<![CDATA[The implementation of Integrity Zone initiatives in higher education emphasizes transparency, accountability, and service quality as key principles of good governance. However, the standardization of student complaint-handling systems within the Integrity Zone framework remains underexplored. This study investigates students’ needs for a standardized complaint-handling system in the Department of English Language and Literature, Faculty of Languages and Arts, Universitas Negeri Medan, Indonesia. Using a descriptive needs analysis approach as the preliminary stage of an ADDIE-based Research and Development (R&D) project, data were collected from 135 students, consisting of 81 English Education students and 54 English Literature students. The instrument included ten Likert-scale items and four open-ended questions. Quantitative findings revealed a substantial gap between existing complaint-handling practices and students’ expectations. The overall perception of the current system was moderate (M = 2.62, SD = 0.94). Low ratings were found for Information Transparency and Accessibility (M = 2.22, SD = 1.07), Procedural Certainty and Complaint Categorization (M = 2.29, SD = 1.00), and Complaint Resolution Effectiveness (M = 2.26, SD = 0.95). The lowest score was recorded for Safety and Procedural Protection (M = 1.97, SD = 0.98), indicating concerns regarding confidentiality and fear of academic retaliation. Conversely, students expressed very strong support for a standardized complaint-handling system (M = 4.38, SD = 0.70). Qualitative findings identified four key needs: anonymity protection, complaint tracking, procedural safeguards, and a web-based reporting platform. The findings provide an empirical foundation for developing an Integrity Zone-based SOP and digital complaint-management system to strengthen accountability, institutional trust, and service quality in higher education]]>
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