Scientific Journal Of King Faisal University
Basic and Applied Sciences

ع

Scientific Journal of King Faisal University / Humanities and Management Sciences

Educational Services and Women’s Education: Saudi Arabia

(Mufadhi Ratyan Alsharari)

Abstract

This study sought to identify the impact of current educational services on women’s education in Saudi universities. The study community focused on female students from Northern Border University, which has higher education services in relation to the target group environment of (n=775). Drawing on the perspectives of female students at the university, the study analyzed relationships between the educational and academic services provided (education services, health services, sports clubs and kindergartens) and individual education satisfaction and attainment. A questionnaire was designed to collect data from the study sample using a survey analysis methodology. Findings showed that higher quality academic and educational services had a positive impact on female students’ satisfaction and education, and played a positive role in raising the level of the education of Saudi women. There is a need to strengthen and improve academic curriculum services and the competencies of teaching staff, together with the continuous improvement of kindergarten and nursery services, in order to motivate female students academically and maintain a reasonable level of satisfaction with these services. The study recommends that the impact of health and sports services on the academic achievement of female students be examined in depth.

KEYWORDS
Universities, satisfaction level, health services, sports clubs, kindergartens, quality

PDF

References

Abalkhail, J.M. (2017). Women and leadership: Challenges and opportunities in Saudi higher education. Career Development International, 22(2), 165–83. 
Ahmed, H., Ahmed, M. and Siddiek,  A.G. (2012). Strategic quality management in the Arab higher education institutes: A descriptive and analytical study. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(24), n/a. 
Al-Hazzaa, H.M. (2018). Physical inactivity in Saudi Arabia revisited: A systematic review of inactivity prevalence and perceived barriers to active living. International Journal of Health Sciences, 12(6), 50–64. 
Al-Samarraie, H., Teng, B.K., Alzahrani, A.I. and Alalwan, N. (2018). E-learning continuance satisfaction in higher education: A unified perspective from instructors and students. Studies in Higher Education, 43(11), 2003–19. 
Al Alhareth, Y., Al Alhareth, Y. and Al Dighrir, I. (2015). Review of women and society in Saudi Arabia. American Journal of Educational Research, 3(2), 121–5. 
Al Rawaf, H. and Simmons, C. (1991). The education of women in Saudi Arabia. Comparative Education, 27(3), 287–95. 
Aljabreen, H.H. and Lash, M. (2016). Preschool education in Saudi Arabia: Past, present, and future. Childhood Education, 92(4), 311–19. 
Almalki, S. and Ganong, L. (2018). Family life education in Saudi Arabia. In: M., Robila, A. Taylor (eds.) Global Perspectives on Family Life Education (pp. 381-396). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Almansour, S. and Kempner, K. (2016). The role of Arab women faculty in the public sphere. Studies in Higher Education, 41(5), 874–86. 
Alshaghdali, N. (2018). Quality of Women's Learning Experiences in Digital Information Systems and Learning Environment in Higher Education in Saudi Arabia. PhD Thesis, University of Brighton, Copenhagen, Netherlands.
Alsuwaida, N. (2016). Women's education in Saudi Arabia. Journal of International Education Research, 12(4), 111–8. 
Bahkali, S., Almaiman, A., Bahkali, A., Almaiman, S., Househ, M.S. and Alsurimi, K. (2015). The role of social media in promoting women's health education in Saudi Arabia. In: 13th International Conference in Greece on Informatics, Management and Technology in Healthcare, Athens, Greece, 09–11/07/2015.
Bamufleh, R.A., Al-Zahrani, A.E. and Yousuf, S.A. (2017). Effectiveness of contraceptive counseling on women knowledge and practice in Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Nursing Didactics, 7(5), 30–6. 
Burkinshaw, P. (2015). Higher Education, Leadership and Women Vice Chancellors: Fitting into Communities of Practice of Masculinities. London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan, Springer.
Butt, Z.B. and Kashif, U.R. (2010). A study examining the students satisfaction in higher education. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2(2), 5446–50. 
Çerri, S. (2012). Assessing the quality of higher education services using a modified SERVQUAL scale. Annales Universitatis Apulensis, Series Oeconomica, 14(2), n/a. 
Dicker, R., Garcia, M., Kelly, A. and Mulrooney, H. (2018). What does ‘quality’in higher education mean? Perceptions of staff, students and employers. Studies in Higher Education, 44(8), 1–15. 
Elliott, A.C. and Woodward, W.A. (2007). Statistical Analysis Quick Reference Guidebook: With SPSS Examples. New Delhi, India: Sage-Printed in USA.
Field, A. (2009). Discovering Statistics Using SPSS. 3rd edition. London, United kingdom: SAGE Publications Ltd.
Hamdan, A. (2005). Women and education in Saudi Arabia: challenges and achievements. International Education Journal, 6(1), 42–64. 
Hodges, J. (2017). Cracking the walls of leadership: Women in Saudi Arabia. Gender in Management: An International Journal, 32(1), 33–46. DOI:10.1108/GM-11-2015-0106
Jejeebhoy, S.J. (1995). Women's education, autonomy, and reproductive behaviour: Experience from developing countries. OUP Catalogue, n/a(1), 291–306. 
Mahmoud, S.S. (2018). Saudi parents' perceptions of the kind of help they offer to their primary school kids. English Language Teaching, 11(3), 102–12. 
Makeen, H.A., Albarraq, A.A., Banji, O.J.F, Machanchery, S., Meraya, A., Alqahtani, S., Mubaraki, A.A. and Banji, D. (2019). Preparedness for handling injuries by female primary school teachers: A cross-sectional survey in southwestern Saudi Arabia. Journal of Acute Disease, 8(6), 221–39. 
Malik, M.E., Rizwan, Q.D. and Ali, U. (2010). The impact of service quality on students’ satisfaction in higher education Institutes of Punjab. Journal of Management Research, 2(2), 1–11. 
Napitupulu, D., Rahim, R., Abdullah, D., Setiawan, M.I., Abdillah, L.A.,  Ahmar, A.S., Simarmata, J., Hidayat, R., Nurdiyanto, H. and Pranolo, A. (2018). Analysis of student satisfaction toward quality of service facility. In: Conference Series- Joint Workshop of KO2PI and 2nd International Conference on Mathematics, Science, Technology, Education, and their Applications (2nd ICMSTEA), Makassar, Indonesia, 3–4/10/2016.
Nunnally, J.C. (1994). Psychometric Theory. New York, USA: Tata McGraw-Hill Education.
Peterson, H. and Jordansson, B. (2017). Gender equality as a core academic value: Undoing gender in a ‘non-traditional’ Swedish university. In: H. Peterson, B. Jordansson (eds.) Gendered Success in Higher Education (pp. 27-47) London, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.
Pimentel, J.L. (2010). A note on the usage of Likert Scaling for research data analysis. USM R and D Journal, 18(2), 109–12. 
Rabaah, A., Doaa, D. and Asma, A. (2016). Early childhood education in Saudi Arabia: Report. World Journal of Education, 6(5), 1–8. 
Rugh, W.A. (2002). Education in Saudi Arabia: Choices and constraints. Middle East Policy, 9(2), 2–40. 
Saleh, M.A. (1986). Development of higher education in Saudi Arabia. Higher Education, 15(1), 17–23. 
Shepherd, S. (2017). Why are there so few female leaders in higher education: A case of structure or agency? Management in Education, 31(2), 82–7. 
Sidani, Y. (2005). Women, work, and Islam in Arab societies. Women in Management Review, 20(7), 498–512. 
Sidani, Y.M. (2016). Working women in Arab countries: A case for cautious optimism. In: Y.M. Sidani (ed.) Handbook on Well-Being of Working Women. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer.
Wagner, A., Merino, E. A.D., Martinelli, M., Polacinski, É., da Silva Wegner, R. and Godoy, L.P. (2018). The quality of services in a higher education institution: An evaluation for the integration of AHP, SERVQUAl and QFD methods. Disciplinarum Sciential Sociais Aplicadas, 13(1), 109–30.