1 THE ROLE AND IMPACT OF ON LINE COMMUNICATION ON UNIVERSITY STUDENTS’S PERCEPTION OF SERVICE Alessandro Ruggieri, Barbara Aquilani, Cecilia Silvestri University „Tuscia‟ of Viterbo – Faculty of Economics - Via del Paradiso, 47 – 01100 Viterbo b.aquilani@unitus.it Abstract The aim of the paper is to study the relationship between University on line communication mix and student perception of the quality of the service being offered. In particular, we analysed the extent to which on line communication tools and contents are important in determining the students‟ perception of the quality of this service, looking at the contents and information students would like to have on line and which tools are most used. It is also necessary to understand if there is a clear link between type of information to be transmitted and preferred tool. We expect to find that the on line communication mix has a direct and important impact on student perception of the quality of service the university offers, especially when contents and tools are managed carefully by institutions. The reason for this is that communication, in general, is important in determining customer perception of the quality of service and also because of the primary target Universities have, let‟s say „generation Y‟, and the possibility web 2.0 gives to shape the communication and its level of interactivity as desired by the audience. To reach this aim, after a brief review of the literature on the relationship between the communication mix and the users‟ perception of the quality of service, we constructed a questionnaire to survey students of the „Tuscia‟ University, Viterbo. Keywords: on line communication, perceived quality of the service, university, faculty, students, communication strategies. 1. Introduction and objectives Especially in today‟s digital era communication plays an ever increasing role in shaping the relationships between universities and students. Progress in information technology allows people to become active producers and disseminators of content (Jenkins, 2007; O‟Reilly,