The objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between service quality, program quality and student satisfaction in the context of higher education. In the context of higher education, most of the private universities are incapable of upholding the quality of higher studies in Bangladesh. Subsequently, student dissatisfaction has been detected, and institutions have failed to establish a positive image in the minds of employers. Moreover, in depth investigation on student satisfaction is under-researched in respect of private universities of Bangladesh. Past researchers have examined the only direct affiliation between service quality and student satisfaction, ignored program quality absolutely. The Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is used to analyze the influence of independent variables and hypotheses testing. The population of this study was fourth-year business students of nine ‘grade one’ private universities in Bangladesh. Data (n=331) were gathered from students pursuing studies at different private universities in Bangladesh. The study has discovered that service quality and program quality both have statistically strong significant impact on student satisfaction but program quality has explained more variance on student satisfaction. These unique findings imply that academic authorities should nurture the program quality rigorously in order to enhance student satisfaction without ignoring service quality. The findings of this study would bring benefits to both practitioners and academics for formulating appropriate strategies to ensure student satisfaction, especially in the perspective of private higher education.
Keywords: Service Quality, and student satisfaction, institutional image, program quality
