place, people, equipment, communication material, symbols, and price that they see. Therefore, the service providers task is to manage the evidence, to tangibilize the intangible59.

To aid in tangibilizing the intangible, Carbone and Haeckel60 propose a set of concepts under the name Customer Experience. Engineering Companies must first develop a clear picture of what they want the customers perception of an experience to be, and then design a consistent set of performance and context clues to support that experience.

Service firms can take three steps towards quality control. The first is investing in good hiring and training procedure. Recruiting the right employees and providing them with excellent training is crucial, regardless of whether the employees workers. are high-skilled professionals or low-skilled

The second step is standardizing the service performance process

59

throughout

the

organization.

This is

done

by

Theodore Levitt, Marketing Intangible Products and

Product Intangibles, Harvard Business Review (MayJune1981: 94-102; Berry, Service Marketing is different 60 .Lewis P. Carbone and Stephan H. Haeckel, Engineering Customer Experiences, Marketing Management, winter 1994.

preparing a service blueprint that depicts events and processes in a flowchart, with the objective of recognizing potential fall points.

The third step is monitoring customer satisfaction through suggestions and complaints, customer surveys, and

comparison shopping.

The traditional four Ps marketing approach works well for good, but additional elements do require attention in the business of services. Booms and Bitner61 suggested three additional Ps for service marketing, that is, people, physical evidence, and process. Because most services are provided by people, the can selection, make a training, huge and motivation in of

employees

difference

customer

satisfaction. Ideally, employees should exhibit competence, a caring attitude, responsiveness, imitative, problem-solving ability, and goodwill. Companies also try to demonstrate their service quality through physical evidence and presentation.

Finally, service companies can choose among different processes to deliver their service. In view of this complexity, Christien Gronroos62 has argued that service marketing
61

B.H.Booms and M. J. Bitner, Marketing Strategies and Organizational Structure for Sevice Firms, in Marketing of Services, ed. J. Donnelly and W.R. George (Chicago: American Marketing Association, 1981), pp.47-51 62 Chrisrian Gronroos, A service Quality Model and Its Marketing Implictions, European jurnal of marketing 18, no. 4 (1984): 36-44

requires not only external marketing, but also internal and interactive marketing. External marketing describes the normal work to prepare, price, distribute, and promote the service to customers. Internal marketing describes the work to train and motivate employees to serve the customers well. Berry63 has argued that the most important contribution the marketing department can make is to be exceptionally clever in getting everyone else in the organization to practice marketing

Because services are generally high in experience and credence qualities, there is more risk in purchase. This has several consequences. First, service consumers generally rely on word of mouth rather than advertising. Second, they rely heavily on price, personnel, and physical cues to judge quality. Third, they are highly loyal to service providers who satisfy them.

Company

Internal Marketing
63

External

Marketing Leonard Berry, Big Ideas in Service Marketing, Journal of consumer Marketing , Spring 1986, 47-51 Cleaning/ Financial/ Maintenance Banking Services

Restaurant Industry Services

Figure 3.9

Service companies face three important task, vis; increasing competitive differentiation, service quality, and productivity. All these interact.

Managing differentiation Service marketers frequently complain about the difficulty of differentiating their services. The deregulation of several major service industries like communications, transportation, energy, and banking has precipitated intense price

competition. To the extent that customers view a service as fairly homogeneous, they care less about the provider than the price.

Offering: Offering can include innovative features. What the customer expects is called the primary service package. To this the provider can add secondary service features. The major challenge is that most service offerings and innovations are easily copied. Still, the company that regularly introduces

innovations will gain a succession of temporary advantage over competitors.

Many distribution experts say that a companys money would be better spent on improving delivery performance than on advertising. They say that superior service performance is a more effective differentiator than image expenditures.

Furthermore, it is harder for a competitor to duplicate a superior distribution system than to copy a competitors advertising campaign.

Managing productivity Service firms are under great pressure to keep costs down and increase productivity. There are seven approaches to improving service productivity. 1. Have service providers work more skillfully. The company can hire and foster more skillful workers through better selection and training. 2. Increase the quantity of service by surrendering some quality. Doctors working for some HMOs have moved towards handling more patients and giving less time to each patient. 3. Industrialize the service by adding equipment and standardizing production. Levitt64 recommended that
64

Theodore Levitt, Production-Line Approach to Service, Hardvard Business Review, Sep.-Oct. 1972, pp.41-52

companies adopt a manufacturing attitude towards producing service, as represented by McDonalds assembly-line approach to fastfood retailing,

culminating in the technological hamburger 4. Reduce or make obsolete the need for a service by inventing a product solution. 5. Design a more effective service. How-to-quit-

smoking clinics may reduce the need for expensive medical services later on. Hiring para-legal workers reduce the need for more expensive legal

professionals. 6. Present customer with incentives to substitute their own labor for company labor. Banks have turned their customers into tellers. 7. Harness the power of technology to give customers access to better service and make service workers more productive. Companies that use their web sites to empower customer can lessen workloads, capture valuable data, and increase the value of their business.

Technology has great power to make service workers more productive. Companies must avoid pushing productivity so hard that they reduce perceived quality. Some methods lead

to too much standardization and rob the customer of customized service; high-tough is replaced by high-tech.

In relation to service marketing, a number of research papers were published. A Parsuraman, Leonard L Berry, and Valeria Zeithaml did the pioneering work. They not only wrote more than a dozen of research papers, beginning 1985, but also did a monograph in 1990 for making Science Institute and a series of two books on the same theme. Their research supported the point that quality is the foundation of service marketing.

Before Parsuraman, Gronross65 proposed that a service firm, in order to compete successfully, must develop quality of its service and it must define how the consumer perceive service quality. Secondly, it should also determine in what way service quality is influenced. Gronross suggested that

functional quality is the more important dimension of perceived service than technical quality. Therefore, essence of effectiveness in managing services lies in improving the functional quality of a firms service by managing the buyerseller interaction (interactive marketing) as compared to traditional marketing activities.

65

Christian Gronross, A Service Quality Model and Its Marketing Implications, European Journal Of Marketing, vol. 18 No.4,1984

Managing the perceived quality of a service means that one has to match the expected service and the perceived service to each other so that consumer satisfaction is achieved. To keep the gap between expected and perceived service minimal, two things are critical. First, the promises about how the service will perform given by traditional marketing activities and communicated by word-to-mouth, must not be unrealistic when compared to the service the customer will eventually perceive. Secondly, managers have to understand how the technical and the functional quality of a service are influenced and how the customers perceive these quality dimensions.

Expect ed service s

Perceived service quality

Perceiv ed service s

Traditional marketing activities like advertising, word-of-mouth or PR

IMAGE

Technical quality

Functiona l quality

Figure 3.10

Gronross Service Quality Model

Gronross, in the concluding part, emphasized the need for more research, especially research on the consumers view of service quality. In order to develop greater understanding of the nature of service quality and how it is achieved in an organization, a service quality model is shown in figure 3.10. It was developed by Parsuraman et al. in 1985.

Their model clearly indicated that the consumers quality perceptions are influenced by a series of five distinct gaps occurring in organizations. These gaps that can impede delivery of service which consumers perceive to be of high quality are as follows:

Gap1.Difference

between

consumer

expectations

and

management perceptions of consumer expectations

Gap2.Difference consumer

between

management and

perceptions service

of

expectations

quality

specifications

Gap3.Difference between service quality specifications and the service actually delivered

Gap4.Difference

between

service

delivery

and

what

communicated about the service to consumer. Gap5.Difference between the perceived service and expected service. This gap depends on the size and direction of the first four gaps associated with the delivery of service quality.

Word of mouth communication

Personal needs

Past experience

Expected service

GAP

Perceived service GAP Service delivery including pre-and-post contracts GAP Transition of perception into service quality specification GAP 2 Management perceptions of consumer expectation GAP

GAP

External communicati on to consumers

Figure 3.11 Gap Model of Service Quality Source The next research in the series is focused on developing a procedure for quantifying customers service quality. The research suggested that service quality could be measured on the following dimensions. Reliability: The ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately. Tangibles: The appearance of physical facilities,

equipment, personnel and communication materials. Responsiveness: The willingness to help customers and provide prompt service. Assurance: The knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence. Empathy: The caring, individualized attention provided to the customer.

The third work of the same teams of researchers66 identified an exhaustive set of constructs that could affect the magnitude and direction of gaps. Most of these constructs involved communication and control processes used to manage employees as well as consequences of these processes.
66

(A Parsuraman, V A Zeithaml and Leonard L Berry, SERVQUAL: a Multiple-Item Scale For Measuring Consumer Perceptions Of Service Quality, Journal of Retailing, spring 1988.)

They summarized by stating that service quality is a subjective assessment that customers arrive at by comparing the service level they believe an organisation ought to deliver to the service level they perceive is being delivered. Extensive qualitative research conducted in the recent past by

Parsuraman et al., suggested that service quality deficiencies perceived by customers (that is the gap between their expectations and perceptions) are caused by a series of organizational gaps.

Marketing Information Gaps: Inadequate or inaccurate management expectation understanding of customers service

Standards

Gap:

Managements

failure

to

develop

performance expectations

specifications

reflecting

customers

Service Performance Gap: Discrepancy between service performance specification and service actually delivered

Communication

Gap:

Discrepancy

between

communication to customers describing the service and the service actually delivered.

3.3 MARKET APPROACH TO HIGHER EDUCATION

Not

all

still

believe

that

educational

institutions

have

customers. There is a need to adopt new education paradigm and discard old ways of working and thinking. There is a need to drop the belief that quality of education is dependent on the amount of money allocated to education. Recent case studies dispel the belief that, the more the money invested in education, the higher the quality of education. There is no dearth of cases showing that spending on education far exceeded the rate of inflation.

There is, however, one fundamental difference between a business organization and an education institution. The students are customers when they want education, while they are a product when they complete their programme of education.

Market forces will continue to push the university and colleges to go more and more by the business concept and use those tested and accepted tools of business management, which will help increase efficiency and effectiveness. In business management, quality is the thrust along with competitive cost, which is a kind of need that already prevails in selffinancing institutions. Students of tomorrow will be much

more demanding and selective for quality assurance for which they would pay higher fees. This is because fees will continue rising and employment market will become more competitive. In the changed scenario, marketing will become a more and more important activity for a university to attract students, faculty, and for contract research.

Where does then one start while researching for the causes of loss of clientele in a service organization? For our purpose a service organization is one, which overtly deals in services. Excluded is the aspect of customer-service, say, provided by product manufacturing-marketing organizations or customerservice as a distinct entity from sales, or the service envelope provided by someone essentially marketing products.

Coming back to the question of causal factors, there could be a plethora of such variables that could be identified. Before we start this process of identification, let us define the specific focus. In certain services the need for presales consultation and discussion, mainly between the service provider and the potential client, and within the client organization or

influencers, is very deeply felt. As in product marketing, we can term these as high involvement purchases but with the additional burden of features like intangibility, heterogeneity,

and inseparability. The dynamics of this involvement take on a different dimension and intensity, sufficient to say that consumers have greater risk perception while buying services than when buying products67 (Murray et al., 1990).

Additionally, at another level, the risk perception hence, involvement levels as well as purchase efforts varies from service to service (Stell et. Al., 1996)68. Therefore the amount of pre-sale search conducted or support required by the consumer will be of different level and intensity. This kind of consumer behaviour has been attributed to the existence of various categories of services, existing on a continuum wherein services have been described as being high or low on search, credence, and experiential qualities (Nelson, 1971; Darby et al., 1973)69. Research also indicates that a decrease in the amount and /or quality of information usually results in a commensurate increase in perceived risk (Cox et al., 1976; Spence et al., 1970)70 , where the emotional involvement is also high as although the outcome of these services are based on expectations, hearsay, external communication and/or

67

Murray, K.B and J.L Schlacter (1990) The Impact of Service Marketing and Consumers Assessment of Perceived Risk and Variability, 18(1), Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 51-65. 68 Stell, R and C.L.Donohue, (1996)Classifying Services from a Consumer Perspective, 10(6), Journal of Service Marketing, 33-44 69 Nelson, P.(1971) Advertising as Information, 81(4), Journal of Political Economy, 729754 and Darby, M.R. and E. Karni, (1973)Free Competition and the Optimal Amount of Fraud, 16, Journal of Law and Economics, 67-86. 70 Cox, D.F.and S.U.Rich (1967) Perceived Risk and Consumer Decision Making The case of telephone shopping. D.F.Cox, (ed.) Boston: Division of Research, Harvard University

experience (Berry et al., 1990)71. The consumer is highly unsure still as each re-purchase may lead to a completely new experience with a completely new outcome. In the terminology of search, experience and credence continuum, this kind of service would be situated closer to the experience and credence end. The risk perception is also enhanced as usually expert provides these services, and the consumer feels relatively more helpless than in any other purchase situation (Price et al., 1995)72 referred to a certain category of services, which are characterized by encounters that are Extended, Affectively charged and Intimate. These they termed as EAI encounters. The dimensions of service encounters that are emphasized in EAI encounters is duration, affective content and spatial proximity. Examples of services within this category may be medical services, nursing, childcare, legal advisory services, counseling, coaching, etc.

Then, research has also indicated that service brands are particularly different as compared to product brands,

especially because they rely on employees action and attitudes (De Chernatory indicated et al., 1997)73. customer Numerous satisfaction

researchers
71

have

that

Berry, L.L and A. Parasuraman and V.A Zeithaml (1990) Delivering Quality Service Balaning Customer Perception and Expectations, New York, The Free Press, 18-21. 72 Prie L.L and E.J.Arnould (1995)Going to Extremes: Managing Service Encounters and Assessing Provider Performane:, 59(2), Journal of Marketing, 83-97. 73 De Chernatory, L. and DellOlmo Riley, (1997) The Chasm Between Managers and Consumers Views of Brand: The Experts Perspective 5(3), Journal of Strategic Marketing, 89-104

depends directly and most immediately on the management and monitoring of individual service encounters (Bitner, 1990; Parasuraman et al., 1985; Shostack, 1984; Shostak 1987; Solomon et al., 1985)74.

The proposition here is that marketing of higher education programmes need also be seen similarly and that parameters of managing the service encounters need to be researched and evolved, such that customer satisfaction becomes attainable by design rather than as a chance happening.

The focus is on higher education programmes, which are professionally oriented and are outside the purview of the public education domain/institutions in India. It needs to be understood that after the independence from colonial rule in 1947, socialist learnings and lack of private participation in education induced the Government at that time to take up the task of providing education in general and higher education in particular to the Indian masses. This obviously included the

74

Bitner, M.J. (1990)Evaluating Service Encounter : The Effects of Physical Surroundings and Employee Responses, 54(2), Journal of Marketing 69-82. Parasuraman, A., V.A.Zeithaml and L.L.Berry (1985) A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and its Implications for Further Researches 49(1), Journal of Marketing, 41-50. Shostack, G. Lynn (1984), Designing Service that Deliver, 62(1), Harvard Business Review, 133-139 Shotack, G. Lunn (1985)Planning the Sevice Encounter, in Czepiel, J.A., Solomon M.R. and Suprenant C.F., (eds), The Service Encounter, Massachusetts, Lexington Books, 243254. Soloman, R. Michael, .Supernant, J.Aczepiel, and E.G. Gutman, (1985)A Role Theory Perspective on Dyadic Interactions: The Service Encounter, 49(4), Journal of Marketing, 99-111.

entire

gamut

of

conception,

design

and

delivery

of

educational programmes, which was the prerogative of the government. Also the selection or choice of programmes to be run as well as the capacity or number of seats in any and every programme was more or less controlled by government at decree.

The institutions so developed ranged from a network of primary, secondary and senior secondary schools in the urban and rural areas to universities and colleges of higher learning, and then to research and development establishments at the central and state levels. This edifice largely depended, and still depends, upon government subsidies and grants for financial support, and for which consequently again there is a range of governmental organizations that act as fund disbursing and regulating authorities. What this did was to more or less free the institutions from bothering about the financial aspect of their activities.

The objective then obviously was to support education and research at all levels completely such that the standard of living of the people improve in the long run. The assumption behind the government support at that time was that the Indian masses would not be able to afford education if they were asked to pay for it, even on a cost-to-cost basis.

The entry into a programme of higher education thus was and is largely on rejections rather than selections. For instance, in case of engineering applicants to the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology, the rejection rate is as high as ninety-seven percent. Engineering and medicine have been the traditionally sought after courses and the middle class population in India has always viewed them as priority discipline for their children to pursue.

It was, therefore, logical that the first few forays of the private sector into education were in these two areas. But as per the laws of the land, they had to be compulsorily affiliated to one or the other state university and thus were required to follow the syllabi and system prescribed by the university. It is only of late that with the approval of certain agencies like the All India Council for Technical Education (which has been created as a regulatory body to evolve, implement, and monitor quality norms in technical higher education programmes by the Government of India), programmes are being offered in the private domain completely, without any kind of affiliation to any other public institution. But this too is being clamped down upon as individual state authorities have, in many cases already promulgated statutes that compel private institutions

of higher education to necessarily affiliate with one or the other universities in their respective states.

This again leads back to the reinforcement amongst the citizenry that education necessarily belongs to the public domain and hence must be low priced. The reference to price here is important, as research has shown that services in general, and credence service in particular, invite pricing and performance abuses at the hands of unscrupulous service providers. Customers are aware that they are vulnerable to such abuses, so they are suspicious about being taken advantage of and become resentful and angry when it happens (Berry et al., 1996)75.

The description above just tries to broadly delineate the evolution of higher education sector in the country in order to form a perspective such that the imperatives for the private sector institutions come to the fore. The marketing of educational programmes has attracted attention of

researchers who have identified research-based planning and programme development, relationship marketing and nontraditional methods for education delivery as key areas for future focus (Hayes 199676).
75

Berry, L.L and M. Yadav (1996) Capture and Communicate Value in the Pricing of Services 36(1) Sloan Management Review, 43.
76

Hayes, Tom (1996)Higher Education Marketing ymposium Wins Top Grades, 30(3), First Louisville,55.

Marketing in developed nations like U.S.A. has come to the fore in higher education because of various reasons. Some of these were identified as the founding missions being found increasingly ill-suited for the demands of the market place, budgets becoming excruciatingly tight while departments and programmes clamoring for more support, the recruiting and fund-raising arenas having become extremely competitive as well as hostile, higher education being more and more dominated by many largely undifferentiated colleges and universities offering similar programmes, demographic shift in the operating environment marked by diminishing numbers of traditional full-time students, fewer full-pay students and fewer residential students, escalating demand for adult higher education and continuing and special-focus programmes, and last but not the least, the sharp rise in the cost of higher

education (Kanis, 2000).

In India too recently as liberalisation has progressed, although in fits and starts, governmental support to

institutions of higher learning in the form of grants and subsidies, is drying up. The movement of self-sustenance is gaining force. This also adds up and forces managers of educational institutions, especially in the public domain, to rethink their mission and strategies.

The

Service-Encounter

Versus

Moments-Of-Truth

Versus

Points-Of-Marketing Concepts.

It is worthwhile now to dwell upon certain issues of semantics, which need to be classified that distinctions between them, if any, are highlighted, to facilitate the factoring-in of these aspects in marketing plans.

Service encounter indicates to the second stage in the service purchase process, in which the service delivery takes place through interactions between customers and the service providers (Lovelock et al., 1999)

The celebrated CEO of SAS, Jan Carlson (1987) used the terminology of moments-of truth to describe the direct contacts between the customer and an employee of the service company. Gummensson (1987)77 preferred to call these as points of marketing, saying that in marketing of services relationships and interactions created by direct

contact between the customer and the service provider are key phenomena.

77

Gummesson, Evert (1987) The New Marketing Developing long-Term Interactive Relationships, 20(4), Long Range Planning

Lovelocks definition of service encounter specifies that this stage is one, which is concerned with the interaction between the customer and the service provider during the actual delivery of the service. If this is to be subscribed to, then shall we exclude all the other occasions when there is interaction between the said two parties barring the actual delivery phase? This question assumes greater importance when we consider the case of service wherein a lot of pre-sale consultation takes place about the pros and cons of a service product, along with the reputation, pedigree and expertise that the service providing company/organization represents.

Because in the kind of service described above, the predelivery phase is very important for the customers as the actual service may be and usually is largely dependent upon these pre-delivery consultations, and before the actual delivery. Whether the consumer is finally going to bring his/her clientele to that service provider is also going to depend upon this pre-delivery phase.

As a corollary, what also needs to be re-looked is what constitutes the so-called actual service. For instance, Bitner (1990)78 makes a very telling observation when she says that,

78

Bitner, M.J. (1990)Evaluating Service Encounter : The Effects of Physical Surroundings and Employee Responses, 54(2), Journal of Marketing 69-82.

...in many cases those discrete encounters are the service from the customers point of view. If we take the example of imparting education through a structured programme, then obviously the delivery of lectures, seminars, laboratory work, etc. could be termed as the phase of actual delivery.

But the moment we talk about higher education programmes, this clear demarcation starts getting blurred. Because then, whether the design phase be termed as service delivery or not becomes an issue to ponder. Tailoring or customizing higher education and training programmes required that there is an analysis and design phase marked by close interaction between the service provider and the client, such that training need and gaps in knowledge and skills are identified precisely.

This should necessarily, if the delivery has to be relevant and meaningful, lead to customer satisfaction. Secondly, client at times themselves may be unclear about what to look for and what they should look for, given their own circumstances. This also requires that counseling and consultation takes place to decide whether to opt for a course of study at all, and if yes, then (among other things) choice of one programme from a portfolio of programmes.

Another proposition forwarded variously by Shostack (1985)79 and Czepiel et al., (1985)80 refers to the service encounter phase, as that in which service performance takes place, indicating that time frame during which consumers directly interact with service providers. If we follow this line of thought, then it clearly leads us to the conclusion that direct interaction of the service provider with the customer is the foundation of service encounter, irrespective of whether it is the diagnosis phase or the delivery phase.

Another aspect that needs to be looked into is that this predelivery activity, along with other post-sale activities are also termed as a part of the customer-service process or activity. LaLonde et al., (197681) defined customer service as

activities that occur at the interface between the customer and the corporation which enhances or facilitates the sale and use of the corporations products or services. This definition again indicates a dichotomy between the actual service

delivery and other phases, including the phase which is the run-up to the delivery. This stems from the fact that customer service, especially in the context of manufacturing industry,

79

Shotack, G. Lunn (1985)Planning the Sevice Encounter, in Czepiel, J.A., Solomon M.R. and Suprenant C.F., (eds), The Service Encounter, Massachusetts, Lexington Books, 243-254. 80 Czepoel, J.A., M.R.Soloman, C.F. Supernant and E.G. Gutman (1985)Service Enounters: An overview, Chapter 1, in Czepiel, J.A., Soloman M.R. and Supernant C.F. (eds.) The Service Encounter, Massachusetts, Lexington books, 3-15. 81 LaLonde, B.J. and Paul H.Zinszer (1976) Customer Service : Meaning and Measurement, Chicago, National Council of Physical Distribution Management

has categorized customer service in three distinct phases, i.e., pre-delivery, delivery, and post-delivery.

The discussion in the preceding section was to highlight that, in high-involvement service purchase, there is a greater degree of seamless ness between the pre-delivery and delivery phase and also it is important to realize that the predelivery encounter with the customer definitely shapes the purchase decision as well as purchase process.

Given the extent, literature, and understanding of the service delivery process would be more appropriate to use the terminology points-of-marketing rather than service

encounter to refer to all those occasions on which there is direct contact of the service provider personnel with the customer. Points-of-marketing as concepts, generally

describes the customer contact, somewhat akin to the concept of moments-of truth and includes any and every occasion wherein there is a possibility of direct customer contact with the service provider personnel.

THE ESSENCE Market forces have already allowed penetration of business concept in higher education. Universities have started

learning from experience, tools and techniques of the business concepts. They are also learning to be client (customer) friendly, attract clients and try to ensure their satisfaction. In the business approach, customer is most important whose likes, dislikes, taste, needs, changing attitudes and environment are the aspects that the

organization has to care for. Thus the products are to be provided at competitive price with assured quality and continuous service system.

Self-financing

institutions,

in

order

to

survive

should,

therefore, learn to apply the time-tasted theories and concepts of general and service marketing. The models of

consumer behaviours discussed in the forgoing pages can help understand and modify students perception and thereby their decision making.

The theory of consumer purchase behaviour, developed in the first part of this paper combined with various research findings reviewed in the second part, offer a substantial number of insights about some aspects of behaviour of considerable interest to marketers.

CHAPTER - 4

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

CHAPTER

RESEARCH METHODLOGOY

4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8

Brief introduction of the proposed research Research design Data collection Questionnaire Sample Data classification Data analysis Limitation of the study

4. RESEARCH METHODLOGOY
The present chapter deals with the research methodology followedtocompletethestudy.Thestatisticaltoolsappliedfor analysisandinterpretationofdatacollectedforthepurposeof the study are discussed. It also includes discussion on the questionnaireandsampleprofile.Limitationsofthestudyalso formapartofthischapter.

"Scientificachievementsare(rarely)madebythosewhostart withanopenmindwithoutanyknowledgeoranticipationof nature.Inordertofindsomethingwemustlookforit.Without anyanticipatoryidea,wedonotknowwhatfactstolookfor andcannotrecognizewhatisrelevanttotheinquiry.Itisnot easytostartwithobservingthefacts;fortodeterminewhat arethefactsistheveryobjectofscientificinquiry"82.

Fromtheverybeginning,itwasamplycleartotheinvestigator that any successful research would require besides deep knowledge of the subject of inquiry, a good knowledge of M.R. Cohen; "Method", The encyclopedia of the social sciences,vol.X.p390.
82

related disciplines including statistics. For, the most fruitful results in research are achieved not only through an integration of scientific techniques and method but also through a unified approach of the various scientific disciplines.Sincemanlivesinaworldofeconomic,industrial, political,psychologicalforcesandsocialattitudesandvalues, it is selfevident that his responses to, and roles in, these shouldbestudied.Thishasbeenaguidingphilosophyduring allstagesofthepresentresearch.

4.1BRIEF INTRODUCTION OF PROPOSED RESEARCH

In the earlier days the formal educational institutions were the only medium and source to generate, disseminate and offer information to the needy students. The methods of education were quite rigid and stereotype. It recognised the

superiority of the wisdom of the teachers, who were supposed to know any thing and every thing and the submissive role of the students, who were supposed to have very little understanding and

knowledge.

The

world

economy

is

experiencing New

unprecedented

change.

development in science and technology, competition, media, are revolution and

internationalization the education

revolutionising With increasing

sector.

information explosion and new avenues of job knowledge acquisition, the role of educational institutions is radically

changing. New demands are being made from fresh the educational are institutions being posed and to and

challenges

establish practices.

educational The new

system age

educational

system is characterised by the following changes:

Education

is

key

to

professional

success.

 Research and innovations are very important in highly as

competitive

environment,

these have direct bearing on economic development and

technological progress.

New methods of teaching, new modes of educational delivery, and new aids to research are available.

Higher education specially professional and technical education has a pivotal role for human resource development.

These changes require that institutions of higher education have to reappraise their role and functions in order to meet the emerging challenges of the new millennium and to avail the future opportunities. Already there is a steady shift in several paradigms in higher education. The most prominent shift is that higher education has started to be driven by market forces which require due emphasis to be given to

professional education specially management and technical education. Higher education is also coming out of the control of State and has started to be guided by Market.

Globalisation demands change in existing structure, in management and in the mode of delivery of educational system. To successfully operate in a borderless world, universities have to maintain high quality standards, gain a multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary perspective, develop

ability to work in different cultures, do strategic planning, ensure up-to-date infrastructure facilities and acquire the ability to internationalise their curriculum and courses and ensure greater mobility of staff across the borders that would enrich academic life and experience. The challenge is to provide the students with proper global competencies as well as appropriate environment and educational management system that would fasten networking among global

educational institutions.

Increasingly, universities have to operate in an economy, which is becoming competitive. In many developing countries number of `private institutions is on the increase. With government ceasing to be the sole financier of higher education, universities will have to compete more and more with private sector institutions to attract additional resources.

This will make it necessary for universities to offer their educational program more effectively and provide services to the satisfaction of their client groups.

Also, the educational philosophy followed by the traditional universities is being challenged. In addition to emphasizing the need for development of mental skills, creativity, imagination, reasoning and analysis and development of personality - the traditional goals of education - universities have to offer new educational programs and produce graduates who will meet the challenges of the emerging competitive global economy. The courses and programs now will have to be designed keeping in view the market forces and funding needs.

These developments in the field of higher education have not only influenced techniques and methods of imparting

education, but in certain ways have even challenged the very purpose and objective of higher education. They have also brought about a change in the partnership between the institutes as industry and students as customers. Market is taking over the role hitherto being played by the government. Budget allocation to institutes of higher education is being narrowed by funds starving agencies of the Government. Professional education has overshadowed the pure and

traditional subjects. It is being increasingly realised by the society that quality professional education is the surest way of success in career.

These changes require that institutions of higher education have to reappraise their role and functions in order to face the on going challenges and to en-cash the coming up of opportunities. Accepting the fact that private initiative in higher education especially in professional education has taken strong roots in India, it is likely to increase both in speed and magnitude when fees are to be collected from the students. It is necessary that every action of the self-financing institutes has to be student centered and not institute centered.

Utmost quality of education is to be ensured and cost is to be minimized. This is because both quality and cost concern the students, the clients of these institutions. It hardly needs any mention that in a market driven system, the survival of the organization depends on customers. Hence, there is an urgent need to understand different aspects of the behaviour of the new and by now a sizable class of students (customers). Behaviour scientists have theorized beyond doubt that an individuals perception can explain his behaviour. Gaining knowledge of the effect of cost of education to the student (as

customer), quality of teaching and quality and availability of support services on students perception will therefore be quite helpful not only to the self financing higher education institutions but also to the different segments of the society. That is, intended to be achieved by this study.

Aims and objects

With the full spring of self-financing higher education institutes the investigator endeavors to find out answers to the following question

Is the new system ensuring cognitive, affective and psychomotor inputs to the students?

Is the system matching the input to employment requirements of the students?

Is the cost of professional education in self-financing institutes, influencing students perception and

thereby their decision making to join the institute? What constitutes quality of education and whether it affects students perception/decision to join a

particular course or an institute?

 Is there any impact of availability and quality of students support services on students perception and ultimately on their decision-making?

To make recommendation which will have policy implications to both the managers of higher

education institutes and concerned govt. agencies.

4.2

RESEARCH DESIGN

A research design is the logical and systematic planning and directing of a piece of research. The design results from translating a general scientific model into varied research procedures. The design has to be geared to the available time, energy, and money; to the availability of data; to the extent to which it is desirable or possible to impose upon persons and social organisations, which might supply the data. Considering the following has made operating plan of the present study: (1) Length of time required to produce questionnaires and other similar devices in tested from (2) Manner of selection and training of research personnel and orientation of collaborators in an integrated research project (3) Costs of supplies, equipment, tabulation forms, printing of questionnaires, drafting of charts and maps (4) Execution of the study in relation to its scope, objectives, resources (5) Coordination with other related studies.

The sources an investigator should tap vary with his interests and the type of his study. Generally sources are divided into documentary and field sources. The latter include living persons who have sound knowledge about, or who have been in intimate contact with, social conditions and change over a considerable period of time. Those people are in a position to describe not only the existing state of affairs but also the observable trends and significant mile stones in social processes. Keeping this in mind the investigator identified the students of self-financing higher education institutions as target group. Those of such connected institute were with also management/administration

contacted to get more insight about the system.

Bibliography As soon as the consultation of available sources began, the development of bibliography with connotations was

simultaneously undertaken. Vast literature review helped the continuous addition/deletion to the already developed

bibliography. The bibliography is given at the end of thesis and is marked as appendix I. It is broadly divided in two parts journals and books. Both parts are presented in alphabetic order in the standard format.

Statement of the problem

Logical formulations of the research problem are an indispensable first step in any research procedure. There is the off repeated saying "a problem well - formulated is a

problem half solved83. Pre- PhD registration seminar presented by the investigator and personal guidance of the supervisor has immensely helped in formulation of the problem in the present form. The statement of the problem The impact of cost, quality and support services on students perception in self financing higher education institutions has both enhanced the effective of the present research and also put outer limits to the study to check its wandering in bewilderness. Adequacy and reliability The validity of a measure refers to whether or not a measurement actually measures what it purports to measure. Does a certain scale, for example, really measure attitudes towards the issue being probed? Measurement is the process whereby concepts are transformed into variables. Concepts, we know, exist on an abstract level; variables exist on a concrete level. The gap between concept and variable may be quite large. What we are really concerned is whether the concept and variable are synonymous. A measure is said to be valid if the actual quantity (concept) and the measured quantity (variable) are one and the same. Although we know, in theory, that there is a true quantity for any concept, we also know, in reality, that this true quantity cannot be identified. If validity is the degree to which the true quantity
83

Pouline V.Young (1968)" scientific social surveys and research". Prenttice - Hall of India Pvt. Ltd.

and the measured quantity match and if the true quantity cannot be identified, then validity cannot be directly tested.

Reliability in a measure means consistency of measurement. That is, a measuring device is said to be reliable if it gives the same or almost exactly the same results on repeated measures of the same object, assuming that the object itself is stable. A linear measuring tape, that strings and expands both with temperature changes and with the strength of the pull, cannot be said to be reliable. A measure that is valid will also be reliable. However, the reverse is not always true. A measure that is reliable is not necessarily valid. As researcher, the investigator spent great energy establishing the validity of the measures. This is because; reliability will be a natural consequence.

4.3 DATA COLLECTION

The investigator is of firm belief that development of any science is marked by the extent to which exact quantitative data and techniques have superseded more speculation and qualitative impressions. Whatever the research designs, there are only a few basic ways to collect data, and the most widely used techniques are observing behavior and asking questions. In addition to these first hand data collection procedures, the researcher used a third alternative: secondary sources also. It is important to remember that no design requires that data

collection be reduced to a single method and therefore both primary and secondary sources have been used in this study. It is obvious that the relevance of a particular technique of data collection is dependent upon the type of data sought to be collected. The advantage or disadvantage of a particular technique of data collection cannot be understood unless it is examined against the purpose of the study for which it is employed.

It is evident that the study will require both primary and secondary data. Information about the Institutes, which would form part of the sample has been collected from the records of these institutes after developing an agreeable concept of cost of education to the student, information about the fees etc was taken from prospectus and other relevant documents of those institutes. The some information was cross-verified by including question on this aspect in the questionnaire.

Major part of data collection has been done with the help of a questionnaire. Standard questionnaires have been developed by organisation Assessment instrument (USA) for almost all aspects of the study of human behaviour. Literature on human psychology also provides sufficient guidance for development of a questionnaire suited to the purpose of the study. After an in depth literature review on the subject, it

was decided that a modified questionnaire will be more suitable.

The investigator before starting the work made herself clear about the exact problem of the study, unit of study or population to which she confines it, the relevant variables to be studied by her, hypotheses to be tested, methods to be applied etc. While collecting data, various research methods and techniques, which are also popularly termed as the tools of research have been relied on.

Apart from many tools, much reliance has been placed on the questionnaire and the schedule, which refer to a set of questions arranged in a definite order to which responses are sought from all the individuals constituting the sample with a view to obtaining comparable results. Questions are

presented with exactly the same wording and in exactly the same order to all the respondents.

4.4

QUESTIONNAIRE

A questionnaire refers to a device for securing answers to questions by using a form, which the respondents fill in themselves. A questionnaire is a useful instrument in situations where respondents are widely distributed.

Structured questionnaires are those which pose definite, concrete, and preordained questions, that is, they are prepared in advance and not constructed on the spot during the questioning period. Additional questions may be used only when need arises to clarify vague or inadequate replies by information or when more details are needed than those supplied. The form of the particular questions may require responses, which are either closed or open.

A questionnaire containing indecisive questions to which the same subject would answer differently depending on his mood at the time would be unreliable because of the inconsistency of response. An interviewer who varied the depth and wording of questions depending on the widely variant quality of his or her own reaction to the respondent would be unreliable as a measuring instrument since the measures would indicate the interviewer's unique pattern of personal preferences more than the objective characteristics of the respondents. Several techniques for establishing reliability have been used. The most frequently used are test-reset, split-half, and internal consistency.

For the formulation of an effective questionnaire of schedule it was obligatory to have a background study and for this all the

published sources including reports were tapped. While carefully studying these, attention on the hypothesis design and conclusion was focused.

Then the areas of investigation were clearly but precisely delimited. Once the focus of the study was pin pointed, the investigator started enlisting the questions. By making study of a set of questionnaires the investigator could know that a question can best be asked in a form calling for a check answer, or a short answer of a word or a number, or a free answer, or a free answer followed by a check answer, or a set a answers to specific alternatives of a variety of volunteered answers.

Technical expertise was also sought while developing a questionnaire. In order to ensure the quality, validity and reliability of an instruments like this, the investigator sought criticism and those who suggestions from the people in who know a something about the topic being investigated and also from were technically qualified preparing questionnaire or a schedule. On the basis of such suggestions, certain questions were revised, a few questions were also added. A five-point scale has been used in the questionnaire. The term scale refers to a special type of measurement in which numbers are assigned to positions; the assignment indicating varying degrees of the property under consideration. When a

concept is measured using a scale, the result is usually a single score for an individual. The score represents the degree to which an individual possesses the property being

measured. There are many different types of scales in social science research. The investigator has used questionnairebased scale, meaning thereby the use of multiple statements that are tallied so as to create a single composite score.

As

far

as

possible

the

following

features

have

been

incorporated in the questionnaire.

A question was to be in a short and simple sentence with simple words and terms so that it could be understood by student of the self-financing institutes.

It was ensured that question adequately express the alternatives in respect to the point being asked, any comparison wherever was necessary was made clearly, specified and alternatives were made explicit.

Efforts have been consciously made that the wordings of the questions not biased or emotionally loaded.

It was ensured that the question wording is not objectionable to the respondent in any way.

 Questions were so developed to be sufficiently specific. General questions have been avoided when the specific answer in expected.

No question in the final questionnaire is hypothetical, as its answer would be unreliable.

Logical sequence of questions having relevance to the main theme of the present research project was done to ensures continuity and respondents interest. Every effort has been made to have the order appear logical to the respondent.

The researcher has ensured that the questions are in correct psychological order, viz; question should not come too early or too late from the point of view of arousing interest and receiving attention of the

respondents.

Also before administering a schedule or a questionnaire the researcher made her objective clear.

Initially a set of specific, innocent, personal questions were asked. This helped in building up rapport. Later on the main content was taken up.

A Pre-testing of the questionnaire was also done. This provided a means for checking of the questions and of learning what problems may arise during the course of data collection. Questions which were ambiguous, or which elicited poor responses were improved upon. Some questions were eliminated at this stage. The final questionnaire normally took about 15 to 20 minutes in its application. Pre-testing helped the investigator in going along with the conveniences of the respondents, hard work, tolerance patience, pain staking and various types of sacrifices. It also thought that

4.5

SAMPLE

Most statistical studies are based on samples and not on complete enumerations of all the relevant data. A statistical sample is a miniature picture or cross-section of the entire group or aggregate from which the sample is taken. The investigator has kept in mind the fact that a good sample must be representative of the universe or population. A good sample also must be adequate in size in order to be reliable. But the question that immediately comes to mind is how many cases, or what proportion of particular universe should be selected in order to obtain in adequate sample? The sample was fixed after taking into account the conditions

prevailing in the field as well as its relevance to the type of universe and to the hypotheses being tested. Keeping the main research problem in hand and its objectives in view it was decided after long discussions with the guide and fellow researchers that a sample size of 500 respondents would provide a reliable data bank for the study. Hence 10 self financing institutes in the national capital region located in Delhi, Gurgaon, Faridabad Noida etc.were either running management courses (PGDBM/MBA) or Information

Technology courses.50 students from each institute were finally approached for the purpose of filling up the

questionnaire. The choice of the respondents in each institute was completely left to chance and availability of student at a particular point of time. Every research project has a limitation of both time and resources and hence, conscious effects to pick up the respondents was not planned even from the very beginning.

Hypothesis
The investigator was conscious of the fact that a hypothesis is generally formulated before the facts are verified; it deals with a comparatively narrow range of facts; it is a preliminary assumption adopted for the explanation of facts, which have been observed only in cursory manner. A theory, on the other hand, is a generalisation arrived at after verification and it

deals with a border range of facts. It is often said that a theory is an elaborate and tested hypothesis".

A hypothesis is a no obvious statement that makes an assertion. The assertion may simply describe some

phenomenon or specify a relationship between two or more phenomena. Such a statement becomes the basis for research that is designed to prove the truth of the statement. However, hypothesis implies that the true statement is not certainly known, or is hidden beneath appearances.

The investigator was aware that a hypothesis is a statement. But it is not just any kind of statement. It must be a statement that can be tested. The investigator therefore, tried to develop hypothesis with a testable base. A test of the statement discloses whether the hypothesis is tenable. It was worked in such a way that it could be either rejected or not rejected, depending on the outcome of the test. This is because, things are simple with hypotheses; one either have the evidence to support them or don't have.

The primary reason for testing a research hypothesis is to minimize doubt about assertions or stated relationships. And the test of a hypothesis is said to succeed if and only if it is objective. That is, the variables and the process by which they

are related are based on concrete observable events that are stable and can be consistently measured by a fixed standard. In short, testing a hypothesis objectively means looking at all evidence both positive and negative weighing the positive and negative evidence, and then making a decision.

A sound hypothesis is generally a simple one. The investigator tried to have reasonable good insight into the problems so that simples hypothesis could be developed. With this background in mind and exhaustive literature review, the investigator made keen observations, disciplined imagination and creative thinking, which provided at least fractional insight, and some formulated theoretical framework. Working hypothesis were developed as the explores would have been difficult, laborious and time consuming without them. These hypotheses helped the investigator in selection of the process and procedure to target the problem at hand.

The following hypothesis have been developed by the investigator for the purpose of testing in the study:

There is a significant impact of cost in a self-financed higher education institute on students perception and thereby ultimately their decision to join an institute.

 There is a significant impact of quality of educational package, being offered by an institute on the students perception.

Student support services significantly affect students perception and thereby their decision to join an institute.

Students

individual

characteristics

affect

their

perception about an institute.

These assumptions were made on the basis of probabilities, shrewd guesses, and profound hunches. When the

penetrating hunch pointed to a possible, though provisional, explanation to a vital central idea, which become the basis for fruitful investigation it became a working or explanatory hypothesis. In the investigations that follow, the explanation is viewed at the start in terms of probabilities and tentatively observed indications.

4.6

DATA CLASSIFICATION

It is apparent that the data, which the research student seeks, are no more than collection of accurate facts. Facts become meaningful when they are logically connected with other

relevant facts and are sorted according to their essential nature to the chain of evidence, which mutually explain each other.

When a mass of data has been assembled, it is necessary to arrange the material in some kind of concise and logical order. This procedure is referred to as tabulation. The assembled data were on questionnaires, which have been answered. The first step in tabulating statistical data is to work out a detailed system of classification. Classification is fundamental to any kind of scientific analysis. The value of classification lies in its grouping together masses of

comparable data into relatively few classes. The decrease in the number of units makes the material more readily manipulated and its essence more easily grasped. The general scheme of classification was determined before the data were gathered but it was actually completed after all the data have been collected. The bias of any statistical classification is determined by the problem at hand as well as by the characteristic features of the data.

There were some data, which did not fit into any of the major classes within the system developed by the investigator. Such data were held in reserve as special material without forcing them to unnatural classes.

Ideally, a complete set of tables should be prepared in advance of the construction of inquiry forms. The investigator tried to achieve this. It was possible to construct and arrange questions with a view toward their forming a logical tabulation scheme, even though the particulars of that scheme were not fully known at that time. Wherever feasible, items have been preceded so as to facilitate punching of tabulation cards directly from the schedules and questionnaires.

Each separate fact or idea, or hypothesis - for the purpose of classification and comparison has been entered on a separate sheet of paper in as much detail as was necessary for clear comprehension and precision. The source has been shown on a separate line. The method by which the data were secured (interview, observation, or documents for example) has also been indicated in the present research.

Coding consists of setting up classes or categories to be used in presenting the data and then assigning a symbol, usually numerical, to each answer, which falls into a predetermined class. Codes on the questionnaire were printed in advance.

4.7 DATA ANALYSIS

Even though it may not seem so, the analysis and the interpretation of data are two quite different things. The analysis of data collected in a research project involves separating complex material into its constituent parts and showing the relationship between these parts. Interpretation, on the other hand, is the broader task of coming to grips with the meaning of research and is the process by which the research project is finally tied back to the theory from which it evolved.

For the purpose of analysis of data the investigator has used the SPSS package. All though the researcher was comfortable in the basic IT skills yet, when personal efforts did not give desirable output expert help for the use of SPSS was taken. SPSS package has led to such analysis and interpretation which form apart of succeeding chapters (Data Analysis and Interpretation). The help of expert has been acknowledged at appropriate place. In analyzing or reporting the data it was desirable to use some form of graphic presentation. Investigator has firm believe that averages hold a very important place in all types of statistical work. In fact statistics has been referred to as "the science of averages". Although in the final analysis the nature of the data and the purpose at hand should really determine the particular average that is chosen yet mean is no doubt the superior average.

Perhaps the most familiar to all the averages is the simple arithmetic average or mean to calculate. The same was widely used in the present research.

In some distributions, the cases may cluster very closely around the average, and in others they may be widely scattered. It was, therefore thought, very important to determine the spread of the individual values of either sides of their central tendency. Ultimate analysis based on means would have remained incomplete without the use of Standard deviation: The SD, like the mean deviation, represents a mean of deviations items. It is different, however, from the mean deviation in that the deviations are squared before being summed, the sum of the squared deviations undivided by the total number of observations in the distribution, and the square root is extracted from this quotient. The SD is always computed from the mean.

The SD represents measures of absolute variability. It was also necessary to measure the relative variability of two or more frequency distributions. Coefficients of skewness have been calculated in some cases, which measure the direction of the skewness as well as the degree, both absolutely and relatively.

In order to measure the relationship between only two variables, simple correlation was used.

The product-moment co-efficient of correlation (r) is a pure number and ranges ion value from positive one (+1.0) down through zero (0.0) to negative one (1.0). That is, correlation may be direct or positive or it may be inverses or indicating the degree of relationship. In addition to the above statistical tool the investigator found regression analysis also as quite relevant. The same has been used to further interpret the data and draw meaningful conclusions.

4.8

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

The only difference between gathering data without an hypothesis and gathering them with one is that in the latter case we deliberately recognize the limitations and attempt to reduce their fallibility by limiting our field of investigation so as to permit a greater concentration of attention on the particular aspects which past experience leads us to believe are significant for our purpose.

To

avoid

confusion it is

and

superficiality to keep

and

promote within

clarification,

necessary

research

manageable limits, that is, within the ability of the mind to grasp the implications and to explain them. The investigator,

therefore, frankly wishes to admit the following limitation of the present study:

1. The field of research in the present case is undesirably a new phenomena is Indian context, Therefore it has all the limitations of new endeavors of research

2. A sample consists of parents and students both would probably have given more significant insights in

students perception.

3. Yet it was not possible for individual researcher to administer the questionnaire to the parents of the students, given the stipulation of time and resource.

4. Marketing of higher education recognizing student consumer is at very primary stage hence general theories of consumer behavior and service marketing have been used as the basis for this research. The investigator therefore believes that there is an urgent need of understanding further research in this and related fields, which should be both deeper as well as wider.

CHAPTER - 5

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

CHAPTER

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

5.1 5.1.1 5.1.2 5.1.3 5.2

Inferential and descriptive analysis Students perception of cost Students perception of quality Students perception of support services Co-relation analysis: Relationship between different indicators and agreement of the student with regard to reasonable fee charged by the institute

Relationship between quality variable, support

services and the assessment of an institute in comparison to other similar institutes.

Relationship of independent variables with dependent

variable : expectation on completion of the course. 5.2 Multiple regression analysis: Prediction of expectations of students on course completion with the help of different variables
The essence

5.

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

The main objective of the study is to assess the impact of cost, quality and support services on students perception in self-financing higher education institutes. The required information was collected from the respondents with the help of a questionnaire divided into two parts A and B. Five-point scale has been used throughout the questionnaire. The data have been collected from 410 students (137 technical students and 273 management students) from 10 selffinancing institutes. The data collected by any investigator are merely a collection of as accurate facts as possible. Facts become meaningful when these are logically connected with other relevant facts and are presented according to their essential nature keeping the objectives of study in mind. Analysis and interpretation of data is a serious business. The investigator has tried to use different type of statistical tools on different types of data. A single tool cannot handle all the data, and all tools cannot be useful in each situation. It is with this in mind that the data have been analyzed, discussed, and presented in this and the following chapter.

5.1

INFERENTIAL AND DESCRIPTIVE ANALYSES

Inferential analysis was done to find out the differences that exist in the perception of undergraduate and postgraduate students, male and female students, management and technical students with respect to quality, support services, and cost parameters. This is preceded by the analysis depicting the perception of the respondents about cost, quality and support services parameters that influenced

them to join their respective institutes. The analysis also tries to study quality, in terms of intellectual capital and also assess the various other services being provided by the selected institutes and their relative importance for the respondents. The broad parameters which are intended to be studied for the purpose of their impact on students perception and thereby ones decision making are cost of education to the student, quality of educational package which includes both quality of content and delivery, and availability of infrastructure facilities and support services. Cost of education to the student in a self-financing institution has been assumed to be the fee paid by the student in whatever head created by the institute. Cost has been calculated on annual basis for each institute. All the three parameters are believed by the investigator to have good perceptual value. The inferential and descriptive analysis of the available data this so follows.

5.1.1 Students perception of cost In our thoroughly moneytised economy, cost usually appears in the form of expenditure of money. There are payments made to acquire goods and services. For example, the cost of colleges and universities are usually money payments to acquire the resources needed to operate the institutes. Similarly, the cost to the students is usually money payments to acquire the desired educational package. The economists version of cost, however, is different. The scarce resources utilized by the institution or for that matter the student have alternate uses. Thus, by using these resources for one purpose, we are sacrificing the benefits of them for the other purpose. This is known as opportunity cost. It has, however, been left out of the scope our studys analysis of cost.

To make things easier for the purpose of this study, we have defined cost as all outflows from the student in the form of money to the institute. Cost to the student of some institute, which includes hostel fee, also was excluded by a conscious decision to make the cost of all the institutes comparable. Of the three parameters of this study, cost luckily is a quantifiable parameter, and is capable of exact measurement. Therefore, the perception level of the students related to satisfaction or dissatisfaction with this parameter only need to be measured. There are direct and indirect questions in the questionnaire that target the cost of an educational package being offered by these institutes. Questions which have helped in analysing the cost, are given in the following tables: Table 5.1 Students perception in terms of level of agreement to reasonableness of fee charged by the institute (N=410) Scale value Frequency Percentage Strongly Disagree 76 18.5 Disagree 91 22.2 Neither Agree nor Disagree 129 31.5 Agree 98 23.9 Strongly Agree 16 3.9 The table above makes it clear that it is generally believed by the respondents that the fees charged by the institutes is not reasonable. Only 27.8% of the respondents are in agreement with the fees structures of the institute. Rest either disagree or did not have a clear opinion. This result, however, is indicative of the students negative perception about the fee of the institute. The same results are presented in the form of the following scattered pie diagram.

Strongly Agree Agree 24% 4%

Strongly Disagree 19% Agree

Neither agree nor disagree 31%

22%

(Percentages have been rounded off) Cost of an educational package is always perceived to be more or less in relation to the quality of the package and the students support services with the package. Hence, it can not be independently perceived to be reasonable or unreasonable. Table 5.2 Affordable fee (cost) as a reason of pursuing the course (N=410) Scale value Frequenc Percentag y e Least important reason 134 32.7 Unimportant reason 90 22.0 Neither important nor unimportant 90 22.0 reason Important reason 54 13.2 Most important reason 42 10.2 The percentage and frequency scores given above indicate that most of the respondents gave least importance to affordable fee as a reason to join the program. Only 10.2% of the total population regarded it as the most important reason to guide their decision making to pursue a particular program. The same results are presented in the form of the following scattered pie diagram.

Important 13%

Most Important 10%

Least important 33%

Neither important nor unimportant 22% Unimportant 22%

(Percentages have been rounded off) Thus cost of educational package does not guide a students decisionmaking in favour of a particular course. However, the same may not be true in case of the decision about the institute. Table 5.3 Affordable fees (cost) as a reason for joining (N=410) Scale value Frequency Least important 126 Unimportant 100 Neither important nor 95 unimportant Important 53 Most Important 36 a particular institute Percentage 30.7 24.4 23.2 12.9 8.8

Surprisingly the cost of educational package is neither affecting the students choice of the course or of the institute. The table above and the scattered pie diagram below amply make this point clear.

Important 13%

Most Important 9%

Least important 31%

Neither important nor unimportant 23%

Unimportant 24%

(Percentages have been rounded off) The percentage and frequency scores given above indicate that most of the respondents gave least importance to affordable fee as a reason to join the institute. Only 8.8% of the total population regarded it as the most important reason guiding their decision making to join a particular institute. 5.1.2 Students perception of quality of an institute Perception of quality depends on the perception of stakeholders. There are many stakeholders for higher education - the parents, the employers, the management of the institute, and, the most important the students. Each ones view of quality differs. Quality in higher education in fact refers to various qualities related to the process of education. That is, the quality of inputs - the teacher being the most important input. Teacher affects the process of learning both in content and delivery system. Faculty, therefore, is an intellectual capital and it surely affects students perception about the quality of the institutes.

Other important characteristics of the faculty that are considered important by the students include their communication skills, concern for the

students, commitment, quality of academic leadership, etc. The responses of these variables have helped us to interpret and analyse the students perception of quality of an institute.

Besides

faculty,

quality

of

the

institute other

also

depends such

on as

infrastructure,

support

services,

and

activities

placement and industrial training. For the purpose of this study, the support services have been separately analysed. That was done to keep the analysis from becoming too complex to handle and to comprehend. The various variables, responses on which have helped the investigator understand the impact of quality on students perception, are as analysed below:

Table 5.4 Perception of the entire population about select variables depicting reasons that guided them to join an institute Reasons for joining the present institute Availability of desired course or specialisation Good faculty Good Infrastructure/college campus Good brand name Convenient location Good placement potential of the institute Good extra curricular activity Affordable fee No other alternative Mean 3.06 2.92 2.87 2.73 2.70 2.67 2.53 2.44 2.15 SD 1.37 1.29 1.31 1.35 1.56 1.27 1.29 1.28 1.36

The mean score in descending order as shown in the table depicts that the main reason for joining a particular institute is the availability of a desired course/specialization, followed by good faculty, and good

infrastructure as important parameters guiding their decision to join a particular institute. Good brand name and convenient location are also important reasons for choice of an institute as perceived by the respondents. In terms of students perception, extra curricular activities are a relatively less important factor is to guiding to their decision of joining an institute. Among the reasons considered important for judging the quality of the institute, the responses of the students on good faculty, good infrastructure/college campus, good brand image, good placement potential, and good extra curricular activities was considered important. It is clear from the table that students perceived faculty and brand image as more important than extra curricular activities of the institute. There is a need to further probe the reasons for this perception. Table 5.5 Perception of the entire population about level of satisfaction for different variables relating to quality and support services. Satisfaction Variables Student teacher relationship Syllabus covered Academic Qualification of the faculty Teaching aids and other facilities available Teaching Methodology adopted by faculty Experience of the faculty Special/Expert lectures or seminars Updating of the course vis a vis requirement Industry exposure of the faculty Facilities offered vis a vis cost Industry interaction arranged by the institute Innovative teaching and learning practices Arrangement of Industrial Training Remedial teaching or counselling Research activity in the institute Mean 3.19 2.95 2.9 2.87 2.85 2.83 2.78 2.7 2.62 2.6 2.51 2.5 2.5 2.46 2.34 SD 1.28 1.3 1.25 1.2 1.16 1.15 1.25 1.18 1.12 1.13 1.17 1.18 1.22 1.14 1.17

As given by the mean scores (in descending orders) it is very clear that the respondents are most satisfied with the student teacher relationship existing in these institutes and the coverage of syllabus. Further more, the students are satisfied with the academic qualifications of the faculty, aids and other facilities available for the purpose of teaching and the methodology adopted by the faculty. The next in line are the experience of the faculty and expert lectures conducted by the institute that lead to their satisfaction. The mean scores reveal that the course is updated according to the requirement and faculty possess industry exposure to a reasonable level of satisfaction. The mean values of satisfaction for facilities offered vis-a-vis cost are relatively less than the other above given parameters. It may be seen that the mean values on a scale of 5 (for satisfaction) with 1 lowest and 5 highest are considerably and relatively low for innovativeness in teaching /learning practices, arrangement of industrial training, remedial training and counseling activities, and the research activities conducted in an institute than the other mentioned parameters. The combined mean of the variables chosen for finding out the students level of satisfaction is 2.72, which implies that the students do not perceive good quality of the institutes as per their expectations. Much, therefore, needs to be done on this count at the level of the institute. When students were asked to give their response to the fact that faculty as intellectual capital plays an important role in enhancing the quality of the institute, all agreed to it. The variables included in this parameter (faculty as intellectual capital) were short listed by the process of elimination as given above.

Table 5.6 Mean values for Importance and availability of each variable of faculty as intellectual capital enhancing the quality of an institute. Indicators of faculty as intellectual Importanc capital e Communication skill Command on the subject Competent to enforce discipline in the class Sincerity and commitment Encourages class participation Personal involvement with students Timely feedback Accessibility and openness for queries Use of modern teaching methodologies Academic Leadership quality Ability to integrate the curriculum of the subject taught with the overall courses Ability to design the project/assignment to test understanding of the course To be creative/open and adaptable to changes Students response on each 3.73 3.87 3.59 3.81 3.74 3.56 3.63 3.66 3.65 3.51 3.57 3.59 3.60 Availability 2.69 2.70 2.59 2.74 2.63 2.42 2.55 2.67 2.56 2.43 2.37 2.47 2.48

variable on

two

counts

importance of the variable and availability of the same in the institute are given in the above table. In general, it was found that most of the variables were important so far as the faculty as intellectual capital was concerned. But the desired availability of these variables was lacking. Students valued command on the subject, sincerity and commitment of the faculty, and communication skills as most

important characteristics, which should go with the faculty, but they perceived that such qualities among the faculty of their institute was lacking.

Advanced statistical analysis has also been attempted for the purpose of drawing an overall inference about the importance of various variables (which are indicative of faculty as intellectual capital and enhancing the quality of the institute) on which students response was sought. This has been done with the help of combined mean, standard deviation (SD), and t value.

Combined mean is the mean of the means of individual variables. It helps us to draw a conclusion on the extent of overall importance of faculty as intellectual capital as perceived by the students. Similarly, the combined mean of the means of individual variables perceived as available, by the students in the institute can tell us about the students perception of overall availability in determining the quality of faculty.

The same process has been followed for support services as well. t value has been calculated to find out significant differences if any between means related to different groups for different variables.

Table 5.7 Comparison of importance of faculty as intellectual capital enhancing the quality of an institute and its availability to the students (N=410) Faculty as Intellectual Mean Standard t Value Capital Deviation Overall Importance 3.51 1.62 17.29** Overall Availability 2.42 1.29 ** Significant at .01 level The (paired t-Test) comparison of means between the variable of importance and availability shows that there is significant difference between the importance of faculty as intellectual capital and its availability as desired (t=17.29, p<.01). The mean score further reveals that the students attach good importance to the faculty as intellectual capital, but thus do not have the desired availability of the same. Perception of the entire population, with regard to different reasons that they have considered for pursuing the current program, was also studied. The parameters used for this purpose included good scope and job opportunity, self Interest, good social status and success, parents/guardians advice, matching with previous qualifications, influence of peers and friends, and affordable fee and easy course. Table 5.8 Perception of the entire population about different reasons that they considered for pursuing the current program. Reasons of pursuing the program Good scope and Job opportunity Self Interest Good social status and success Parents Guardians advice Matching with previous qualifications Influence of peers and friends Mean 3.39 3.38 3.27 3.03 3.02 2.6 SD 1.43 1.5 1.33 1.47 1.4 1.33

Affordable fee Easy Course No other alternative

2.46 2.41 2.03

1.33 1.32 1.37

The mean scores (in descending order) reveal the relative importance of different parameters guiding the decision to join a particular course. It is seen that good scope and job opportunity has been the main reason for pursuing the program. This in turn is followed by the interest in the course and good social status attached with pursuing it. ease of the course, friends and affordable fees however are not perceived as the main reasons for opting for a particular course. Parents /guardians advice however is a more important reason than friends advice. Table 5.9 Perception of the entire population about the importance of the various indicators of quality in relation to the course being pursued. Indicators of quality Mean Placement facility in the institute Educational value of industrial training Interaction with faculty Field trips and industry training Fairness of internal assessment Sound and effective evaluation system Exposure of student to corporate sector Institute brand image in the society Maintaining time-schedule of examination Academic contents of the course Efforts by Institute/faculty for overall development of student 3.62 3.37 3.35 3.34 3.31 3.27 3.25 3.24 3.22 3.21 personality 3.17

The above table is self-explanatory. It is clear the students give very high importance to most of the variables enhancing the quality of the program. However, the highest importance is given to the placement facilities available in the institute where the mean score is 3.62. Equally important are industrial training, faculty interaction and other variables short-listed for the purpose of the response on this account. The combined mean of these variables has also been calculated which comes to 3.30. This means that most of the variables are

perceived to be important for affecting the quality of the program being pursued. It may be noted that though placement is the most important indicator of quality yet it is not the most important reason for students to join an institute. The students consider availability of desired course, good faculty, good infrastructure and good brand name as relatively more important than the placement potential when it comes to taking the decision to join an institute. The reason for this although not probed further can be explained by the relative importance students gives to variables when they concern him in particular and when these are general perceptual statements of the students

Table 5.10 Perception of the entire population with regard to different variables depicting expectation of the student on completion of the course. SD Respondent's expectation on completion of the Mean

course
High achieving and challenging field Professional carrier Good status Good money and future comforts Self employment potential Further specialization and studies Assured good job Good chances of Going abroad Helpful in family business 3.41 3.3 3.28 3.21 3.17 3.14 3.13 2.7 2.4 1.37 1.46 1.35 1.33 1.36 1.45 1.33 1.47 1.39

The mean values (in descending order) show the relative importance of different parameters depicting the expectations of the respondents on completion of the course. The scores show that the respondents are expecting a highly challenging and a professional career on completing the course. This is followed by the belief that the course will fetch them good money, future comforts, and self-employment potential. It is also perceived that further specialization may be undertaken after successful completion of the course. Relatively less

importance is given to going abroad or joining family business on course completion. Self-financing institutions, therefore, have to be vigilant about matching the students expectations with their programmes as much as possible. 5.1.3 Students perception of support services The development of the individual student into an adult personality full of discipline, confidence, social awareness and intellectual and functional proficiency cannot be accomplished merely by classroom activity. Students overall welfare should be treated as important part of the service rendered by an institution of higher education as student training in academic and intellectual disciplines. Maximisation of students welfare is possible only by provision of best kind of support services. As already noted elsewhere, the service concept defines the intentions of the organization in respect of offering a certain benefit to the consumers. The basic service package describes the bundle of services that are needed to fulfill the needs of the target market. Extending this to the education sector, the basic service package determines the entire package offer, which is designed to fulfill the learning needs of a target population. For decision-making purpose, it is essential to recognize the basic package as consisting of three elements. which are: The core service The facilitating service and The supporting service. The core service is the reason for being in the market. Faculty expertise and the accumulated experience at the institute represent the core resources for supplying this benefit. However, in order to make it possible for students to avail of these services, class schedules, counselling service etc enable students to make relevant specialization choices, and library facilities are required so that

students are facilitated in driving the benefits of the core service i.e. the learning. These services are called the facilitating service. It is important for planners to realize that if the facilitating services are not adequately provided, the core benefit cannot be consumed. Sometime tangible goods are also required to avail the benefit of the core service. Course material, in the form of books and class notes, instruction manuals, computers classrooms and class equipments are examples of facilitation goods that help reach the core benefit. The third element of service that goes to make the basic service package is the supporting service. Like facilitating services, they are also auxiliary to the core benefit but their objective does not lie in facilitating the use of core service, rather they are used to enhance the value of the core product and to differentiate the service offer from other comparable offers. An efficient placement cell in the above mentioned example, high quality residential facilities, good network of exchange relationships with business organizations, do not facilitate the learning process but add value to the service offer by adding to the utility derived from the total offer. From a managerial viewpoint, it is important to make a distinction between facilitating and supporting services. In order to effectively access the core package, the facilitating service is necessary and the service package would collapse if they are not provided. When a serious thought is made on the extent of student support services, which generally should be available in educational institutes, one reaches a stage of bewilderness. Anything and everything on earth, which is remotely related to providing some relief or benefit to the students as student as a leaving learning being can be, included in the list of student support services. Out of the exhaustive list of about 40 variables affecting student support variables 21 variables were identified as more important. The included ones are relating to computer and other labs, library

facilities, canteen and hostel, mess facilities, play grounds, grievance cell, and placement facilities. The mean values of the above and the other variables included for the purpose of the survey are given in the table below: Table 5.11 Students perception of the importance of support services as depicted by different variables (N=410) Indicators of support services Availability of computer lab/ latest software Availability of latest/ relevant journal Availability of the books in the library Access to other resources/ aids in the library Internet facility Workshop and seminar Reading/ consultation facilities in the library Xerox facilities provided in the library Quality of canteen facility Course related CD & study material Prices of canteen stuff Grievances redressal cell Play ground and sports goods Health center Institutes transport arrangement Welfare schemes Quality of food in hostel mess Basic amenities in the hostel Vehicle parking shed Comfortable environment in hostel Cost of food and other facilities in hostel Mean 3.59 3.51 3.49 3.49 3.49 3.48 3.44 3.44 3.43 3.41 3.41 3.34 3.34 3.32 3.3 3.3 3.29 3.28 3.28 3.24 3.23

Students perception as to the importance of the variable was measured. It is significant to note that not only library, but computer facilities, hostel and canteen facilities, sports and other welfare schemes are all considered important by the students and are perceived to be valuable to them. Combined mean and t value of this

parameter (support services) has been discussed at little later in this part itself. Table 5.12 Students perception of the availability of support services as depicted by different variables (N=410) Indicators of support services Availability of the books in the library Availability of latest/ relevant journal Availability of computer lab/ latest software Reading/ consultation facilities in the library Access to other resources/ aids in the library Prices of canteen stuff Internet facility Workshop and seminar Xerox facilities provided in the library Course related CD & study material Quality of canteen facility Play ground and sports goods Basic amenities in the hostel Vehicle parking shed Grievances redressal cell Quality of food in hostel mess Comfortable environment in hostel Cost of food and other facilities in hostel Institutes transport arrangement Health center Welfare schemes Mean 2.73 2.71 2.52 2.51 2.47 2.44 2.3 2.3 2.29 2.28 2.06 2.06 2.00 1.99 1.91 1.9 1.9 1.89 1.89 1.8 1.8

The table above shows mean values of the availability of different support services in a descending order. It can be clearly inferred that books and journals in the library, computer labs and latest software, are relatively more available in comparison to the other facilities. However there is less availability of quality food, comfortable environment in hostels, health center and welfare schemes for students benefit. Table 5.13

Comparison of importance and availability of infrastructure facilities (canteen, labs, building etc.) and other support services playing an important role in shaping the brand image of the institute (N=410) Infrastructure Facilities as Mean Support Services Overall Importance Overall Availability **Significant at .01 level 3.18 1.94 Standard Deviation 1.77 18.46** 1.19 t Value

The t value (paired t-test) denotes that there is significant difference existing between the overall importance that the students attach to support services and their availability (t=18.46, p< .01). The mean of the variable of overall importance represents the combined mean of different indicators of support services. Similarly, the mean of variable of overall availability represents the combined mean of different indicators of support services, which are mentioned earlier in this chapter. The mean scores given in the table above reveals that the students think that infrastructure facilities and other support services play an important role in shaping the brand image of an institute but do not have the desired availability of the same.

5.3

CORELATION ANALYSIS

Pearsons product moment correlation was used to assess the relationship between agreement of the student for reasonable fee charged and other indicators. It was also used to find out relationship between quality variable and support services and the assessment of an institute in comparison to other similar institutes. Table 5.14 Relationship of level of agreement of the student as regards reasonable fee charged by the institute and other indicators. Indicators Level of Agreement

of the student for reasonable charged institute r = co-efficient of co-relation Level of satisfaction with respect to program they .25** are pursuing Importance of cost quality and support services .09* parameters with reference to course being pursued Importance of faculty as intellectual capital .06 Availability of faculty as intellectual capital .22** Importance of infrastructure facilities as .00 support services Availability of infrastructure facilities as support .20** services * Significant at .05 level ** Significant at .01 level It can be seen from the table that level of agreement of students with respect to reasonable fee charged is positively related to the level of satisfaction of the respondents with respect to the program they are pursuing at .01 level of significance. It can be said that if the level of satisfaction of the students with respect to the program they are pursuing decreases, the level of agreement of the students for reasonable fee charged by the institute also decreases. Level of agreement of the student for reasonable fee charged is also positively related to the importance of cost, quality and support services parameters with reference to the course pursued by the students at .05 level of significance. Positive relationship also exists between the level of agreement of reasonable fees charged by the institute and the availability of faculty as intellectual capital at .01 level of significance. by fee the

There exists no relationship between the importance of infrastructure facilities and the level of agreement of reasonableness of fees charged by the institute. However, a positive relationship (p<.01) exists between availability of infrastructure facilities and the agreement of reasonable fees charged by the institute (p<.01). It can be inferred that as the availability of facilities as desired by the students decreases, the level of agreement of the student for the reasonable fee charged also decreases. Similarly, if the availability of infrastructure facility increases, then the level of agreement of the students for reasonable fee charged also increases. Table 5.15 Relationship of assessment of the institute in comparison to the other Institutes and other indicators. Indicators Assessment of the institute comparison other institutes r = co-efficient of co-relation Level of satisfaction with respect to program they .34** are pursuing Importance of cost quality and support services .13** parameters with reference to course Importance of faculty as intellectual capital .12** Availability of faculty as intellectual capital .29** Importance of infrastructure facilities as support .04 services Availability of infrastructure facilities as support .14** services * significant at .05 level ** significant at .01 level in to

It can be seen from the table that assessment of an institute by the students in comparison to others is positively related to the level of satisfaction of the respondents with respect to the program they are pursuing at .01 level of significance. That is, the increase in the level of satisfaction of the students with respect to the program is indicative of better assessment of their institute in comparison to other institutes. In other words, higher is the level of satisfaction of the students better is their assessment of the institute in comparison to other institutes. It is also positively related to the importance of cost, quality, and support services parameters with reference to the course pursued by the students at .01 level of significance. Positive relationship exists between the assessment of an institute by the students in comparison to others and the availability of faculty as intellectual capital (p<.01).This means that more is the availability, there exists no significant relationship between the importance of infrastructure facilities and the assessment of the institute . However positive relationship (p<.01) exists between availability of Infrastructure facilities and the assessment of an institute in comparison to other institutes. Table 5.16 Relationship of independent variables with dependent variable : expectation on completion of the course. Dependant Independent variables Level of satisfaction of students variable with .39**

respect to the programme that they are pursuing Availability of faculty as intellectual capital .31** enhancing the quality of the institute Importance of cost quality and support .31** services with respect to the course

Availability of infrastructure facilities as .24** support services Level of agreement of the student for .13** reasonable fee charged by the institute Course pursued (1=Management 0=technical) Sex (1=male,0=Female) * significance level .05 ** significance level .01 There exists positive relation between expectation on course completion and availability of faculty as intellectual capital (p<.01). Also positive relation is seen of the dependent variable mentioned above with availability of infrastructure facilities at .01 significance level. It can be inferred that greater the availability of faculty as intellectual capital as desired by the student higher the expectation of the student on completion course. The relationship between the expectation of the student on completion of the programme and their level of satisfaction in relation to the programme one is pursuing is also positive and significant at .01 levels. This means that greater the satisfaction of the student with respect to the program he is pursuing, the higher the expectation on completion of the course. The expectation level on course completion also shows positive relation with the course being pursued (management and technical). There exist no significant relation of gender with the dependent variable. As given by the figures in the above table, there exists positive relation of expectation on course completion with the over all importance of cost, quality and support services parameters with respect to the course one is pursuing. , .16** .06

5.4

MULTIPLE REGRESSION ANALYSIS

An attempt has been made here to predict expectations of the students on course completion with the help of such variables as level of satisfaction of students with respect to the programme that they are pursuing, importance of cost, quality, and support services availability of infrastructure facilities, availability of faculty as intellectual capital enhancing the quality of the institute, level of agreement of the students for reasonable fee charged by the institute, course pursued (management or technical), and sex (male or female). In order to arrive at the best possible equation, a step-wise multiple regression was done. It helps in picking up the best set of predictor variables in determining the statistical significance of their prediction of criteria. Using expectation on completion of course as criterion, step-wise method of regression analysis was applied to the independent variables under study. Stepwise Multiple Regression is: Y = A + B1X1 + B2X2 + B3X3 + ---------+ BnXn Where Y = Dependent variable and A = Constant. X1, X2, X3, --------, Xn = Independent variables B1, B2, B3, --------, Bn = Regression coefficients Independent variables are the level of satisfaction of students with respect to the programme, importance of cost, quality and support services with respect to the course, availability of faculty as intellectual capital, course pursued (management or technical) the dependent variable being the expectation on completion of course Table 5.17 Determinants of expectation (on completion of the course) of the respondents by indicators. Independent Variables Dependent Variables Expectation

R2 .15

R2 Change .000

Beta

Level of satisfaction of students with .39 respect to the programme that they are pursuing Importance of cost quality and support .45 services with respect to the course Course technical) pursued (management or .47

. 285* * . 192* * . 131* * .107*

.20

.05

.22

.02

(0=technical, .23 .01

1=management) Availability of faculty as intellectual .48 capital Multiple R = .48 R Square = .23
*significance level at .05 **significance level at .01

The results indicate that the level of satisfaction of the students with respect to the program they are pursuing contributes to 15% of the variance. An increase of 5% in R2 is obtained, when importance of cost, quality and support services attached by the students with respect to the course is added. An increase of 2% in R2 is obtained when the course-pursued parameter is added accounting for 22% of variance. Further the variable of availability of faculty as intellectual capital is entered which explains a variance of 23%. In other words the result indicates that percentage contribution of the independent variables in determining expectation is 23%. The variables mentioned above were obtained through stepwise method of regression analysis. Rest of the variables (Availability of infrastructure facilities as support services, Level of agreement of the student for reasonable fee charged by the institute, Sex (male or female)) which were otherwise positively related to the dependent variable (expectation on

completion of the course) were not considered in the regression equation because of low level of tolerance of beta coefficient. The normalized beta coefficient suggests the relative contribution of all the above given independent variables which were all highly significant (p<.01) 5.5 THE ESSENCE

Four types of analysis in four types inferential, descriptive, correlation and multiple regression have been attempted in this chapter. Descriptive analysis throughout has been done to obtain means and standard deviation of each variable. Inferential analysis included the t test and F-Test to find out the significant differences if any between means related to different groups for different variables. Pearsons product moment correlation was used to discover the relationship between variables. In case of multiple regression a number of independent variables were employed to predict the single dependant variable.

CHAPTER - 6

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

CHAPTER

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 Cost of education and students perception (category wise) Quality and students perception (category wise) Support services and students perception (category wise) Effect of Individual characteristics on students perception The essence

6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS We know that individuals perception precedes his decision-making. The discussion that follows in this chapter is aimed at throwing light on the effect of cost of education, the quality of educational package, and the quality and availability of support services on the students attitudes and perceptions. 6.1 COST OF EDUCATION AND STUDENTS PERCEPTION

Cost of education to the students in self-financing higher education institutions can be defined differently for different purposes. Keeping the objective of the present study in mind, it is not advisable to go into different aspects of cost determination (viz; economic and social). All monetary payments to the institutions by a student for being a student and for ultimately getting the educational package along with the other services/ancillaries attached to it may well be treated as the cost of education. The outflows of money are luckily quantifiable and are capable of exact measurement. Hence, cost measurement does not pose any serious problem. Cost of education to the student has been directly taken from the records of the institutions. However some indirect questions have also been included in the questionnaire for the purpose of having an idea about the hidden cost to the students imposed by the institutions. Question 12 and 13 in the questionnaire

are directly related to the cost of education. Students were asked to give the reasons of joining the institution and pursuing particular course. One of the options to the question was affordable fee, which is sufficient to provide important clue as to whether the cost of an educational programme is perceived by the students to be of significant importance in the choice of course or the institute. Questions such as cost of food and other facilities in the hostel, prices of canteen stuff, etc. were also part of the enquiry for the purpose of determining the total cost of the educational package on the one hand and its impact on students perception on the other. The age-old negative relationship between price and demand has not been established by the results of this study. It is generally true that as the price rises, the quality demanded falls. Here respondents are not allowing their choice of the institute or of the course to be affected by the cost of an educational package in an institute. Hence, the hypothesis that given the choice of courses, students generally opt for a low cost course and a low cost institute is not proved. Cost of education to the students is hardly a factor affecting their choice of educational package being offered by self-financing higher education institutes. Only about 23% respondents give some weightage to the cost of education while making a choice of the education programme. For the rest, cost is not important. Hence education at present cannot be treated as any other service and its pricing as well as marketing strategies have to be specially designed. More or less, the same thing applies to the choice of self-financing institutes. The reason for such a response to the direct question of cost of education is not difficult to find when the responses to some other

related questions were taken into consideration. Cost of education is considered as an investment, cost of professional education particularly. Expectations of the students both from the course as well as from the institute are such that these dont allow the cost factor to be the sole, or even a major, determinant of students perception. 6.2 QUALITY AND STUDENTS PERCEPTION

Quality for different people means different things. The three major players in private professional institutes are the students and their parents, the management and entrepreneurs, and the employees and faculty of these institutes. The three players will obviously have some difference in their concepts of quality of education. The quality of faculty, of the general environment of the institute, and the quality of infrastructure and support services are important so far as the students are concerned. Quality of faculty is not only determined by their qualifications and knowledge content, it is also affected by the effectiveness of their delivery system. The communication skills, their commitment, and academic leadership, in addition to content richness, make a good teacher a student in professional courses would most like to have. Besides faculty, quality of infrastructure facilities such as library, co curricular facilities, hostel, etc. are also important. The questionnaire contains both direct and indirect questions to measure the quality of the educational package being offered on the one hand, and its impact on students perception in these institutions on the other. One of the options to the question asking the reasons of pursuing a particular course was good scope and job opportunities. The mean score of this indicator has been found to be highest (3.39) among the nine reasons cited for joining a particular course. This enabled us to

have a clear view of the fact that the students in professional courses value quality of an educational programme very much. Quality is all the more important when it comes to choosing a selffinancing institution. The questionnaire included a specific question (Question No. 16) on reasons of joining the present institute. Of the nine reasons cited, seven related to the quality aspect. Good faculty, good infrastructure, good brand name, good placement potential, and good extra-curricular activities are some of the reasons for preferring a particular institute. Of all the quality indicators, two are found to be the most important - quality of the faculty and quality relating to infrastructure facilities available with the institute. Both have a mean score higher than the average mean value. Quality of the faculty and that of infrastructure facilities have been further proposed on different parameters. Questions listed the questionnaire measurement from of 18 to of 20 were devoted mainly on to the impact quality parameters students

perception. Students level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction on such counts as academic qualifications of the faculty, their experience, industry exposure, communication skill, command over the subject, sincerity and commitment, accessibility and openness, and academic leadership qualities have been probed in detail to know the impact of these parameters on students perception. It has been established beyond doubt that between cost and quality, quality has a significant impact on students perception in the selffinancing higher education institutions. Hence, the hypotheses that quality of educational package, which includes the faculty, delivery system, etc. , affects students perception and thereby their decision-making, stands proved. Besides qualifications, experience and exposure of the faculty, students in the self-financing institutions believed that communication skills, command on a subject, sincerity,

commitment, and accessibility of the faculty are no less important in forming their perceptions and decision-making. So far as the importance of major quality indicators is concerned, each indicator has scored more than the average value (i.e. 3.00). But regarding students perception of availability of quality indications is concerned; its score has been quite low- even below average. One of the reasons for a wide gap between importance of quality in students mind and its availability in the institutions might be the unexceptionally higher expectation of the students. Also the cost of establishing and sustaining a professional institution is very high and students still have public sector institution in mind while forming their opinion about the quality of faculty and infrastructure availability. Capital cost of land in national capital region is prohibitively high, and establishing huge campuses as those of the RECs, IITs, and IIMs is an extremely difficult proposition now. Hence, the combined mean of the variables chosen for determining students level of satisfaction is 2.72. Students of the institutes studied, therefore, perceive low level of quality of these institutes compared to their expectations. Thus, faculty as intellectual capital was important, but its desired availability was lacking. Coming to the quality of course being pursued, good placement value is perceived by the students as the main reason for pursuing a programme. Hence, course and institute both are important for the students of self-financing professional institutions. But, for obvious reasons, course takes precedence over the institute. When students perception of quality in relation to the course being pursued was probed, students gave highest value to the placement facilities and industrial training available. The other variables perceived to be important for affecting the quality of the programme being pursued are field trips, students exposure to corporate sector, maintaining time schedule of examination, updation and relevance of the course

curriculum, and overall personality development efforts of the institute. 6.3 SUPPORT SERVICES AND STUDENTS PERCEPTION

In addition to the key service being provided by a service provider, ancillary and additional services attached to the main service are also important. In the case of educational services, students support services are quite important as these enhance the quality of an educational package. Students welfare cannot be maximized in an institute without ensuring best support services along with academic inputs. Although there is no agreement to the number and quality of support services which should be made available along with an educational package, the support services considered important for the present survey included existence of computer labs with latest softwares, latest and relevant journals and books in the library, library reading and consultation facilities, internet facility, course related CD and study material, Xeroxing facility, quality of food in canteen and hostel mess, reasonable prices of canteen stuff, grievances redressal cell, playgrounds and sport goods, health center, transport arrangement, welfare schemes, and parking sheds etc. It is clear from the responses that students value support services. Rated important among them are the computer lab, library, hostel, canteen, and sports facilities. Most of the students were satisfied with library and computer lab facilities in the self-financing institutions, but they were generally dissatisfied on hostel, health, and other welfare schemes. It seems that self-financing professional institutions have been properly taking care such facilities (lab and library), as are insisted upon by the affiliating universities or other bodies such as the AICTE. Others such as hostel, sports, and canteen services have

not received enough attention etc. In nutshell, students in the selffinancing higher education institutions perceived support services as very important, but they have not perceived their availability at a reasonable level. Hence, there is a need to do much on this count so that the gap between importance assigned by student to support services and their availability is minimized. 6.4 EFFECT OF INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS ON STUDENTS

PERCEPTION Individual characteristics of human beings is believed to have an impact on behavior and hence it is pertinent to study the effect of these characteristics of students on their perception of cost, quality, and support services available in an institute. This section seeks to find out the differences and existing between perception and of undergraduate postgraduate students, male female

students and management and technical students with respect to their perception regarding quality, cost, and support services of an institute. Table 6.1 Comparison of importance and availability, of faculty as intellectual capital enhancing the quality of an institute between male and female respondents. Variable (Faculty) Overall Importance Overall Availability NS= Not significant Male (N=237) Mean SD 3.45 2.37 1.65 1.25 Female (N=173) t Value Mean SD 3.57 2.48 1.61 1.35 0.75NS 0.82NS

There exists no significant (NS) difference in case of overall importance (combined mean) attached to faculty as intellectual

capital as a parameter of quality between male and female students. It can be inferred that in the given scenario the differences in perceptions of the two categories is non-existent and that all respondents whether male or female give equal importance to faculty such as intellectual capital enhancing the quality of an institute. Table 6.2 Comparison of Importance and availability, of infrastructure facilities like hostel, canteen, labs, library etc. as support services that play an important role in shaping the brand image of the institute between male and female students. Variable Support services Mean Overall Importance Overall Availability NS=Not Significant Importantly, no significant difference is found to exist between male and female students as they attach similar importance to the infrastructure and other support services. Further the mean scores are indicative that both the genders consider being equally important. Evan as regards the availability of support services facilities there exist no significant difference in the perception of both male and female respondents. Table 6.3 Comparison of importance and availability, of faculty as intellectual capital enhancing the quality of the institute between undergraduate and postgraduate students. 3.11 1.95 SD 1.77 1.21 Male (N=237) Female (N=173) Mean SD 3.27 1.92 1.78 1.16 0.88NS 0.23NS t Value

Variable (Faculty)

Undergraduates (N=256) Mean 3.37 2.18 SD 1.7 1.2

Postgraduates (N=154) Mean SD 3.72 2.81 1.4 1.24

t Value

Overall Importance Overall Availability

2.25* 4.91**

*Significant at .05 level **Significant at .01 level A significant difference is, however, noted between the

undergraduate and postgraduate students as to the importance that they attach to faculty as intellectual capital (t=2.25, p<0.05). The mean scores reveal that postgraduate students give greater importance to faculty as a parameter of relevance in enhancing the quality of an institute than the undergraduate students. It can be inferred that postgraduates who are more career conscious project greater seriousness about intellectual capital than the undergraduates who may have just joined an institute. Probably, another explanation to this is the difference lies in the academic levels of these two groups of students. At the undergraduate level entrants are perhaps not yet equipped to judge the intellectual level of the faculty. Also, there exists significant difference in the perception of

undergraduate and postgraduate students (t=4.91, p<0.01) as regards the availability of faculty in the institute. The mean scores reveal that postgraduate students perceive higher availability of faculty than the undergraduate students. Table 6.4 Comparison of importance and availability of infrastructure facilities and support services that play an important role in shaping the brand

image of the institute between undergraduates and postgraduates students. Variable Support Services Undergraduates (N=256) Mean 3.07 1.86 SD 1.82 1.19 Postgraduates (N=154) Mean SD 3.35 2.07 1.68 1.18 1.18 NS NS = Not Significant No significant difference is, however, found to exist between the perception of undergraduate and postgraduate students as to the importance of infrastructure facilities and other support services in shaping the brand image of the institute and its availability. Relative mean scores reveal that lot of importance is attached to infrastructure facilities in shaping brand image of the institute both by the undergraduate and postgraduate students. But there are not perceived to be available as desired. Table 6.5 Comparison of importance and availability, of Faculty as intellectual capital enhancing the quality of the institute between management and technical (Engineering & IT) students. Variable Faculty Overall Importance Overall Availability NS=Not Significant Technical (N=137) Mean SD 3.50 2.26 1.55 1.37 Management (N=273) Mean SD 3.50 2.50 1.66 1.25 t Value 1.54 NS Availability t Value

Importance

0.04 NS 1.74 NS

Students in the sample have assigned very high importance to faculty as intellectual capital as the basis of their perception of the quality of the institute. There exists no significant difference in importance attached to faculty as intellectual capital as a parameter of quality between technical and management students. The combined mean score of both is the same i.e., 3.50. It can be inferred that both the groups under consideration have a professional orientation and hence do not assign the same level of importance to faculty as intellectual capital enhancing the quality of an institute. The mean scores, however, reveal that the importance attached by both the groups is relatively more to their intellectual capital aspect then their availability aspect. Table 6.6 Comparison of importance and availability of infrastructure facilities and other support services that play a major role in shaping the brand image of the institute between technical and management students. Variable Support Services Technical (N=137) Mean 3.12 1.78 SD 1.73 1.21 Management (N=273) Mean SD 3.20 2.02 1.79 1.17 0.43 NS 1.98* t Value

Importance Availability

* Significant at .05 level No significant difference is found to exist even between the technical and management students as regards the importance that they assign to infrastructure facilities and support services, which play a major role in shaping the brand image of the institute. The mean

scores show that importance attached by both the groups is relatively higher than the availability of support services. There exists a significant difference in the perception of technical and management students as regards the availability of support services (t=1.98,p<.05) as well. The mean scores show that the availability of these services are relatively more in case of management students than chose doing the technical students. There exists significant difference in the perception of undergraduate and postgraduate respondents as to the academic qualifications of faculty (t-2.25, p<.05), their work experience, (t=1.95, p<.05), and the level of syllabus coverage (t=4.69, p<.01). The mean score values depict that the postgraduate students are more satisfied with the above-mentioned variables as compared to undergraduate students. There is no significant difference seen between the two groups with respect to student teacher relationship, thereby emphasizing that both the groups get well along with faculty.

Table 6.7 Comparison of level of satisfaction between undergraduate and postgraduate respondents for given variables of Cost, Quality and Support Services. Level of Satisfaction Under graduates (N=237) Mean SD 2.79 1.28 2.74 2.56 1.21 1.17 Post graduates (N=173) Mean SD 3.08 1.19 2.97 2.72 1.02 1.05 t Value

Academic qualification of faculty Experience of faculty Industry exposure of faculty

2.25* 1.95* 1.34 NS

Special/expert

lectures

and 2.64

1.31 1.26 1.24 1.18 1.19 1.15 1.19 1.23 1.17 1.22 1.32 1.35

3.01 3.14 3.03 2.68 2.88 2.77 2.32 2.61 2.55 2.71 3.34 3.33

1.13 1.04 1.01 1.14 1.15 1.08 1.13 1.08 1.09 1.19 1.19 1.13

2.92** 3.67** 2.42** 2.37** 2.49** 2.33* 0.32 NS 1.40 NS 1.15 NS 2.71** 1.8 NS 4.69**

seminars Teaching aid and other facilities 2.70 available Teaching methodology adopted 2.74 by the faculty Industry interaction arranged by 2.40 the institute Updation of course vis--vis 2.58 2.50 2.36

current requirement Facilities offered vis--vis cost Research activity in the institute

Innovative teaching and learning 2.44 practices Remedial teaching and 2.41 industrial 2.37 3.10 2.72

counseling activities Arrangement of

training Student teacher relationship Syllabus covered

NS Not Significant * Significant at .05 level level

** Significant at .01

However, there exists significant difference between the perception of the two groups as far as expert lectures/seminars conducted (t=2.92, p<.01) industry interaction arranged by the institute, (t=2.37, p<.01) and updating of the course vis--vis current (t=2.49, p<.01) is concerned. The mean scores show that postgraduate students are relatively more satisfied with special lectures conducted, industry interaction arranged by the institute, and updating of the courses than the undergraduate students. Both the groups are less satisfied with respect to research activity in the institute. As shown by the mean scores significant difference

exists between the two groups with respect to teaching aids and other facilities available (t=3.67, p<.01) and teaching methodology adopted by the faculty (t=2.42, p<.01) . Postgraduate students are comparatively more satisfied with teaching aids and other facilities available and teaching techniques used than the undergraduate students. It can be noted from the mean scores that satisfaction level for facilities offered vis--vis cost is higher for postgraduate students and that there exist significant difference between the two groups regarding the above mentioned parameters (t=2.33, p<.05) Table 6.8 Comparison of level of importance attached to different variables of cost, quality and support services by undergraduate and postgraduate students. Level of Importance Under graduates (N=237) Mean SD 3.05 1.6 3 1.6 2 1.5 4 1.5 4 1.5 4 1.5 8 1.5 3 1.6 4 1.6 Post graduates (N=173) Mean SD 3.34 1.3 3.43 3.29 3.41 3.31 3.47 3.31 3.24 3.35 7 1.4 7 1.3 0 1.3 6 1.3 9 1.3 1 1.4 6 1.4 8 1.5 t Value

Academic contents of the course Educational training Maintaining value of

1.81 NS 1.20 NS 1.31 NS 1.72 NS 1.09 NS 1.94* .37 NS .51 NS 1.41NS

industrial 3.24 of 3.09 3.15

time-schedule

examination Fairness of internal assessment

Sound and effective evaluation 3.15 system Interaction with faculty Field trips and industry training 3.17 3.26

Exposure of student to corporate 3.16 sector Placement facility in the institute 3.12

4 Institute society Efforts brand by image in the 3.06 1.6 0 1.6 4 3.37 3.29

1 1.3 2 1.5 5 2.02* 1.8 NS

Institute/faculty 2.99

available for overall personality

development of student * Significant to .05 level ** Significant to .01 level

No significant difference exists between the undergraduate and postgraduate respondents as regards the academic contents of the course. Both the groups give high importance to fairness in internal assessment and sound evaluation system. There exists parity in terms of the level of importance attached to the field trips and exposure to corporate sector (as is visible from the mean scores) between the two groups. Significant difference is noted to exist between level of importance attached to brand image of the institute in the society (t=2.02, p<.05). The mean scores show that postgraduate students give comparatively more importance to brand image than the undergraduate students. The relative score position shoes that placement is considered to be most important parameter by postgraduate students after brand image. Significant difference also has been noted between the undergraduate and postgraduate students as regards importance of interaction with faculty (t=1.94, p<.05). The mean scores show that postgraduate students give relatively more importance to interaction with faculty than undergraduate students However the postgraduate students have 1.55 SD score for efforts by Institute/faculty available for overall personality development of student while the undergraduate students have SD score as 1.64 for

efforts

by

Institute/faculty

available

for

overall

personality

development of student and also for exposure of student to corporate sector and placement facility in the institute. Table 6.9 Comparison of level of satisfaction between technical and management respondents for given variables of cost, quality and support services. Level of Satisfaction Technical (N=137) Mean SD 2.74 1.26 2.67 2.52 and 2.67 1.14 1.21 1.35 1.32 1.22 1.24 1.32 1.24 1.23 1.25 1.22 1.30 1.35 Manageme nt (N=273) Mean SD 2.98 1.2 2.90 2.67 2.84 2.88 2.90 2.56 2.70 2.63 2.45 2.55 2.52 2.49 3.18 4 1.1 5 1.0 7 1.2 0 1.1 3 1.4 4 1.1 3 1.1 1 1.0 8 1.1 2 1.1 4 1.1 0 1.1 8 1.2 4 t Value

Academic qualification of faculty Experience of faculty Industry exposure of faculty Special/expert lectures

1.83N S 1.91* 1.26N S 1.33N S .23 NS 1.16N S 1.17N S 0.02N S 0.82N S 2.50 ** 1.26N S 1.48N S 0.16N S 0.19N S

seminars Teaching aid and other facilities 2.85 available Teaching methodology adopted by 2.75 the faculty Industry interaction arranged by the 2.41 institute Updation of course vis--vis current 2.70 requirement Facilities offered vis--vis cost 2.54 Research activity in the institute 2.14

Innovative teaching and learning 2.40 practices Remedial teaching and counseling 2.35 activities Arrangement of industrial training 251 Student teacher relationship 3.21

1.2 0.21N 7 S NS Not Significant *Significant at .05 level ** Significant at .01 level There exists a significant difference in the satisfaction level of technical and management students in terms of experience of faculty (t=1.91, p<.05) and research activity in the institute (t=2.50, p<.01). The relative mean score values depict that the management students are more satisfied on these two parameters as against technical students. No significant difference is seen between the two groups with respect to other mentioned variable. Table 6.10 Comparison of level of importance attached to different variables of cost, quality and support services by technical and management students. Level of Importance Technical (N=137) Mean 3.22 SD 1.4 9 1.5 6 1.4 0 1.4 9 1.4 6 1.4 7 1.4 3 1.5 6 1.5 5 1.4 6 1.5 2 Managemen t (N=273) Mean SD 3.13 1.57 3.33 3.19 3.26 3.19 3.30 3.37 3.27 3.29 1.57 1.48 1.48 1.50 1.50 1.53 1.59 1.61 1.52 1.66 t Value 0.56NS 0.41 NS 0.53 NS 0.26 NS 0.39 NS 0.33 NS 1.73 NS 1.37 NS 1.60 NS 2.51** 0.22 NS

Syllabus covered

2.97

1.36

2.94

Academic contents of the course

Educational value of industrial 3.27 training Maintaining time-schedule of 3.11 examination Fairness of internal assessment 3.22 Sound and effective evaluation 3.25 system Interaction with faculty 3.25 Field trips and industry training 3.10

Exposure of student to corporate 3.04 sector Placement facility in the institute 3.02

Institute brand image in the 2.91 3.31 society Efforts by Institute/faculty 3.08 3.11 available for overall personality development of student NS Not Significant ** Significant to .01 level

Significant difference exists between technical and management students with regard to institutes brand image (t=2.51,p<.01). The technical students attach less importance to brand image of the institute as compared to management students. For all other variables, there exists no significant difference between the two groups.

Table 6.11 Comparison of variables related to cost, quality and support services in terms of their importance among respondents by three categories of their parent occupation.

Level of Importance

Service (N= 212) Group A

Business

Professio F

DUNCANS Comparison Of Means

(N= 142) nal Group B (N= 56) Group C

among Val ue A B V/S V/S B C * * V/S Groups A

Mea SD n

Mea SD n

Me an

SD

Academic contents 3.2 of the course 2 Educational value 3.3 of industrial training 2 Maintaining time- 3.1 schedule of 9

1.5 5 1.5 3 1.4 1 1.4 3 1.4 2 1.4 5 1.4 7 1.5 5 1.5 9 1.4 7 1.6 1

2.9 3 3.1 4 3.0 2 3.1 1 3.1 1 3.0 7 3.2 1 3.1 9 3.2 3 3.0 9 3.0 5

1.5 4 1.6 5 1.4 9 1.5 5 1.5 9 1.5 6 1.5 7 1.6 5 1.6 2 1.5 9 1.6 3

3.5 3 3.7 1 3.4 4 3.5 3 3.2 8 3.4 2 3.4 4 3.3 3 3.4 8 3.4 4 3.4 6

1.4 3.3 7 2* 1.4 2.7 6 1.4 1.7 8 9

C -

examination Fairness of internal 3.2 assessment 7 Sound and effective 3.2 evaluation system 6 Interaction with 3.4 faculty Field trips 0 and 3.2

1.4 1.6 7 7 1.4 .58 6 1.4 2.3 2 7 1.4 .45 6 1.5 0.2 5 9 1.5 1.2 0 2 1.4 1.0 2 7

* -

industry training 8 Exposure of student 3.1 to corporate sector 5 Placement facility in 3.1 the institute Institute image society Efforts Institute/faculty available for overall in 1 brand 3.1 the 6 by 3.0 4

1.5 1.6 4 0

--

*Significant at .05 level (forF value) Significance

*Duncans

Students with parents in A= service, B= business, C = professionals

There exist a significant difference in the perception of students with parents of service background and students with parents of professional background groups in level of importance attached to the academic contents of the course (F=3.32,p<.05). The mean scores show that students of group B (students with parents of business background) attach less importance to the academic content of the course as compared to those in Group C (students with parents of professional background). Group C students have more professional orientation and want the academic content of the

course counts to be always in keeping with the current trends. Group B students with business background are less concerned with the relevance of the course in term of their content.

Significant difference also exists

between Group B and Group C

students in term of level of importance that they assign to the educational value of industrial training. Group C students attach relatively higher importance to professional training as compared to those in Group B students. Significant difference also exists between Group A (student with parent of service background) and those forming Group B regarding the parameter of faculty interaction.

According to the relative mean scores, Group B students feel it is less important to interact with the faculty as compared those in Group A and Group C. No significant difference exists between these three groups as to the level of importance given to other parameters.

Table 6.12 Comparison of level of expectation on completion of the course among respondents by three categories of their parent occupation.

Variable

Service (N= 212) Group A Mea S n D

Business (N= 142) Group B

Profession al (N= 56) Group C

F Valu e

DUNCANS Comparison Of Means

among Groups A B V/S V/S B C C V/S A

Mea n

SD

Mea n

SD

Level Expectation

of 3.1 on 0

. 96

3.07

1.0

3.37

.97

2.99 *

completion of the course *Significant at .05 level (for F value) *Duncans Significance

A=students with parents in service B= students with parents in business C= students with parents who are professionals

It is natural that students will expect more than one thing on the successful completion of the course, say, good placement, good chances of going abroad, etc. The response of the students on these variables on a 5-point scale indicates the relative impact of these variables of students perception. If the combined mean of means of these variables is calculated, it helps one to judge the level of expectation on course completion. There exists a significant difference between Group A and Group C with regard to the level of their expectation after course completion (F=.29,p<.05).

The

mean

scores

reveal

that

students

whose

parents

have

professional background have relatively higher expectations than those whose parents have service background (Group A). Significant difference is also visible between Group B and Group C students. According to the mean scores those having parents with business background (Group B) have comparatively lower level of expectation on course completion as compared to those whose parents come from professional background. 6.6 THE ESSENCE

Broadly, the present study is intended to study the impact of cost, quality, and support services on students perception. The attitudes and perception formed by the students of self-financing institutions do affect their decision to opt for a particular course or an institution.

It is revealed by the study that cost of educational package has the least impact on students choice of a course or a self-financing institution. Quality of the educational packages has the maximum impact. Quality is affected most by the quality of faculty whereas infrastructure facilities come second and support services occupy the third position as to their relevance in decision making by the students. The hypotheses stated in the beginning have been satisfactorily tested. The effect of individual characteristics of the sample students on their perception has also been found to be relevant. On the whole study has given many fruitful insights into the existing scenario. Significantly, however, there are no gender differences in the students perception levels.

CHAPTER - 7

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

CHAPTER

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 7.1. Findings 7.2. Recommendations

7. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The present chapter has been divided into two parts: the first deals with the conclusions, followed by the recommendations and different policy implications.

7.1

CONCLUSIONS

In 1942, the British government instituted the Sargeant Committee to propose, a plan for eradicating illiteracy in India. The committee proposed a plan that would make India 100% literate in 40 years. Indian nationalists scoffed at the plan stating that India does not have that kind of patience, and wanted quicker results. However, 58 years after that and 56 years after independence, our literacy rate is only a little higher than 64%.. India has 46% of its population aged

15 years and above as illiterates. About one third of the worlds illiterates are in India.

The

national

policy

on

education

(NPE),

1986

with

modifications undertaken and amended in 1992, accorded priority to universalization of elementary education, of children up to 14 years of age, including utilizing strategies for non-formal education (NFE) and thrust to the national literacy mission (NLM). It stated that the investment on education be gradually increased to reach a level of 6% of the National Income as early as possible. In fact, several government documents dating back to 1969 stated this goal. The actual level of investment has remained far short of this target. India on and average spends 3.8% of its GNP on education The programme of action (POA) of the NPE 1986 and as revised in 1992 stated Time is of essence, and unless we act now, we stand in the danger of once again missing the opportunity of education reform, so critical not only for the development of our nation, but for our very survival. It also mentioned that It is peoples achievement in the education reconstruction which will make the real difference. We have yet not succeeded in any substantial reform and in also having significant societal involvement in the process of educational development.

 Let us, now have a look on the front of higher education in India. As compared to developed countries, India is far behind in the field of higher education. Whereas in U.S.A and Europe, nearly 50% and 20% college- age population receive higher education respectively, in India not more than 6% of their counterparts have the privilege to do so. With the liberalization, globalisation and privatisation Indian

economy, is bound to grow at a faster pace in the coming years. This would in turn increase the demand for access to higher education. Thus India has a long higher education. way to make up in

Professional or technical education in the country has to play a big role in producing world-class professionals or technical experts. The Indians have ensured their presence felt in the field of computers, both in software and hardware, in IT, in electronics, in biotechnology, in pure sciences and in economics, in management of finances and infield related to humanities, social sciences. They are thus in demand in all the fields and that too, at a level where they make an impact. Firstly, it is for the first time that India is recognized at an international level as a nation, which is providing value-added trained human power at a premier level. Thus a

high quality higher and professional education is desirable to meet the requirements of global business and social development.

Not only the percentage of those receiving higher education in India is very low as compared to the developed countries of the world, the quality of higher education in India has not kept pace with the quantity. But for very few institutions of higher learning in India, most of the university education is far from satisfactory so far as standards and quality of education is concerned.

To say the least , education system is highly skewed. We have excellent examples of institutions at all levels of education to demonstrate our capacity and some higher educational institutions like Indian Institute of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) have earned international acclaim. But below this elite crust there is enough scope of looking with in.

A look at the management of education programmes that prevails in India will drive home the point that the crucial aspect of managing education as a whole is left to a bunch of administrators, which is a clear legacy of the public system of education, wherein the key decisions pertaining to

type and quality of programmes were taken by bureaucrats in the ministry of education, which were then passed on to the minions in the university and college to implement. Thus, There is a widespread feeling that the present state of higher education is largely the result of the overt and covert interference by external agencies.

If we review the university education system and the system concerned with professional or technical education run by the government, it can be observed that most of the universities are not able to meet their expenses and the courses being run by the universities need modifications and innovative methods to meet the requirements of

international standards. With the traditional procedure of working in the university and other professional education centers set up and run by the government, a lot of money is required and the grass root strategic planning has to be made to achieve quality standards to make value addition in higher and professional education systems.

In this perspective, professional education system has to be privatized to achieve excellence in the higher education system to meet the increasing international and domestic demands. Thus, there is an obvious case for encouraging innovation and for the establishment of quality institutions

through private initiative. The case for privatization of professional higher education stands not only on quality parameters but it also has equally sound support on other grounds too.

The interaction between industry and technical institutions, which is so crucial for ensuring relevant quality and cost effectiveness, remains weak, despite exhortations for closer cooperation. Also the linkage of technical education with manpower planning has remained weak.

The uneven and unbalanced expansion has resulted in the growing mismatch between supply and demand in the labor market. The skills and specializations of graduates do not reflect the real needs of the productive sectors in the market place.

The modern mantra is, Innovate, seize the opportunity and change the rules and Learn faster than your competitors. Innovations and rapid learning are the pillars of 21st century. This needs a national transformation process that is revolutionary in result, but evolutionary in execution.

Thus,India must rise to the occasion and accept the challenge of producing world-class technical manpower by

ensuring

quality,

competitiveness

and

continuous

improvement in the field of management and technical education.

A detailed study on various aspects is highly desirable to successfully convert and run the present education system financed and administered by the government into a self financing education system with the purpose of preserving its quality standards which will serve the need of the students for meeting the national and global demands at international standards.

Both in the private and public domain careful thought and planning is required as we move away from education as per supply to education as per demand. This would need, among other things, a proper research. The need to effectively manage the various points-of-marketing and especially those that led to the selection or rejection of a course of study by a candidate. In any case we have to move away from being programme-centric to student-centric.

How students as consumer make decision to spend their available resource (time, money & efforts) on selecting the best product i.e. the overall educational package offered by an institution, is therefore, a million dollar question for such

institution. Finding an answer to it is both urgently needed and highly relevant.

The marketing strategy directive that can be developed here is that for highly intangible core service products like education, facilitating services should aspire to attain a quality level, which enables them to become a competitive strength. Supporting services, which are essentially

designed as a means of competition, diminish the value of the package if they are lacking. The core benefit, learning, however, can still be derived if the supporting services are deficient or absent. The basic service package, however, is not equal to the service perceived by the consumer. An excellent basic education package, along with its facilitating and support service elements, may be destroyed by the way students are handled or students interaction is managed.

Students view it from the point of view of returns by studying a particular course and the input in terms of knowledge/skill/attitude and behavioral aspect of the course. In other made words for the their value good addition living and contributions attains

importance in decision-making.

The primary objective was to study the impact of cost quality and support services on students perception in self financed higher education

institutes. Hypothesis with a testable base was developed which could be either rejected or accepted. It was only after taking a reasonable insight into the problem and exhaustive literature review that the observations were made. For the purpose of testing the study it was believed that there is a significant impact of cost in self financed institute on students perception and thereby ultimately their decision to join an institute. The study however refuted the hypothesis. There is a significant impact of quality of educational package being offered by an institute on the students perception. This hypothesis was proved as it was seen that quality , delivery systems ,placement potential ,faculty etc all are very important for students as per their perception. Student support services significantly affect students perception and thereby their decision to join an institute. Students individual characteristics affect their perception about an institute. Both of the above given hypothesis were proved. Students generally believed that fee charged by institute is unreasonably high. However, interestingly they perceived that the cost of educational package has a bearing on the quality of education.

Significantly, most of the respondents did not give any importance to the fee as a reason to join the course or the institute.

 Students perceived faculty and brand image as more important than extra curricular activities of the institute as important determinants of quality of the educational

package. Infact faculty as intellectual capital seemed to have been the most important parameter affecting the brand image of the institute.

It is significant to note that not only library but computer facility, sports and other welfare schemes all are also considered important by the students and are perceived to be valuable to them to an extent.

It can be inferred that the assessment of an institute by the students in comparison to others is positively related to their level of satisfaction with respect to the program they are pursuing.

It was found that the different variables like syllabus covered, academic qualification exposure of etc., faculty, which teaching help in

methodology,

industry

enhancing quality of the educational package, were below expectation in many of the institutes as perceived by the students and hence much needs to be done in this count at the level of the institute.

 The impact of cost, quality and support services on students perception vis--vis individual characteristics of the sample has also been studied. Some of the individual variables have been found to be affecting their perception such as parents background, students enrolment in under graduate and post-graduate course and management and technical course and not found in other individual variables such as gender differences among students.

7.2

RECOMMENDATIONS

Quality of faculty as intellectual capital has been found to have the maximum impact on students perception. Therefore, the dedicated teacher must get his reward and delinquent one must receive the reprimand. Quite periodically the teachers intellectual attainment should be gauged and guarded. The increments should be sanctioned on the basis of the performance of the teachers. Increments even can be doubled in deserving cases. The management must be improved to make appointments and promotions on merit and impose punishment where necessary.

There is no case for salary of teachers to be the same across the length and breadth of the Self-financing institutions, irrespective of income levels of participants.

Peter Drucker once said that marketing is more than just a department or a management function or an activity in an organisation. It is, in fact, the attitude to see things from the customers point of view. The concern for marketing should trickle down to every one in the organization, more specifically those who are in contact with the customers.

Students perception is found to be affected more by quality and support services then by the cost of educational package. Therefore there is a need to adopt a marketing strategy that identifies points of marketing and takes care of them.

The question is, who is suitable to provide for the customer interface, on part of the service provider? I suggest to make faculty members responsible for this

interface. This suggestion may not go down well with faculty members but they are best suited to talk about the finer aspects of a programme rather than anyone else, and that someone else talking about these

programmes may actually mislead the client and make them draw wrong conclusions about the programme as well as the institution,accepting the fact that faculty members would be most effective providers of customer interface.

A faculty member would always be more knowledgeable while handling such queries as - the future viability of various education programmes on offer; the pros and cons of each; deciding on the best fit between the programme available and the background of the

students; the problems that a particular candidate may or may not face in the programme, the industry and its demands and a myriad of such other issues. There is immense source credibility that can be and is derived by such an interaction and this cannot be usually replicated by any other substitute. Educational administrators may find the ways to achieve this. One way out may be to rotate the responsibility among either individual faculty co-respondents or groups. This scheduling could be done on a weekly, fortnightly basis with care being taken that everyone is covered, and also that it conforms to their work schedules.

 The second major, issue, which is very closely linked to the aspects of responsibility, is that of the attitude of the encounter personnel with which they approach the pointof marketing.

What need to be done is to inculcate the sense of empathy. The attitude should never be to sell the programme. The encounter personnel have to look at these interactions as counseling sessions wherein they need to disseminate factual information on one hand and diagnoses and prescribe interventions in the best interest of the consumer, whether the prescribed

intervention falls within the available portfolio of the organization in question or not being immaterial. This, one would agree, is a slightly difficult value system to inculcate especially in the private sector, where there is frequently an over sales orientation. There can be a debate here that why should the encounter personnel spend time and then send away the potential customer to some other provider. But thats where the difference lies between a genuine service provider in the field of education who really is interested in the emancipation of its customers rather than one who behaves like a sales person and looks at each such interaction as an opportunity: to get a customer alone. The driving value

behind this proposition is very simple, were this customer to be my own son or daughter, what would have been my responsibility if I were the encounter personnel? A certain degree of conservativeness in approaching the encounter is always advisable.

The admission office needs to be designed in such a way that it is easily accessible and can give a certain amount of privacy to individual clients who approach with queries. Apart from the aspect of proper location, signage and comfortable waiting areas, one needs to provide for such comforts as toilets and drinking water.

Some of the clients who are looking for more than preliminary admission information need to be referred to a faculty member at the earliest. It is also preferable to speak to the candidate alone, as this, in the experience of the investigator definitely makes the candidate open up and talk about his/her expectations, fears and

experiences. This is a very important phase as this clarifies and facilitates, more than a test or an interview can, the process of adjudging the candidates suitability for the programme as well as assessing his/her strengths and weaknesses. It also assures building trust in the

customer which in turn is very crucial for positive final decision.

A case record needs also to be kept and this is easily done on a pre-decided format, which is fed on the computer wherein the admission office can fill up the preliminary details before referring the candidate to the faculty member for further discussion. This needs to be done on an online database management system, which is accessible on the institutional network but with security features such that only authorized personnel can have access. It needs to be emphasized that security at this level is extremely crucial for various reasons. The faculty member can update the same database for further usage. It is advisable to have a daily schedule of availability of faculty members displayed prominently at the admission office.

Secondly a preliminary form may also be devised that can be handed over to the potential client such that the customary data regarding demographics, address and contact numbers etc. can be filled-in by the candidate.

The summary record of the discussions with the faculty members if kept will also help on understanding the

customer psyche and behaviour leading to more effective handling of such sessions as well as for training counseling personnel in the future.

What needs to be communicated and more important in what manner? The value-driver for communication needs to be one, which focuses on the academic and technical merits of the institution and programme, in question. One must focus on the training that one receives and the logic of the programme content and structure. For instance at times there is an overemphasis on one aspect while ignoring others.A case in point may be the sales pitch based on placement record and possibilities. The

discussion needs to be guided away from such parochial perspectives and it must be reiterated that the institution is involved in imparting education and training in a specialization area and that placement are derived from performance on part of the client as well as the institution.

Therefore the client needs to be made aware that the attribution of success/ failure should not be assigned only to the institution and that education is not one sided process and that experiencing on parts of students could range from active to passive experiencing on one

dimension and from absorption to immersion on the other. It depends equally on the consumer (student) to extract the best from the provider (institute).

The study has made it amply clear that the choice of institute is affected by word of mouth of parents and peers. Therefore, the most valuable and crucial

advertisement for the institution is possibly word of mouth. Word of mouth has been long identified as one of the key driver of consumer expectations in service, along with such other variables as past experience, personal needs and external communications.

The

research

has

established

that

data

regarding

composition of past cohort of students, their success indicators in the form of (say) median salary in various placement seasons or percent students placed etc. form a very convincing evidence for supporting any claims of effectiveness of the members for easy reference and sharing the same with the client. Apart from this they need to be prominently displayed in the admission office.

Adequate arrangements in the laboratories in the form of kits, apparatus and instruments to relate theory with

practical utility are perceived to be non-existent in many institutes. There is a need to take care of this aspect. It has been revealed by the respondents that facilities for corporate life, culture activities and sports are either nonexistent or remain grossly under-utilised for want of rapport and informal contact between teachers and students.

In nutshell, it is suggested that the central focus of our endeavors has to be the students and the teaching process and that we should certainly strive to make the system more and more student oriented.

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Arcaro, S. Jerome, Quality in Education; Delray Beach, Florida: St. Luice Press, (1995). Azad, Lal Jagdish, Financing of Higher Education in India; New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., (1975). Baroness, Pauline Perry, Defining and Measuring the Quality of Teaching; in Diana Green (ed) What is Quality in Higher Education?; p.34. Bernard, Berrlson and Gary, A. Steiner, Human Behavior; New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc, p.87, 1964. Chambers, M. M., Financing Higher Education; Washington D.C.: The Centre of Applied Research in Education, Inc., (1963).

Cicourel, V. Aron and Kitsuse, I. John, The Education Decision Makers; New York: Indianapolis. Cuninggim, Merrimon, Private Money and Public Service; United States of America: Mc Graw Hill Book Company, (1972). Dennis, E. Lawrence and Kauffman, F. Joseph, The College and the Student; Washington D. C.: American Council on Eduaction, (1966). Evans, Linda, Reflective Practices in Educational Research; New York, London: Continuum, (2002). Gautam, Vinayshil, Learning Management; New Delhi: Allied Publishers Limitied, (1996). Gibbs, Paul and Knapp, Michael, Marketing Higher Education and Further Education; London: Kogan Page, 2002. Gibbs, Paul and Knapp, Michael, Marketing Higher and Further Education; London: Kogen Page, Pentonville Road, (2002). Good, V. Carter and Markel, R. Winifred, Dictionary of Education; United States of America: Mc Graw Hill Book Company. Heilborn, H. Louis, The College and University Trustee; San Francisco, California: Jossey-Boss Limited, (1973). Hurwilz, Emanuel and Tesconi, A. Charles, Challenges to Education: Readings for Analysis for Major Issues; New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, (1975). Jarvis, Peter, Universities and Corporate Universities; Bentonville Road, London: Kogan Page,. (2001), Jerome, S. Arcaro, Quality in Education; Delray Beach, Florida: St. Locie Press, 1995. Jhones, J. and Taylor, J., Performance Indicator in Higher Education; p.4 Joreme, S. Bruner and Renato Tangiuri , Perception of People; in Gardinar, Lindzey, (ed), Handbook of Social Psychology; Cambridge, Mass: AddisonWesley Publishing Company,Inc, p.641, 654. Kaur, Kuldip, Higher Education in India (1781-2003); Delhi: UGC and Chandigarh: CRRID, (2003). Kumari, Raj, Costs and Benefits Analysis of College Education; Meerut: Saru Publishing House, (1986).

Li, Choh-Ming; Hsueh, S.S., and Lee, C.L. (Mrs.), Asian Workshop on Higher Education; Hong Kong: The Chinese University of Hong Kong Shatin, , (1969), Malcom, Frazer, Quality in Higher Education: An International Perspective; in Tom Scheller (ed) The Future in Higher Education; pp.10405. Mohanty, Jagannath, Dynamics of Higher Education in India, New Delhi: Deep and Deep Publications, (1993). Moonis Raza, Higher Education In India; India: Association of Indian Universities, 1991. Mundle, C.W.K., Perception: Facts and Theories; London: Oxford University Press, pp. 34-35, 1971. Murray, H.A. James; Bradley, Henry; Craigie, A.W. and Ononi, T.C., The Oxford English Dictionary; London: Clerendon Press. Myers, A .Donald, Teachers power Professionalization and Collective Bargaining; Toronto London: Lexington Books, (1974). Nautiyal, C.K., Education and Rural Poor; New Delhi: Commonwealth Publishers, (1989). Negi, Rai Usha and Bhalla, Veena, Effectiveness and Quality in Higher Education; New Delhi: Association of Indian Universities, (1999). Nelson (ed), Personal Services in Education; University of Chicago Press: The 58th Year Bool of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part II, , 1959. Oommen, T.K., Substantive content and techniques of Data methodology in social science in India; New Delhi: Today & Tomorrows printers and publishers. Parker, A. Clyde, Selected Readings in Student Service For Indian Universities and Colleges; New Delhi: U.S. Educational Foundation in India. Prakash, Shri, Cost of Education: Theoretical Explorations and Empirical Prognostication; New Delhi: Anamika Publishers and Distributers, (1996). Radha Kumud Mookerji, Ancient Indian Education; 3rd ed., Delhi: Motilal, 1960. Rao, Venkateshwara T., Student Orientations in Professional Education; Ahmedabad: Education System Unit Indian Institute of Management, (1978).

Sahay, B.N., Questionnaire and Schedule as Tools of Social Investigation Research Methodology in Social Sciences in India; New Delhi: Today And Tomorrows Printers and Publishers, pp. 159-167. Sharma, N.R. and Sharma, K.R., History of Education; New Delhi: Atlantica Publishers and Distributer. Soundararajan, V.M., Management of University Hostels; Hyderabad: The Institute of Education and Culture, (1990). Srivastava, C.R., Students Participation in Administration; New Delhi: Sterling Publishers Pvt. Ltd., (1975). Stankiewicz, Ricard, Academics and Entrepreneurs Developing University Industry Relations; London: Frances Printer (Publishers), (1986). Subramanyam, K., Quest for Quality in Higher Education; Hyderabed: Kesava Art Printers, (1997). ________, Quest for Quality in Higher Education; Hyderabad: Kesava Art Printers, , 1997. Weitz, Henry, The Organization of Student Service in Indian Universities and Colleges; New Delhi: U.S. Educational Foundation in India. Wellington, Jerry, Educational Research Contemporary Issues and Practical Approaches; London and New York: Continuum, (2000). Williamson, E.G., Student Personal Service in College and Universities; United States of America: Mc Graw Hill Book Company, (1961). ________, Student Personal Services in College and Universities; United States of America: McGraw Hill, 1961,

QUESTIONNAIRE
DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT GURU JAMBHESHWAR UNIVERSITY HISSAR (INDIA) QUESTIONNAIRE Title of the Project: Impact of Cost, Quality and Support Services on Students Perception in Self-Financed Higher Education Institutes. You will agree that market forces are changing the whole outlook towards higher education. The new look has already started treating Students as Customers of Professional Education as product and self-financing higher education institutes as industry. The same forces have started dictating and would determine whether Institutes of Higher Education as Brands and Students as Customers will survive, excel or go under. With this background we are working on a research project entitled Impact of Cost, Quality and Support Services on Students Perception in Self Financed Higher Education Institutes. You have been chosen as one of the important respondent for the above study. Your individual answers/responses will be kept completely confidential and will not be

released in any way, which identifies you. I request you to kindly spare some time to give a free responses to the questions below. Sd. (Ms Puja Khatri) Researcher PART A Personal Profile Questions below are important for proper coding and classification of the data. I repeat, responses will be kept strictly confidential. 1) Name (Optional):______________________________ 2) Age in years:_________________________________ (Please ignore less than six months and count six months or more as one year) Please tick ( ) mark the appropriate category 3) Sex Male ( ) Female ( )

4) Fathers/Mothers/Guardians occupation a) Service ( ) b) Business ( ) c) Professions ( ) d) Any other (Please specify)____________________________________ 5) Residence: a) Delhi State Urban ( ) Rural ( ) b) National Capital Region of Delhi Noida ( ) Gurgoan ( ) Faridabad ( ) Sonepat ( ) c) Any Other (Please Specify)______________________________________ 6) Place of schooling a) Urban (State or District Headquarter) b) Semi Urban (Town) ( ) c) Rural (Other) 7) Type of school a) Public school ( ) b) Government school ( ) c) Any other (Please specify)____________________________________ 8) Course currently pursuing Under Graduate Post Graduate ( ) ( )

a) Management ( ) ( ) b) Engineering ( ) ( ) c) IT ( ) ( ) d) Any other (Please specify)____________________________________ 9) You are enrolled under a) Free seat ( ) b) Paid seat ( ) c) Any other (Please specify)____________________________________ 10) Name and address of the Institute (Optional)_________________________ ________________________________________________________________

PART B
(You may tick ( ) more than one option) 11) How do you come to know about this institute? a) Through advertisement in newspaper ( ) b) Through a friend ( ) c) Through guardian/relatives ( ) d) Through internet ( ) e) Any other (Please specify)____________________________________ 12) Annual fees charged for the course Rs.___________ 13) Amount of other remittance to the Institute in addition to annual fee Rs.______ 14) What is the duration of the summer training or industrial training in the full course duration? a) 6 weeks ( ) b) 8 weeks ( ) c) 3 months ( ) d) 6 months ( ) e) Any other (Please specify)____________________________________ 15) Reasons for pursuing this programme
1 a) Parents/Guardians advice b) Self interest c) Influence of peers and friends d) Good scope of job opportunity e) Good social status and success f) Matching with previous qualifications g) Easy course 2 3 4 5

h) Affordable fee i) No other alternative j) Any other (Pl. specify)_________________________________

16) Reasons for joining the present Institute.

1 a) Convenient location b) Affordable fee c) Good brand name d) Good faculty e) Good Infrastructure/college campus f) Good placement potential of the institute g) Good extra curricular activity h) Availability of desired course/specialisation i) Any other (Pl. specify)_________________________________ 2 3 4 5

17) Your expectations on completion of the course

1 a) Good chance of going abroad b) Further speciasation and studies c) Good status 1 d) Professional carrier e) Assured good job f) Self employment potential g) Good money and future comforts h) High achieving and challenging field i) Helpful in family business j) Any other (Pl. specify)_________________________________ 2 3 4 5 2 3 4 5

18) Level of your satisfaction and dissatisfaction with each of the following
1 a) Academic qualification of faculty b) Experience of faculty c) Industry exposure of the faculty d) Special expert lectures/seminars e) Teaching aids and other facilities available f) Teaching methodology adopted by faculty g) Industry interaction arranged by the institute h) Updation of the course vis--vis current requirements i) Facilities offered vis--vis cost j) Research activity in the institute k) Innovative teaching/learning practices l) Remedial teaching/counseling activities 2 3 4 5

m) Arrangement of industrial training n) Student teacher relationship o) Syllabus covered

19) We believe that faculty, as intellectual capital plays a significant role in enhancing the quality of an institute. Do you agree? Yes ( ) No ( )

If yes, please mark the relative importance and availability of the following attributes expected of the faculty. IMPORTANCE AVAILABILITY
1 a) Communication skill b) Command on the subject c) Competent to enforce discipline in the class d) Sincerity and commitment e) Encourages class participation 1 f) Personal involvement with students g) Timely feedback h) Accessibility and openness for queries i) Use of modern teaching methodologies j) Academic Leadership quality k) Ability to integrate the curriculum of the subject taught with the overall courses l) Ability to design the project/assignment to test understanding of the course m) To be creative/open and adaptable to changes 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

20) Mark the Importance of the following in relation to the programme you are pursuing
1 a) Academic content of the course b) Educational value of industrial training c) Maintaining time-schedule of examination d) Fairness of internal assessment e) Sound and effective evaluation system f) Interaction with faculty g) Field trips and industry training h) Exposure of student to corporate sector i) Placement facility in the institute j) Institute brand image in the society k) Efforts by the Institute/faculty for overall personality development of student 2 3 4 5

21) We believe that in todays competitive environment support services plays an important role in shaping the brand image of an institute. Do you agree? Yes ( ) No ( )

If yes, please mark the relative importance and availability of the following attributes. IMPORTANCE AVILABILITY
1 a) Availability of the books in the library b) Availability of latest/ relevant journal c) Access to other resources/ aids in the library d) Reading/ consultation facilities in the library e) Xerox facilities provided in the library f) Availability of computer lab/ latest software 1 g) Internet facility h) Course related CD & study material i) Workshop and seminar j) Basic amenities in the hostel k) Quality of food in the hostel mess l) Cost of food and other facilities in the hostel m) Comfortable environment in hostel n) Quality of canteen facilities o) Prices of canteen stuff p) Institutes transport arrangement q) Vehicle parking shed r) Health center s) Welfare schemes t) Grievance redressal cell u) Play ground and Sports goods 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5

22) Do you agree that the fee charged by the institute is reasonable? a) Strongly disagree b) Disagree c) Neither agree nor disagree d) Agree e) Strongly agree ( ( ( ( ( ) ) ) ) )

23) How do you find your institute in comparison to others similar institutes? a) Far worse than others b) Worse than others ( ) ( )

c) Similar d) Better than others e) Far better than others

( ) ( ) ( )

24) How do you find yourself in comparison to your batch mates in other institutes on academic and related parameter? a) Far worse than others b) Worse than others c) Similar d) Better than others e) Far better than others ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) ( )