A Study of the Determinants to School Image and Reputation in Higher Education Institutions in Hong Kong

Having a rapid expansion and huge investment in the higher education sector in Hong Kong in last ten years, especially the development of self-financed programmes, it becomes necessary to address the issue of the education quality, student satisfaction and reputation of institutions. In order to investigate the relationships of these issues, this study conducted a research by approaching four self-financed institutions in Hong Kong and 100 student respondents were randomly selected in each selected institution. Consequently, the questionnaire was distributed to 320 students in these four higher education institutions. The questionnaire survey elicited a response from 297 students from four self-financed higher education institutions, which gave a response rate of 92.81%. This study found that teaching quality has a positive influence on student satisfaction whilst student satisfaction has a positive influence on the respective student loyalty and school image. However, there is no indication of a positive influence of the respective student loyalty, school image and student satisfaction on school reputation. Maximizing student recruitment rate is one of the main goals of self-financed higher education institutions. In order to achieve this objective, the education institutions having a good reputation will have the privilege of admitting high quality students. This study contributes theoretically and practically in the area of self-financed higher education by verifying the relationships between teaching quality, student satisfaction, school image, student loyalty, and school reputation.