Quality of Service and Student Satisfaction in Higher Education: Relationship, Trends, Convergences, and Gaps

Background/purpose. Higher education institutions face increasing pressure to improve the quality of services offered to students, who are now considered central actors in their academic journey. In this context, student satisfaction has become a key indicator of institutional performance and competitiveness. However, the literature examining the relationship between perceived service quality and student satisfaction remains fragmented and heterogeneous.

Materials/methods. This study adopts a bibliometric approach based on the Scopus database. From an initial search that yielded 485 documents, a final sample of 261 articles (2014–2024) in the fields of Sociology, Business, and Economics was analyzed using VOSviewer. The indicators used include the temporal evolution of publications, co-authorship networks, leading journals, and thematic clusters.

Results. The analysis reveals (1) a steady increase in the number of publications over the last decade, (2) the emergence of three main thematic clusters centered around service quality, student satisfaction, and student experience, and (3) the central role of specific journals, authors, and countries in shaping the field. These findings confirm the growing prominence of research linking service marketing and university management.

Conclusion. This work provides an integrated mapping of research on service quality and student satisfaction in higher education. It highlights dominant trends, identifies research gaps, and offers directions for future theoretical and empirical studies, thereby contributing to a better understanding of institutional performance in universities.

Keywords: Service quality, student satisfaction, higher education, bibliometric analysis, Scopus, VOSviewer

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