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There is a fundamental tension between applying the student as customer paradigm vs. Mastery of the knowledge, knowing, is the responsibility of the student who is to consume the knowledge. Universities convey, store and generate knowledge and craft tools to assess mastery of knowledge. The product in higher education is knowledge. Certainly, many students both pay for and use the product of higher education, but because higher education in the United States was created to produce an informed citizenry for a democratic society, students are clearly the consumer. The Constitution of Illinois in Article X, Section 1, allows the state to provide for an efficient system of high-quality public educational institutions and services.īecause state universities - and some private universities - were established by state constitutions and are supported by tax dollars, the actual customers of higher education are the citizens of respective states. The Connecticut Constitution establishes through its Article 8, Section 2, that “The state shall maintain a system of higher education, including the University of Connecticut, which shall be dedicated to excellence in higher education.” Section 3 establishes the charter for Yale University.
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California’s Article IX, Section 1, states that its higher education legislation is to encourage the “promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral and agricultural improvement” through a “general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the people.”
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Many public universities evolved from constitutional provisions that addressed overall education. But in service sectors of the economy, where higher education loftily sits, customer and product are more difficult to identify and require examining the origin of the modern American university. In a retail market, both the customer and product are typically easy to identify. Enrollment management has become one of the most important parts of university administration as a result, and customer service is viewed as a priority.įor all of the attention given to customer service in higher education, there is a lack of clarity surrounding customer and product. Increasingly, accrediting bodies, legislators, alumni and donors see retention and graduation rates, along with job attainment, as assessments of institutional effectiveness. Admissions, student affairs, registration, financial aid and the bursar - once siloed - now coalesce in enrollment management. Specialization of the retail business model is reflected in the institutionalization of enrollment management. Though the trend toward customer service began in the late 1970s, the past 25 years have seen the retail business model become the de facto model for higher education. Nationwide, several universities have jettisoned ivory tower aloofness and transitioned to a business model that stresses service as a bulwark against the tide of decreasing enrollment. Today, institutions must compete more for fewer traditional-aged students than in the past. In effect, they demand of the clerk, “Let me speak to the manager!”Īrguably, the reason why students have developed a retail-service mind-set is because colleges and universities have successfully promoted that mind-set as a means to attract and retain students. When a student feels that a faculty member has been unfair or that a department chair did not adequately address a concern, the dean is often summoned. But because they are the most consistently connected to students in the university experience, it should be no surprise that students may equate faculty with clerk, as they mirror the role of clerks in a retail customer service model. Clearly, faculty members do not see themselves as front-line staff.
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A signature higher education innovation includes customer service desks in administration buildings to facilitate “one-stop shopping.” Name tags coupled with service desks have led students to think of a university as one large department store.Īs an associate dean in a professional school whose portfolio of responsibilities includes handling both undergraduate and graduate student issues, I am often the “district manager” for the department store whom students want to talk to when front-line staff do not satisfy their requests. A recent article in a higher education publication reissued a growing refrain that front-line workers in higher education should “serve their customers like those in other industries.” By doing exactly that over the past two decades, many universities have adopted a retail industry approach.Īcross many campuses name tags grace the lapels of not only financial aid personnel but also deans and vice presidents.