Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between service quality, program quality, institutional image and student satisfaction in the context of higher education. Additionally, the study attempts to describe the mediating impact of institutional image between service quality, program quality and student satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach: The structural equation modeling was used to analyze the influence of mediating variable and hypotheses testing. The population of this study was fourth-year business students of nine "grade one" private universities in Bangladesh. Data (n = 310) were gathered from students pursuing studies at different private universities in Bangladesh. Findings: The findings of this study revealed that image occupied full mediation role between service quality and student satisfaction. Furthermore, it also disclosed that the direct path of service quality and student satisfaction was not statistically significant. Practical implications: These unique findings imply that academic authorities should nurture the institutional image and program quality rigorously to enhance student satisfaction. The findings of this study would benefit both practitioners and academics, especially in the perspective of Bangladesh private higher education. Originality/value: Past researchers have examined the direct affiliation between service quality and student satisfaction. Hence, there is a deficiency of indirect link between service quality and student satisfaction. This study has incorporated image as a mediating variable to fulfill the deficiency in higher education.