Purpose - The changes in social and cultural framework, and even more in the economic order, have pushed the education system and higher education in particular, into a new environment in which quality plays an important role. Thus, the purpose of the current study is to develop a multidimensional scale to measure service quality in higher education in the Indian context. Design/methodology/approach - The study, descriptive, diagnostic, and causal in nature, has been conducted on students of higher education, particularly technical education in India. A questionnaire consisting of 26 items was developed to measure the service quality construct and its dimensions. Construct validation using exploratory factor analysis showed an interpretable latent structure consisting of seven dimensions. Findings - It was observed that service quality in higher education setting comprises seven dimensions viz., input quality, curriculum, academic facilities, industry interaction, interaction quality, support facilities and non academic processes. Research limitations/implications - The study holds implications for institutes of technical education in India that seek to improve the quality of service that they provide. The scale developed can be used by practitioners as a diagnostic tool for identifying poor and/or excellent service performance. Originality/value - While studies in quality management for education have been conducted, this study lays emphasis on the student as a customer of education, and proposes to develop a scale to measure their perception of service quality. The study is an attempt towards developing and empirically validating a measurement scale for service quality in higher education in the Indian context. © Copyright - 2013 Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.