One of the Finest Schools in the Country? The Expectations and Views on the Quality of the Education Expressed by the Students Attending the School of Economics and Commercial Law in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Abstract

The purpose of our study is to examine if the education given at the School of Economics and Commercial Law at Gothenburg University meets the students’ expectations. Furthermore, we want examine the students’ view of the education quality and find out what their perception of quality is. A 2002 evaluation, made by the National Agency for Higher Education in Sweden concerning education within the field of business economics given at Swedish universities, serves as a background for our study.

In order to attain our purpose we chose to do in-depth interviews with students who currently study business economics at C-level. This resulted in twelve interviews divided into four groups of three, one group for each field of concentration; accounting, finance, marketing and management and organization. We also deliberately chose students of different ages and backgrounds and mixed genders.

We came to the conclusion that the students’ expectations do play a pivotal role in how they perceive the quality of the education. The school’s good reputation and name cause many students to have very high expectations. The students’ high expectations lead to high demands that the school is obliged to fulfill in order for the quality to be perceived well. If the school cannot meet the students’ expectations, their view of the education quality is affected negatively. Most of the respondents seem to be satisfied with the education but everyone had suggestions on how to improve it, which helped identify certain deficiencies. For the students, quality is primarily a question of competent teachers with regard to pedagogics.