Studying the services quality of Faculty of Physical Education, University of Guilan from the perspective of postgraduate students

  By studying the gap between expectations and perceptions of students from services, we can provide the base for developing appropriate programs for the improvement of services. The purpose of this study was to investigate the service quality of Faculty of Physical Education, University of Guilan from the perspective of postgraduate students. This study was descriptive and the statistical population was all postgraduate students of Guilan University, 108 students were randomly selected to participate in the study and respond to the SERVQUAL questionnaire. These questionnaires have three parts including quality of education, research and sport facilities with a Likert scale of 7 (strongly disagree=1 to strongly agree = 7), which evaluate the five dimensions of the services quality (visual elements, reliability, responsiveness, confidence and empathy) in both the perceptions and expectations sections. The visual justifiability tool was confirmed by experts and its reliability was calculated using internal correlation coefficient in a pilot study. The results of data analysis using the Wilcoxon and Friedman Rankings showed that students' perceptions rating of services quality (current situation) was significantly lower than their expectations in all aspects of services quality including education research and sport facilities of the Faculty of Physical Education, University of Guilan, and in other words there was a negative gap in the research section for all dimensions except responsiveness (P<0.05). Since there was a negative gap in all aspects of the offered services quality, it is suggested that the school administrators and officials could reduce or eliminate the gap by creating formal and informal canals with students. In other hand, right features of meeting students’ expectations as well as improving physical environment, places and education, research and service facilities to reduce the dimensions gap