MARKETING RESEARCH OF THE BELIEVABILITY OF EXPECTATIONS OF APPLICANTS FOR ADMISSION TO A UNIVERSITY

Currently, all things being equal, the educational service quality is the determining factor in the choice of an educational institution for training. On the part of direct users (the students), the quality of educational services is evaluated on the basis of the subjective assessment and individual perception changing over time. This assessment depends as well on the degree of conformity of the results of education to the expectations of an applicant for admission. Moreover, these expectations of the students are formed in the period of such services promotion by the educational institutions. The conclusions of graduates about the quality of the educational service will be positive if the results of the study meet the expectations (or they are higher), or negative in the case the results are lower than their expectations. The paper presents the results of the empirical research on the issues of the compliance of the educational service provided to the expectations of applicants for admission. The authors determined the degree of compliance based on the empirical studies carried out in the Institute of Design and Technologies of FSBEI of Higher Education “Omsk State Technical University”. The degree of compliance of the service results to the expectations of graduates was evaluated according to the following scale: “the results are beyond expectations”; “completely comply” (the expectations are completely fulfilled); “comply” (the expectations are generally fulfilled); “partially comply”; “do not comply” (the expectations are not fulfilled). Thus, the greatest discrepancies between the expectations and the learning results of the students were identified on the issues of their general understanding of a future profession, the forms and methods of training at the University, the types of independent work and the current assessment, the filling of the curriculum with disciplines and the organization of practices. Taking into account the results of the research, the authors developed the recommendations for improving the marketing activities of the University and the formation of the believable consumer expectations of students.

Omsk State Technical University, quality of educational services, educational service, requirements and expectations of users, believability of expectations of applicants, results correspondence to expectation, university marketing activities