Prompted by an increasing concern for quality in higher education in Hong Kong, a study was conducted at Lingnan University, a small liberal arts institution, to measure the influence of university education on students' academic, social and personal growth. The purpose of the study is to assess if value has been added to students as a result of their university experience and the kind of education they received. The empirical investigation adopts an approach of assessing quality of university education using data collected from individual students about their subjective experiences during the university years and their perceptions of the value of the educational experience. [Copyright of Quality in Higher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1353832042000299531]