HIGH SCHOOL QUALITY AND STUDENT SATISFACTION OF SEMESTA BOARDING SCHOOL

Abstract

In light of the imminent rise in tuition fees, High School funding cuts and fears of declining student numbers, gaining a sustainable competitive advantage in the higher education (Secondary Education ) sector is at the forefront of many high schools’ agendas. In what can be categorised as an extremely intangible service sector, one way that a High School can differentiate their service offering from the competition is through the provision of excellent service quality. This study investigates perceptions of service quality by Importance Performance Analysis method (IPA) at the Semesta Bilingual Boarding High School of Semarang Central Java, collecting viewpoints from 9, 10, 11 and 12 grade students from different academic year groups. This study provides High School (Secondary School) service management with a ‘snapshot’ of the current provision of service quality at the Semesta Bilingual Boarding School. It also offers suggestions that could be implemented to improve service quality, given the limited resources available to management. Due to the dynamic nature of service quality, it is essential to conduct further research to build on this study, in order to ensure that the Semesta High School remains competitive in what is an increasingly turbulent environment