IJRSS Volume 4, Issue 3 ISSN: 2249-2496 _________________________________________________________ A Quarterly Double-Blind Peer Reviewed Refereed Open Access International e-Journal - Included in the International Serial Directories Indexed & Listed at: Ulrich's Periodicals Directory ©, U.S.A., Open J-Gage, India as well as in Cabell’s Directories of Publishing Opportunities, U.S.A. International Journal of Research in Social Sciences http://www.ijmra.us 350 August 2014 STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF SERVICE QUALITY IN HOSPITALITY EDUCATION: A COMPARATIVE STUDY Rajeev Sharma (UGC-JRF-Ph.D. Research Scholar) * Naveen Aggarwal (UGC-JRF-Ph.D. Research Scholar)* Sumant Sharma (Asst. Professor)* Abstract With the advent of 21 st century, the whole education sector is in upswings with increase in educational institutions and universities across the entire nation. But has it increased the standard of education per se?, a pertinent question to be asked. Hospitality education too, like others has seen a major upswing with institutions providing hospitality education mushrooming all over the country. Having said that, it must also be noted that there is essentially a gap between industry and academia where often, the students‟ perception towards hospitality education as a whole is not very heartening. This research paper analyzes the students‟ perception particularly at Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra campus wherein their perception was studied on the basis of different variables. The study is based on the premise that graduates and post graduates will have divergent perception and so would students‟ of tourism and hotel management. The questionnaire asking students to rate the education has been tested using Chronbach alpha and the resultant data is analyzed through „t‟ test and ANOVA. Key Words; Hospitality Education, Service Quality, Training and development. * Department of Tourism & Hotel Management, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra.