Higher Education Institution Student Satisfaction as Predictor of Student Referral Inclination: The Case of Hei A

This paper aimed to explore and investigate how students perceived the services they are offered at HEI Aand how student satisfaction acts as a predictor of student referral inclination. It focused on proving that there is a relation between Student Referral Inclination and Customer Satisfaction. This study can serve as a guide to Higher Education Institution Administrators and Marketing Managers for them to determine and substantiate consistently high retention rates. For this purpose,a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was employed as a method for data gathering. Respondents were students with different courses from HEI A. The researchers used guide questions that were checked by the research adviser to facilitate the FGD. The results reveal that when students are highly satisfied with the services and facilities of an academic institution, they are highly inclined to refer their school to other students who are looking for a college or university where they can resume their higher education. One of the implications of this study is that there is a need for the institution to focus on becoming student-centered in order to cater the needs of the students.

Keywords: Higher Education Institution, Student Satisfaction, Referral Inclination, Customer Satisfaction, Student Referral.