This article critically revisits the concept of measuring student satisfaction with higher education quality through the lens of Pierre Bourdieu’s habitus theory. As global agendas for quality assurance increasingly emphasize student-centered learning and experiential engagement, the «student satisfaction» metric has become a widely employed indicator of educational quality. However, this measure is not socially neutral: its level is contingent upon students’ cultural capital, linguistic practices, social networks, and conformity to legitimate norms within the university field. In response, we propose a multi-level set of indicators tailored to the Kazakh context, encompassing pedagogical practices, the hidden curriculum, language regime, infrastructure, social integration, symbolic recognition and fairness, the conversion of capitals, and outcome trajectories.

Our model suggests that student satisfaction should not be interpreted solely as a proxy for service quality but also as a sociological measure capable of revealing the potential mechanisms of social inequality reproduction within higher education. This framework aligns with paradigms of quality assessment proposed by Harvey and Green (1993) and ENQA (2015), providing both theoretical foundations to inform targeted policy interventions in educational practice. This approach allows not only the descriptive documentation of outcomes but also a critical interpretation of the effects of structural adaptations and symbolic violence on student experience. Overall, this study provides a theoretically informed sociological perspective on the measurement of higher education quality in Kazakhstan, emphasizing the intersection between student experience and institutional structures.