Factors Influencing Student Satisfaction in Higher Education. The Case of a Georgian State University[Les facteurs influant la satisfaction des étudiants dans le système de l'éducation supérieure. Le cas de l'université d'Etat en Géorgie]

With the increasing importance, higher education is considered as a major asset for any nation's socio-economic and technological development. The quality of education offered by the higher education institutions directly impacts country's performance. That is why, number of scientific researches and public reports and debates agrees on the importance of the quality management in higher education. There is also an important debate on a link between the service quality and students' satisfaction. On the one hand, there is a logical dependence of the degree of satisfaction to the perceived quality. On the other hand, number of studies have also identified a link between students' satisfaction and their loyalty. This study looks at the determinants of student satisfaction in Georgian Higher Education Institutions. With the objective to detect the main components of service quality influencing students' satisfaction, the article uses HEdPERF as a measuring instrument of higher education service quality. Data is collected from 793 students of one of the largest universities of the country. An exploratory factor analysis six factors for the further examination. After scale development, a multiple regression analysis is used to test the research hypothesis. The results of the study show that the administrative factors are the most sensitive and have a positive influence on the students' satisfaction. Also, there is a positive relation between academic programs and student's satisfaction. The disproportionate attitude is observed between the importance of academic factors and satisfaction.