The Conceptual Scheme for Managing University Stakeholders' Satisfaction

Universities have to face many changes in the sector of higher education caused by the current dynamic development in this sector. With the decline in state support, increased competition and unfavourable demographic progress, universities are forced to establish and improve their relationships with new and existing stakeholders. Research on relationships among universities and stakeholders has historically focused on the different factors and their influence on improving stakeholder satisfaction with the quality of university services and on strengthening cooperation. Some studies are focused on stakeholders' classification according to their importance for higher education institutions. However, there are fewer scientific studies which concentrate on the intricacies of managing stakeholder satisfaction according to key areas of Universities. This study aims to design a conceptual scheme for managing stakeholder satisfaction depending on the importance of stakeholders in the key fields of Universities. The research was done in three steps. As the first stage, university stakeholders were identified via interview. In the second stage, the following key fields relating to university activities were identified via focus group - education, science and research, premises and technology. In the third stage, the importance of the particular stakeholders was identified for the fields mentioned in the stage two. In order to gain the necessary information, a set interview method was chosen. Native students were identified as the most important stakeholder for the field - education, academic staff as the most important for the field - research and development and enterprises as the most important stakeholder for the field - premises and equipment. The results of the research conducted provided the authors with a convenient base for formulating the conceptual scheme for managing stakeholder universities' satisfaction.