Quality Assurance: The Keystone to Learners Satisfaction: The Case of Zimbabwe Open University Mashonaland East Region

The issue of quality impinges on the work of Open and Distance Learning universities in a number of ways, for instance, competing for students, comparison with other universities, compliance with regulatory authorities, and keeping up with world trends are some of the reasons that compel institutions of higher learning to regard quality issues seriously.  The process of quality assurance therefore compares the quality of a product or service with a minimum standard set either by the producer or provider or by some external government or industry standards authority. By rights, this standard should bear some relationship to best practice. The aim in quality assurance is to ensure that a product or service is fit for the market. As universities have increased drastically in number, the students’ endorsement of the quality of services offered by the institution becomes critical. It is against this backdrop that this research was conducted in a bid to find out the students satisfaction with regard to quality of services offered by Zimbabwe Open University, Mashonaland East Region.A maxim of quality is that it is impossible to demonstrate improvement without measurement, hence the need to work with quality criteria. It should be born in mind that quality of services in education is about satisfying the learner and the learners’ endorsement of the services that you provide as an institution is critical for the institution to retain clients. Collecting and analysing data on the implementation of the different quality criteria constitutes an important part of ongoing self-improvement.A total of 300 students from all the four faculties of the Zimbabwe Open University, Mashonaland East Region made up the population. Out of this population, 100 made it into the sample as follows: (32%) from the faculty of Arts and Education, (25%) from Applied Social Sciences, (16%) from Science and Technology and (27%) from the Faculty of Commerce and Law. The study adopted the descriptive survey design which is essentially appropriate on areas where human perceptions are required. Due to its ability to solicit information deeply buried in the minds and attitudes of people, and its ability to reveal the true present state of affairs in a given set up, the design was seen to be the most appropriate one. Two instruments used in data collection were the questionnaire, and focus group discussion to enable triangulation in order to enhance validity and reliability of data.  The study was able to determine learners’ levels of satisfaction and expectations on the quality of service delivery. The study recommends the use of online registration, computerization of the library and ensuring that there are no missing results.