Scientific Bulletin – Economic Sciences, Volume 15/ Issue 2 38 ESTIMATE AND ANALYSIS OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING SCHOOL (IEK) STUDENTS’ SATISFACTION REGARDING THE QUALITY OF STUDIES PROVIDED BY THESE SCHOOLS Sofia ANASTASIADOU 1 , Thomas FOTIADIS 2 , Lazaros ANASTASIADIS 3 , George IAKOVIDIS 4 , Xristina FOTIADOU 1 , Chrysanthi TILIAKOU 1 1 University of Western Macedonia, Greece, sanastasiadou@uowm.gr 2 Democritus University of Thrace, Greece 3 Political Scientist, Greece 4 School of Pedagogical and Technological Education (ASPETE), Greece Abstract: Measuring students’ satisfaction renders great service to the post-secondary educational institutions, since it offers the possibility to detect the strengths and weaknesses of these institutions and determine the areas that should be improved. Students’ satisfaction goes beyond teachers’ evaluation, which is a short sighted perspective, and includes wider concepts of students’ learning experience. In this context, knowing the degree of satisfaction is not enough. What is rather important is to comprehend the factors contributing to this satisfaction. The present survey aims at revealing the causes leading to IEK students’ satisfaction or obstructing it. The research was carried out at IEK of West Macedonia, Greece and the research tool used was SEVQUAL. Moreover, Analyse des Correspondences was used for data analysis. Results relating to students’ satisfaction and quality of studies were not encouraging. Finally, problems affecting the quality of studies came forward. Key words: Vocational Training, School students, Satisfaction. JEL Classification Codes: A14, Α22, Ρ36. 1. FRAMEWORK The measurement of student satisfaction is of major importance in post-secondary education institutions as it helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of these organizations and discover areas for improvement. As Sultan and Wong (2010) characteristically mention research pertaining to students’ satisfaction and the quality of educational services is relatively limited. However, surveys were conducted, which connect assurance and reliability with students’ satisfaction. Specifically, All-Allak and Bakhet (2011) report that the relation, between assurance and reliability parameters on the one hand and satisfaction on the other, is positive and statistically significant. These conclusions agree with the research findings of Ham and Hayduk (2003). Hishamuddin et al., (2008) mention that the relation of the following five quality parameters, namely tangibility, responsiveness, reliability, assurance and empathy, with students’ satisfaction is strong. In greater detail, Hishamuddin et al., (2008) claim that the strongest relation of the above mentioned five quality parameters with students’ satisfaction appears between the empathy parameter and satisfaction.