Pillars and Systemic Bottlenecks: Quality Assessment of Graduate Education Based on Satisfaction Data and Diagnosis of Critical Structural Gaps
Keywords:
Student Satisfaction, Graduate Education Quality, Gap Analysis, Policy ProposalAbstract
This research assessed current students' satisfaction with the quality of graduate program management at Yala Rajabhat University and identified critical structural gaps affecting the overall quality of graduate education. A quantitative approach was used to collect data from 205 graduate students (=0.963). The results revealed that students’ satisfaction with the overall quality of program management was high (
=4.44). The main strengths were the instructors, thesis advisors, or independent study advisors, which received the highest overall score (
=4.61, the highest level). In-depth analysis revealed critical structural gaps in research funding or publication costs, which received the lowest scores across all questions (
=3.73, moderate level). This situation indicates a quality paradox between high-quality personnel and low-resource support systems, a systemic bottleneck that hinders students’ ability to graduate according to the publication requirements. These findings highlight the urgent need for universities to develop policy proposals based on empirical decision-making (EBDM) to allocate resources and establish clear and adequate mechanisms to support research publication, in line with high graduate production standards and local development strategies.
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