Abstract. Higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide are increasingly being recognized as integral components of the service industry. However, established models for assessing service quality, such as SERVQUAL and HiEduQual, have primarily focused on foreign higher education systems. This study explored the unique context of a Philippine State University. It aims to localize existing quality assurance mechanisms by developing a tool to evaluate service quality from the viewpoint of undergraduate students. The results offer valuable insights into evolving service quality assessment practices within Philippine state universities and colleges (SUC), serving as a template for refinement and adaptation in similar contexts. 708 undergraduate students answered the initial 52-item questionnaire. After initial data analysis, only 630 cases were subjected to further analysis using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). This resulted in a seven-factor model comprising 31 indicators, exhibiting favorable model fit indices (RMSEA = 0.039, CMIN/DF = 2.073, PCFA = 0.785, PNFI = 0.751, CFI = 0.951). These factors encompassed the following dimensions: ease of doing business, leadership quality, teacher quality, knowledge services, activities, e-governance, and continuous improvement. The findings demonstrated strong internal consistency and reliability across all scale factors. Convergent and discriminant validity were also confirmed. It is recommended that SUCs consider adopting the localized tool in their internal quality assessment procedures to complement existing service quality assessment mechanisms. As the tool is specifically tailored to students’ perspectives as primary end users of SUC services, further research can focus on integrating the results of the study to develop a multi-stakeholder internal quality assessment tool or framework to meet evolving needs and expectations.

Keywords: higher education; service quality; tool development; quality assurance; state universities and colleges