Students loyalty to their university: students’ satisfaction and its drivers

Abstract

In the world, Portugal included, Universities and Higher Education Institutions increasingly need means to capture and retain the attention of current students and those who intend to enter Higher Education. The purpose of this study is to build and test a model that enables a better understanding of the predictors of student’s loyalty towards Higher Education institutions. Through the Literature it was possible to identify some factors that potentially influence students' decision at the moment of entering: social life, intellectual growth, graduate employment, academic reputation and quality of education. Those factors were considered in our model as predictors of satisfaction, and consequent loyalty, towards Higher Education institutions. The primary data collection was conducted through an online survey, applied to Economics students of two different Portuguese universities – Universidade do Minho and Universidade do Porto. The analysis showed that most of the factors selected in the literature has impact on students' satisfaction with the Educational Institution where they are enrolled. Only intellectual growth and graduate employment did not show a significant relationship with students’ satisfaction. Moreover, this study revealed that, in agreement with the literature, students’ satisfaction has a positive impact on students’ loyalty.

Date of Award	16 Dec 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Joana Machado (Supervisor) & Carla Martins (Co-Supervisor)