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Anonymous. (Mar 2006). "Customerization" Is Undermining U.S. USA Today 134, no. 2730: p. 7
According to James G. Hutton, associate professor of marketing and entrepreneurial studies at
Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison NJ, treating groups such as students, patients, and
religious followers as "customers" is having a serious negative impact on US schools, hospitals, churches,
media, and government. Hutton adds that every parent, teacher, policymaker, and leader should be concerned
about the impact that "customerization" is having on American institutions and on Americans because the
effects are much more profound than most people realize. He also explains that the idea of being a customer
has tremendous intuitive appeal to most because that implies greater accountability.
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Bagley, Peter J., Foxman, Ellen R. (2003). Students as Customers in the Classroom.
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Bedigian, Betsy (2006). Alumni Matter: Unleashing a Lifetime of Value.
The Benefit of CRM Principals in the Postsecondary Environment, Hezel Associates.
In a recent survey of continuing and professional education leaders, the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA)
reported that marketing budgets are steadily rising with institutions spending an average of $319 million on an integrated
marketing mix that targets would-be students. What the numbers do not tell is the potential benefit of employing
relationship management principles in marketing to the customer--college alumni and alumnae. Relationship marketing has
emerged as the leading revenue-driving tool, especially within the service sector, for savvy marketers.
Although education is widely viewed as a service industry, education has been slow to adopt relationship marketing practices.
Recent research reveals that more and more graduates will turn to their alma mater, not only for maintenance
of old classmate friendships, but also for further education, career guidance, and networking opportunities.
For higher education institutions, these alumni needs present ever more opportunities to expand colleges'
continuing education departments by cementing their relationship with alumni. By viewing the student as a lifelong customer,
colleges are ready to respond to alumni current and anticipated needs. As corporations across the globe move from product-centric
toward customer-centric business models, the importance of customer relations-management (CRM) has never been greater.
To increase revenue corporate leaders know they must think more like their customers and truly understand the customers'
perspectives. This document defines CRM as a systematic approach using information and an ongoing dialogue to build long
lasting and mutually beneficial customer relationships.
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Bejou, D. (2005). Treating students like customers.,
BizEd, March / April, pp. 44 – 47.
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Bishton, J.(2005). ARE UNIVERSITIES IN BUSINESS?:
Why students will never be customers. Engineering management journal. 15, no. 2, p: 45-47
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Bodey, Kelli., Grace, Debra. (2006). Segmenting service "complainers" and "non-complainers" on the basis of consumer
characteristics. Journal of Services Marketing 20, no. 3, p. 178-187.
This study examines service "complainers" and "non-complainers" on the basis of four personality characteristics
(perceived control, Machiavellianism, self-efficacy, self-monitoring) and attitude toward complaining.
This study employed a quantitative methodology. Data were gathered via self-report survey to a sample of
200 university students. The results indicate that attitude toward complaining, perceived control and self-monitoring
were significant discriminating variables between "complainers" and "non-complainers". Other variables tested such as
self-efficacy and Machiavellianism were not significant. The use of a student sample limits the findings beyond this group,
however, student samples do tend to be representative of the general buying public. Therefore, it is suggested that the
variables studied here should be further examined using a more diverse consumer sample. In addition, the relationship between
attitude toward complaining and complaint behavior warrants further investigation, as it appears that this relationship may
deviate from the expected attitude-behavior relationship, particularly where "non-complainers" are concerned.
It appears, from the findings of this study, that personality traits and attitudes may, in some cases, prohibit customers
from engaging in complaint behavior. Therefore, it is imperative that service firms analyse their service provision and
complaint processes so that the likelihood of customers complaining in the event of service failure is maximized.
Such strategies may well include feedback surveys or service provider/employee evaluation forms, toll free numbers and
customer service calls.
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Brainard, Nancy J. (2002). Faculty perspectives on customer service as provided to the student-customers of
Christian higher education / Thesis (Ed. D.). Graduate School of Education, Oral Roberts University.
The purpose of this study is to discover what faculty members of Christian institutions of higher education consider
to be excellent customer service to students ... Twenty-one faculty members of four institutions of higher education belonging
to the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) are interviewed ... From the data gathered, a model of excellent
customer service emerges. Three major components [of this model] ... are faculty members (a) making themselves accessible to
students, (b) interacting with students through various formal and informal roles, and (c) cultivating relationships with students"
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Brennan, Linda., Bennington, Lynne. (1999).
Concepts in Conflict: Students and Customers - An Australian Perspective.
Journal of Marketing for Higher Education. Volume: 9 Issue: 2. pp. 19 – 40.
Increasingly, pressure is being brought to bear on Australian academics as service providers in the higher education
'industry.' Students are attracted to universities by marketing and promotion activities which inculcate the perception
that the student is a customer. Furthermore, education is being treated by various governments as a commodity which may be
purchased by customers in a free market system. The authors argue that students are not customers in the sense currently
recognised by business. An alternative view of the customer base of an institution is put forward. This alternative more
effectively accounts for the variety of interests that must be served by the higher education industry
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Carruthers, Michael. (2001).
Students or Customers?. Management Today.
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Chambers, Lyn. (Oct 1998). How customer-friendly is your school? Educational Leadership vol 56. no 2. pp: 33-35.
Competition between schools requires school organizers to assume a marketing approach, regarding students and parents as customers and responding to their needs and the needs of taxpayers and teachers. Chambers discusses developing a customer-friendly environment through attitude, behavior, and communication.
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Chickering, Arthur W. (Spring 1993). Potter, David TQM and Quality Education: Fast food or fitness center? Educational Record vol 74 no 2. pp: 35-36.
For schools using Total Quality Management (TQM), the focus is on the student as customer. The way in which schools respond to this focus is vital, and two approaches to the focus on students as customers--the fast food restaurant and the fitness center approaches--are discussed
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Chung, E., McLarney, C.( August 1, 2000)The Classroom as a Service Encounter: Suggestions for Value Creation.
Journal of Management Education,; 24(4): 484 - 500.
Drawing on marketing concepts and language, the authors propose that the classroom is a service encounter between a marketer (instructor) who provides a service (the instruction) and a group of stakeholders (students). A marketing framework is informative in that it suggests that stakeholder satisfaction is important if the instructor is invested in meeting his or her pedagogical goals (the learning experience and outcomes). In this essay, the authors discuss the concepts of service encounters and value disciplines as a means for faculty members to reevaluate their teaching and design new strategies for creating value in the management classroom.
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Clayson, D.E. & Haley, D.A. (2005). Marketing Models in Education: Students as Customers, Products, or Partners.
Marketing Education Review, 15 (1), pp. 1 – 10.
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Conlin, Elizabeth. (Jul 1991). Educating the Market Inc. vol 13 no 7 pp: 62-67.
Business executive John Golle's plan to take over public-school systems from bureaucracies and replace them
with lean management, quality service and satisfied customers is examined. He created his own school system,
Education Alternatives Inc, and his students outperformed the national average on standardized tests by
almost two grade levels. His viewpoints, and criticisms of his viewpoints by education leaders, are given.
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Cooper, Paul (2007). Knowing Your "Lemons": Quality Uncertainty in UK Higher Education.
Quality in Higher Education, v13 n1 p19-29 Apr 2007.
In the UK and elsewhere, higher education is increasingly and controversially being construed, especially within political
discourse, as a marketised commodity service to paying customers. Notions of quality, broadly construed, will be of central significance in the development of new markets in higher education in the UK and beyond. Drawing upon economic theory and ethnographic fieldwork, this paper considers specifically the issues of quality mechanisms in relation to quality uncertainty and informational asymmetry within the emerging market for UK higher education, and the effects of these upon both students as "buyers" and institutions as "sellers" alike. Emergent counteracting quality mechanisms within the higher education sector that are aimed, in part, at reducing quality uncertainty are considered and a critique is presented of the shortcomings of emerging mechanisms such as league tables. The paper concludes with some suggestions as to how both students and higher education providers might wrest back control over such mechanisms and work towards the diminution of quality uncertainty and informational asymmetry.
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D'Eon, Marcel F., Harris, Cille (Dec 2000). If Students Are Not Customers, What Are They?
Academic Medicine. Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges. v75 n12 p1173-77.
Considers ethical models on which to base the relationship between medical students and faculty (clientism, paternalism, and fiduciary) and selects fiduciary for its basis in mutual trust, respect, and responsibility. Outlines support for a more student-centered model of medical education, concluding that warnings about viewing students as customers may be premature or inappropriate.
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Delmonico, Matthew J. Is Treating Students as Customers the Right Move for Community Colleges?
Saint Petersburg Junior College FL Opinion Papers; Reports. ED448838.
This paper discusses the growing trend in higher education of treating students as customers.
It addresses the traditional views of the student-instructor role and why there is a push toward a
customer-oriented paradigm in higher education. Resistance to this movement is also addressed, both from the
student and faculty/administrative viewpoints. Furthermore, this paper explores the concept of formal guarantees as they pertain to higher education instruction. Finally, possible drawbacks to moving toward a customer-oriented view of higher education as it pertains to guaranteeing student satisfaction are addressed, with remarks regarding future directions and applications of this paradigm. A commonly cited concern of many administrators and faculty is the "customer is always right" attitude that they fear will creep into higher education, whereby the faculty will be pressured to give better grades in order to satisfy their "customers." The concept of guaranteeing student satisfaction, for better or worse, seems to be finding its place in higher education. Some feel that guarantees will help create a system with better expectations and more defined standards, and will make the colleges more marketable. However, such guarantees could also diminish the academic integrity of the institutions.
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Delucchi, Michael., Smith, William L. (Oct., 1997). Satisfied Customers versus Pedagogic Responsibility:
Further Thoughts on Student Consumerism. Teaching Sociology, Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 336-337
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Denning, P. J. (October 14, 2002).
Are Students Customers, or Not?
Many faculty take it as a basic truth of the university that students are not customers. Recently, the George Mason University Faculty Senate passed a resolution officially stating that it is inappropriate to regard students as customers. I asked the students in one of my classes to comment on the Faculty Senate’s argument. None of them agreed. To them it is plain and simple: they are customers. Their biggest complaint is that the faculty appear to set up class schedules for their own convenience and ignore the needs of their customers. Consequently many of them cannot graduate when they expected. It seems to me that this is a serious disconnect between the faculty and students, which will only grow worse as the budget shortfall forces cancellations of classes.
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Downes, Mary., Janes, Toni. (2003).
Education as a commodity – Valuing students as Customers.
New Zealand’s tertiary education sector has experienced significant changes over the past few years. As a result, tertiary education is now viewed as a commodity by students and by the wider community – and tertiary institutions must respond appropriately. The paper begins with a summary of these changes and their impacts on the tertiary education sector. It then briefly describes Massey University’s response to the demands of the competitive environment. Next, the paper outlines the approach taken by the National Student Administration and Teaching Support Section (NSATS) of Massey University as it aims to create value for students through service excellence and the superior performance of all its processes. An overview of some of the strategies and initiatives that have been applied is provided. These include: the development of a clear vision, mission, strategic goals and section values; the development of a process orientation; a focus on staff recruitment and development; the provision of supportive leadership; the implementation of the performance scorecard and development of student service standards; and, the implementation of a problem management system. The third part of the paper examines in more detail the development and implementation of the problem management system within NSATS. It elaborates on the ways in which this system has allowed staff within the Section to target process improvement efforts and improve service to students. Some of the lessons learned during the development of the system and its pilot implementation in the Enrolment Unit are identified, along with the advantages achieved through its implementation across the whole Section. Finally, the paper will briefly look at the future direction for the Section in terms of ongoing staff development, management of key internal relationships, risk management and a continuous improvement focus – all to ensure that the delivery of service excellence remains paramount to the Section.
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Driscoll, C. & Wicks, D. (1998). The Customer-Driven Approach in business Education: A Possible Danger?
Journal of Education for Business, 74 (1), pp. 58 – 61.
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Eagle, Lynne., Brennan, Ross. (2007) Are Students Customers? TQM And Marketing Perspectives. Quality Assurance in Education 15:1, 44.
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Eagle, Lynne., Brennan, Ross.
Students as Customers: Why the Customer Concept May Not Be Right … And Students Might Not Know What They Need.
There is a clear trend within higher education to refer to students as customers. Is this a benign and wholly warranted adoption of a commercial term to promote the interests of the primary stakeholder in higher education, or is it an inappropriate and corrosive use of language which may tend to undermine the very educational process itself? We examine the implications and reported consequences of the adoption of the student-as-customer concept within the context of the changing university education environment. Our initial focus is on the weaknesses of uncritical adoption of the term “customer”. Subsequently we recommend ways in which the careful adoption of the term could retain positive aspects – promoting the legitimate interests of students in the higher education system – while avoiding such potentially negative aspects as the problematic idea that “the customer is always right”.
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East, Julianne. (2001).
International Students Identified as Customers: Their Expectations and Perceptions.
Paper in proceedings of Changing Identities Language and Academic Skills Conference.
Currently in Australia, higher education is urged to operate more commercially, and in these times of change students are identified as customers. University marketing promises quality of service and there is
vigorous competition for the enrolment of international students. In this paper it is argued that universities are now expected to change to meet students’ needs and that international students in their identity as customers will have expectations and perceptions of quality service. While much is written about the needs of international students, little has been written about how international students perceive their experience and there is only limited research on international students as customers. The paper reviews customer concepts in universities and reports on the perceptions of a group of La Trobe University international students. The data were gathered from group discussion, questionnaire and interview. The students had much to say that was insightful about what they value about the Australian university experience and what they expected of this experience. They wanted to be assured of the quality of the teaching, wanted the University to respond to their educational needs, wanted to improve their English language skills and wanted to experience Australian culture and mix with local students. Not surprisingly, there were gaps between the students’ expectations and what they perceived to be the quality of the educational service that they actually received.
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Emery, Charles., Kramer, Tracy., Tian, Robert. (2001).
Customers Vs. Products: Adopting An Effective Approach
To Business Students. Quality Assurance in Education 9, no. 2: p. 110-115.
Compares the benefits and consequences of two different educational philosophies adopted by business schools: the customer-oriented approach and the product-oriented approach. The customer approach suggests that faculty treat the students as their customers and the product approach requires that faculty treat the students as their products. Under a student-customer program, enrollment and levels of student satisfaction increase at the expense of learning and program quality. The product approach shifts the focus from student satisfaction to student capabilities and holds business programs responsible for producing knowledgeable, effective students who possess skills and talents valued by public and private corporations.
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Ewing, John. (Jul 1994). The free enterprise solution. CHEMTECH vol 24 no 7.
An educational system that recognizes the proper relation of students as customers and teachers as vendors is described. Rebates are the free enterprise solution to grade inflation and accountability standards.
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Ford, J.B., Joseph, M. & Joseph, B. (1999). Importance-performance Analysis as a Strategic Tool for Service Marketers:
The Case of Service Quality Perceptions of Business Students in New Zealand and the USA.
The Journal of Services Marketing, 13 (2), pp. 171 – 186.
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Finocchietti, Giovanni. (Dec 2004). Students and Universities in Italy in an Age of Reform.
European Journal of Education vol 39 no 4 pp. 459-469 2004.
Recent developments of the Italian student body are marked by an increasing diversification of prevailing student profiles. The presence of new student groups is surveyed next to the groups which are the traditional target of national policies for higher education and student welfare. Examples of such traditional target groups are, amongst others: males or females; students from well-off and well-educated families or from lower social backgrounds; resident or non-resident students; undergraduate, graduate or postgraduate students (first, second or third cycle of university studies); students from different fields of study. Working students are to be quoted in new profiles. They may either work regularly or take occasional jobs during terms; in both cases they no longer seem to be full-time students and should be considered as de facto part-time students. Although student work is not a novelty, what has changed in recent times is its development: working students are reported to be a majority in the university student body. Their emerging needs and expectations as university customers point to inadequacies and delays in the prevailing academic attitudes and in higher education policy-making. The Italian Euro Student Survey is a monitoring of students living and study conditions in Italian universities. It is carried out in the framework of the Euro Student Report project, which involves many EU countries. Euro Student attaches great importance to the analysis of the impact of the diversification issue on the students living and study conditions, on their personal experiences and on their relations with academic institutions. Some of the most relevant emerging trends will be dealt with in this article, e.g. the demand for support and interaction with teachers and students (the solitude issue), the increasing demand for better conditions in the study environment (the quality issue), the differences in average academic achievements of different student groups (the performance issue). Based on the updated available data, some ideas and theories will be explained as a conclusion about the possible impacts of the most recent reforms in the higher education sector in Italy, i.e. the design of new courses according to the Bologna process and the planning of a new student welfare system.
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Franz, Randal S. (1998). Whatever you do, don't Treat your Students Like Customers! Journal of Management Education,
Vol. 22, No. 1, 63-69.
Treating students like customers undermines their education. Catering to their every need and desire in an effort to delight the customer robs students of an active role in their own education. Instead of "Nordstromizing" education, we should adopt a different guiding metaphor: the fitness center, casting students as partners in the development of character.
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Gremler, D. D., McCollough, M. A. (August 2002). Student Satisfaction Guarantees:
An Empirical Examination of Attitudes, Antecedents, and Consequences Journal of Marketing Education,
24(2): 150 - 160.
In guaranteeing the satisfaction of undergraduate students with the instructor’s performance, Gremler and McCollough in previous studies reported that undergraduate studentsgen erally approve of the concept of offering a student satisfaction guarantee for a course. Although they provided both qualitative and quantitative measures of students’attitudes concerning the guarantee, left unresolved is how students’ attitudes toward the guarantee might possibly affect their attitudes toward their overall classroom experience, including their attitude of the instructor’s efforts, their own efforts, and their satisfaction with classroom learning outcomes. This research presents and empirically evaluates a student satisfaction guarantee model. Lessons learned have implications not only for student satisfaction guarantees but for service guarantees in general.
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Griffith, James. (2001). Do Satisfied Employees Satisfy Customers?
Support-Services Staff Morale and Satisfaction Among Public School Administrators,
Students, and Parents Journal of applied social psychology. 31, no. 8, : pp: 1627-1659.
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Halbesleben, Jonathon R B., Becker, Jennifer A H., Buckley, M Ronald. (May/Jun 2003).
Considering the Labor Contributions of Students: An Alternative to the Student-as-Customer Metaphor”.
Journal of Education for Business, 78 (5), pp. 255 – 257.
Education researchers frequently have promoted the view of students as customers and of education as a service that they purchase. In this article, the authors argue that the student-as-customer metaphor is problematic and propose a more appropriate metaphor based on the literature concerning customer labor contributions in human resources management. The authors provide strategies that instructors can use to manage the labor contributions of students.
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Haug, Peter., Keleman, Ken S. (Aug 1996). Introduction of total quality management (TQM) into the process of teaching management:
A discussion of initial applications Journal of Management Education vol 20 no 3. pp: 319-340.
This paper discuss the design, development and operation of a course-based Total Quality Management (TQM) model built upon students as internal customers plus continuous course improvement through student advisory committees, regular evaluation surveys and course evaluation surveys.
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Henckell, M. Martha. (2007).
Evaluating distance education the student perspective / Thesis (Ed. D.).
University of Missouri-Columbia.
Distance education can now be considered a viable means of providing higher education for many universities. In the study of Evaluating Distance Education: The Student Perspective, student opinions were sought to assist in providing information that will help institutions develop a distance education evaluation system by creating or choosing a proper student evaluation instrument and procedures that will provide valid and reliable answers in order to make applicable decisions. A survey was developed that covered topics that could assist in identifying the framework needed for the web-based evaluation system. The framework under study included: (a) evaluation design and format, (b) evaluation questions used and the manner in which they are constructed, (c) areas that should be emphasized, (d) frequencies of feedback and evaluation needed, and (e) the motivation required for valid and reliable responses. Items of importance to the student perspective were determined by calculating percentages of the student responses. Discoveries of student perspectives were made on the realization of course differences for traditional and web-based courses, the frequency of evaluations experienced during the length of courses, the amount of emphasis placed on questions in traditional and web-based courses, whether or not traditional evaluation instruments were appropriate for evaluating web-based courses, what students ranked highest as to the use of evaluation data, what motivates or de-motivates students to provided valid and reliable evaluation responses, what questions should be added to web-based course evaluations, whether or not additional feedback was requested during the course, whether students consider themselves as customers of the university, and whether or not students feel competent in the role as evaluator. In order for distance education evaluations to provide the necessary information that will assist distance education programs in meeting student needs and continue to be a viable delivery means of education for universities, this study advocates entire distance education evaluation system and instrument modifications.
It further recommends the revision of evaluations used for blended courses to prevent the loss of
valuable information.
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Hennig-Thurau, T., Langer, M. F., Hansen, U. (May 1, 2001).
Modeling and Managing Student Loyalty: An Approach Based on the Concept of Relationship.
Quality Journal of Service Research; 3(4): 331 - 344.
The loyalty of customers is widely accepted as a critical factor in the long-term success of a service firm. In this article, the authors develop a model of student loyalty by combining the growing body of knowledge on relationship marketing in the context of services with insights from more traditional educational research. Their relationship quality-based student loyalty (RQSL) model proposes that student loyalty is mainly determined by the dimensions of relationship quality. The model also includes students’ integration into the university system and external commitment as second-order factors. The authors test the RQSL model using the structural equation modeling approach and empirical data from a survey of several German universities. Among other things, the results indicate that the quality of teaching and the students’ emotional commitment to their institution are crucial for student loyalty. However, there are clear differences between the results obtained from different courses of study.
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Hernon, Peter. (Nov 1998). Editorial: Customer loyalty Journal of Academic Librarianship vol 24 no 6 pp: 435-436.
Producing loyalty among students, faculty, staff, central administration, and other customers may be valuable to academic libraries with the coming information superhighway.
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Hoffman, K. Douglas., Kretovics, Mark A. (Winter 2004). Students as Partial Employees:
A Metaphor for the Student-Institution Interaction. Innovative Higher Education v. 29 no2 p. 103-20.
The writers propose "students as partial employees" as a new metaphor for describing the interaction between students and their institutions of higher education. This metaphor originates from the services marketing literature and is applicable to the student's educational experience. As students are responsible for co-producing their education, the term partial employee more accurately describes their classroom role than the ideas of students as customers, students as products, or students as employees. Hence, this new metaphor can offer insights into the interaction between the students and their institutions and, more specifically, the student/instructor interrelationship.
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Jenkins, Lee (2003). Improving Student Learning: Applying Deming's Quality Principles in Classrooms.
2nd edition, American Society for Quality. ISBN 087389569X
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Joseph, Mathew ; Yakhou, Mehenna Stone, George. (2005).
An educational institution's quest for service quality: customers' perspective Quality Assurance in Education.
13, no. 1: p. 66-82.
This study assesses some of the self-reported factors that students used as choice criteria in making their school selection by surveying a large sample of incoming freshman class. Analysis gap of scores for student population used indicates that the current group does not consider their university a "quality" institution.
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Kennedy, Mike. (February 2000). Public schools, private profits. American School & University. vol. 72 no. 6 pp: 14-16, 18, 21-2
Increasingly private companies want to do business with schools, having targeted students as potential customers and identified schools as the best place to reach them. Proponents of commercial programs claim that they provide valuable information and equipment and maintain that students are capable of judging the validity of advertising claims. However, other commentators believe that students could be harmed by such advertisements. The ZapMe! and Channel One programs, one school district's exclusive deal with a soft-drinks company, and the activities of the Edison education management company are discussed.
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Kotze, T.G. & du Plessis, P.J. (2003). Students as ‘Co-producers’ of Education:
A Proposed Model of Student Socialisation and Participation at Tertiary Institutions.
Quality Assurance in Education, 11 (4), pp. 186 – 201.
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Kovesi, Janos., Szabo, Tibor., Bota, Gabor. (Sep 2004). Quality evaluation of the Hungarian higher education
based on the opinion of the 'customers': An application at Budapest University of Technology and Economics.
European Journal of Engineering Education 29, no. 3 pp. 389-399.
Quality is the central element of the results of changes happening in Hungarian higher education,
which is serving an ever-increasing number of students. Following the transition to capitalism, as the number of students greatly increases, the direct control of higher education by the government ceases, and especially because of the 'mass production' character of education, the debate about quality has strengthened. It is especially difficult to define quality in the case of sophisticated, complex services, however, everyone agrees that quality is a major element of customer satisfaction. We have been conducting an interesting experiment at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BUTE) for the past few years. The university asks the opinion of several groups about the quality of education at the university, including freshly graduated students, companies employing the freshly graduated students and freshmen. This article evaluates the results of this survey and summarizes the opinions of the 'customers' concerning education and training at the BUTE.
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Laskey, Kathryn Blackmond. (November 1998).
Are Students Our Customers in the Education Marketplace?
Mason Gazette, November.
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LeBlanc, G. & Nguyen, N. (1999) Listening to the customer’s voice: examining perceived service value among business college students.
The International Journal of Educational Management 13: 4, 187 – 198.
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Lomas, Laurie. (April 2007). Are Students Customers? Perceptions of Academic Staff.
Quality in Higher Education, Volume 13, Issue 1, pages 31 - 44.
This paper examines the notion of the student as a customer in a university, focusing on the perceptions of academic staff. Changes in the higher education sector in recent years have significantly reduced the differences between universities and other types of organisation and it has been argued that students have become 'consumers' of higher education services. On the other hand, some senior academics believe that higher education is not just another service industry. The views on the notion of the student as a customer were elicited by means of in-depth interviews amongst staff in three 'new' (post-1992) and three older universities. Whereas the government and its agencies stress the need to consider students as customers, there is very limited support for this notion amongst academic staff. Academic discipline, rather than the type of university, appears to be influential in determining attitudes towards the notion of the student as a customer.
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Magnini, V. P., Karande, K. (2004).
University Students are not Customers: When Marketing Goes Awry Developments In Marketing Science. 27. pp: 343-348.
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Maguad, Ben. (Spring 2007). A Identifying The Needs Of Customers In Higher Education.
Education 127, no. 3: p. 332-343.
Many institutions of higher education are hesitant to consider themselves as customer-driven entities. Even the suggestion of the term customer can arouse many emotions, preconceptions, and misconceptions. The idea that students are partners in developing and delivering quality education threatens the historic, traditional academic role of faculty as purveyor or knowledge. Nevertheless, one fact has been proven over and over again. Customer-driven organizations are effective because they are fully committed to satisfying and anticipating customer needs. The future success of colleges and universities will increasingly be determined by how they identify and satisfy their various customers.
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McCollough, M. A. and D. D. Gremler. (1999). Student Satisfaction: An Exercise in Treating Students as Customers.
Journal of Marketing Education, Vol. 21, No. 2, 118-130.
Service guarantees, formal promises made to customers about the service they will receive, are rarely offered in university classes. In this article, the authors report on their experience in guaranteeing the satisfaction of undergraduate students with the instructor’s performance. The rationale for, success of, and lessons learned from this pedagogical exercise are reviewed. In addition, detailed feedback from students gained through focus group interviews and a written student assignment regarding the guarantee is examined. General advice related to the guarantee is offered for instructors interested in guaranteeing their own performance
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McNary, Lisa D. (Nov 1994). TQ in academe: Lessons from big business Clearing House vol 68 no 2 pp: 119-122.
The use of certain methods under the banner of total quality (TQ) in education actually borders on being totally irresponsible. The use of TQ in academia, in which students are viewed as customers, is discussed.
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Meirovich, Gavriel., Romar, Edward J. (2006). The difficulty in implementing TQM in higher education instruction:
The duality of instructor/student roles Quality Assurance in Education 14, no. 4: pp. 324-337.
The applicability of total quality management (TQM) to higher education instruction is controversial. The purpose of this paper is to help clarify the application of TQM to higher education instruction by identifying and analyzing the dual roles played by both students and instructors. The authors also offer an improvement to the instructor evaluation process designed to eliminate some of the negative effects of the duality of roles. Design/methodology/approach. This is a conceptual paper discussing some of the shortcomings in previous discussions of the applicability of TQM to higher education instruction. In addition, it introduces the concept of the dual roles of students (customers/grade-seekers) and faculty (suppliers/retention-seekers), and analyzes their relationship to, and effect on, the evaluation of the educational process through the interaction of these dual roles. Practical implications- This paper helps understand more fully the student/instructor roles and will contribute to a better understanding of the applicability of TQM to higher education. It offers a methodology to enhance the faculty evaluation process as a measure of instructional quality and offers actions that will strengthen the knowledge-seeking motivation of students. Originality/value- This paper offers a more thorough analysis of the roles of students and faculty than previous discussions of the TQM in higher education. The value of this paper is the identification of two pairs of contradictory roles played by both participants in the instruction process which complicates an understanding of the concept of quality and applicability of TQM to higher education.
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Mukerji, Siran., Tripathi, Purnendu. (Fall 2004). Academic Program Life Cycle: A Redefined Approach to Understanding Market Demands.
Journal of Distance Education 19, no. 2 : p. 14-27.
Education can develop intellectual capability in people, which may in turn lead toward development of a more humane society. Open and distance learning (ODL) has provided one means of achieving social objectives democratically. In India significant success has been achieved through a network of 10 open universities and 104 institutes of open and distance education (IODE). Challenge and competition in the education sector have presented a new situation where institutions are now viewed as conglomerates and educational programs as educational products. Established ODL institutions need to compete. The students are perceived as end users or customers in the emerging education market. Institutions require innovative marketing strategies in this highly competitive market for services, and these strategies depend on the stage of maturation of the educational programs in an academic program life cycle.
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Nealon, Jacquelyn Lisa, (2005).
College and university responsiveness to students-as-customers:
The reorganization of service delivery in the enrollment service arena.University of Pennsylvania (Dissertation)
Higher education has become a marketplace, driven by factors such as changing demographics, the advent of technology, escalating costs of a college education for both institutions and students, shrinking governmental subsidies, and a massive influx of students seeking a college education in order to positively impact lifetime earning potential. Colleges and universities are engaged in a competition for their share of the education market; competing for students not only in terms of academic programs, prestige, and reputation, but also on the quality of student service delivery and value of student experiences outside of the classroom.
Students have increasingly come to view themselves as both customers and active learners and look closely at an institution's approach to service delivery as a distinguishing factor among colleges. This has dramatically impacted the nature of service delivery in the enrollment services arena: namely, the offices of admissions, financial aid, bursar, and the registrar. There is growing tension between the fragmented, functionally-based departmental models of service delivery, with narrowly focused, highly specialized staff members, and the emergence of cross-functional, technology-driven service models, with cross-trained and relationship-oriented personnel. The selection of a service delivery model, combined with a chosen approach to student-centered service may impact recruitment, retention, staffing, budget, and organizational culture within institutions of higher education.
A comprehensive review of literature within and outside of higher education, helped to frame the proposed study and ensure a need for, and value of, the intended research in higher educational literature. By engaging a qualitative, multiple case study approach, the researcher set out to identify how institutions of higher education have responded to their students as customers in the enrollment services arena. Three distinctly different colleges, in terms of enrollment, cost, and mission, were selected for the study; each sharing a commitment toward improving student service delivery in enrollment services, but each hovering at a different stage in the evolution of its service transformation. The researcher intended to demonstrate the various ways that colleges and universities choose to respond to their students as customers, each with its own positive, negative, and unintended consequences.
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Nitecki, Danuta A., Hernon, Peter. (July 2000). Measuring service quality at Yale University's libraries.
The Journal of Academic Librarianship v. 26 no4 p. 259-73.
A study developed and assessed an approach for converting SERVQUAL, an instrument used to measure service quality and to convey how customers estimate quality of service, into an instrument that could reflect the expectations of a library and its customers. The approach taken hoped to target service elements for improvement, to weigh the evaluation of service elements in regard to the importance customers place on them, and to encourage the allocation of resources to meet the expectations that a library and its customers deem important. Participants were 226 faculty members, students, university staff, and others at Yale University. Results suggested that users to some degree want to navigate the library on their own, are willing to consult with staff, regard staff demeanor as very important, value easy access to materials, want to have material properly and promptly shelved, want staff to be experts in finding general information and in the literature of their disciplines, and value staff assistance.
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Palattella, John. (Summer 2001). Ivory towers in the marketplace. Dissent vol. 48 no 3 pp. 70-73.
The workings of the University of Phoenix and its strategy toward education are examined. The college, which is owned by the Apollo Group and accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, has roughly 90 campuses in 19 states. The university views students as customers shopping for vocational training and professional qualifications, a strategy that has earned it millions of dollars. The rise of vocation-oriented proprietary schools is a symptom of a national trend, whereby colleges and universities have neglected and downgraded the humanities that has been ongoing for several decades. A battle is now shaping up between middle- and lower-tier liberal arts colleges and universities and proprietary schools such as Phoenix.
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Parsell, Glennys. (May 2000). Liverpool Students as customers Medical Education 34 (5), pp. 328–329.
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Patterson, P., Romm,T., & Hill, C. (1998) Consumer satisfaction as a process:
A qualitative, retrospective longitudinal study of overseas students in Australia.
Journal of Professional Services Marketing 16, pp. 135 – 157.
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Phipps, Shelley. (Spring 2001). Beyond measuring service quality: Learning from the voices of the customers,
the staff, the processes, and the organization Library Trends 49, no. 4 : pp. 635-661.
As ARL libraries begin seriously to assess how well they are anticipating, meeting, and delighting students and faculty, the primary focus should be on understanding customers' needs, learning quick and clean methods of data gathering and analysis, improving critical processes, and developing internal capacity to be successful in the future.
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Pitman, T. (2000). Perceptions of Academics and Students as Customers: A Survey of Administrative Staff in Higher Education.
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 22 (2), pp. 165 – 175.
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Posner, Richard A. (Jun 2002). The university as business Atlantic Monthly 289, no. 6 p. 21
The author discusses the way in which colleges have come to regard their students as customers. Major universities have become multi-hundred-million-dollar enterprises, and they behave accordingly and are managed accordingly.
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Raciti, Maria. (2003). Relationship marketing in Australian higher education:
The impact of relationship perceptions on the retention intentions of first year students in regional,
new universities / Thesis (Ph.D.). School of Marketing and Tourism, Central Queensland University.
Relationship marketing (RM) represents a possible marketing strategy for regional, new universities in Australia. Universities have been interested in student retention for many reasons other than marketing. However, now faced with increased domestic competition and the adoption of a student customer focus, the need to stem first year student attrition has become more pronounced. RM is an attractive strategy for regional, new universities as the key outcome of RM is the retention of current customers. However, RM thoery remains fragmented with many gaps in the literature..."
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Redding, Peter. (2005). The Evolving Interpretations Of Customers In Higher Education:
Empowering The Elusive. International Journal of Consumer Studies 29 (5), 409–417.
Students within higher education are increasingly referred to as customers. And there have been increasing pressures for academics to respond to them as such. Universities, especially their management, have been adopting the vocabulary of quality management systems that may be more commonplace in industry. In recent decades, there has been a fierce debate among academics as to whether this approach is appropriate in the academic sector, and whether students are customers, consumers, clients, etc. This paper explores the debate and the central ideas that have informed it. Despite the largely semantic debate over the definition of customers, universities have attempted to empower the multiple stakeholders, using a variety of tools. The paper goes on to discuss how the nature of students is evolving with the move toward widening access, and how the concepts and tools surrounding quality systems must also evolve.
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Renee, Evenson. (2005). Customer Service Training 101: Quick And Easy Techniques That Get Great Results. AMACOM. ISBN 0814472907
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Rodgers, Stephanine Martin. (2005). The Use of Business Principles in Higher Education.
Paper presented at the Academy of Human Resource Development International Conference (AHRD)
Estes Park, CO, Feb 24-27, 2005. pp. 1247-1254.
The purpose of this manuscript is to investigate the borrowing and use of three business principles, benchmarking, merit pay, and students as customers in higher education. This is accomplished by first looking into the borrowing of educational models. After which, the purpose of higher education and for-profit business is defined using a systems perspective. The infusion of business principles in higher education is directly linked to each institution's purpose and mission. (Contains 2 figures and 1 table.) [For complete proceedings, see ED491486.]
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Saje, N. (2005). TEACHING FOR TIPS: The impact of consumerism on higher education prompts a former waitress to explore the similarities between teaching students
and serving customers Liberal education. 91, no. 1, pp: 48-51.
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Sax, Boria. (2004). Students as "customers". On The Horizon - The Strategic Planning Resource for Education Professionals,
vol 12, no 4, pp. 158-160(3) Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
The idea of students as "customers" at institutions of higher learning evokes intense controvery, but it is usually understood simplistically. The word "customer" is derived from the Latin "consuescere" meaning "to become acquainted with". In marketplaces of the Renaissance it suggested a bond founded on familiarity and trust. Early universities were located near marketplaces, and shared some of their vibrant atmosphere. Today, as well, there is no reason why the relationship between a customer and provider need be either temporary or superficial. New technologies may help to render the relationship of an institution to its students more lasting and more personal.
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Schwartzman, Roy Winter. (1995).
Are students customers? The Metaphoric Mismatch Between Management And Education.
Education.
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Scott, S.V. (1999). The Academic as Service Provider:
Is the Customer ‘Always Right’? Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 21 (2), pp. 193 – 202.
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Scrabec, Q. (2000). A Quality Education is Not Customer Driven. Journal of Education for Business, 75 (5), pp. 298- 300.
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Sharrock, Geoff. (Nov 2000). Why Students Are Not (Just) Customers (and Other Reflections on Life after George).
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. 22 (2), pp. 149–164.
Uses the play "Life after George," involving a dispute between a professor and dean, as a springboard to explore management issues in universities. Discusses students as customers; quality and value in public institutions; funding dilemmas, particularly in the humanities; and university culture versus university management. Advocates moving beyond tribal antagonism between scholarly and managerial authority.
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Shelley, Phillip H. (January 7 2005 supp). Colleges Need to Give Students Intensive Care. The Chronicle of Higher Education p. B16
Colleges must develop a new relationship with students and begin to view them as patients rather than customers. Thus, colleges must ensure that students participate in their education,
demand that students take responsibility for their success, and acknowledge that faculty members,
although experts in their fields, are still learning and fallible.
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Sherry, Carol., Bhat, Ravi., Beaver, Bob., Anthony Ling. (2004).
Students’ as customers: The expectations and perceptions of local and international students.
This study assesses business students’ perceptions of services experienced at New Zealand Tertiary Institute. The questionnaire used in this survey was based on the SERVQUAL scale that contains 20 service attributes, grouped together into five dimensions, Tangibles, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy. The study found a significant difference between students’ expectations of what an “Excellent tertiary institution” should offer in the way of services and the students’ perceptions of the services currently experienced. A significant difference was also found between the perceptions of local students and international students in all five dimensions with the international students’ perceptions of services being lower than the local students. The Degree students had higher expectations of an excellent tertiary institute than the Diploma students, while the Diploma students rated their service experiences of Unitec as slightly better than the Degree students.
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Sims, David. TMCnet Contributing Editor (October 19, 2007).
CRM for Students as Customers Who Need Retaining Too.
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Sirvanci, M. (1996). Are Students The True Customers Of Higher Education? Quality Progress, Vol. 29 No.10, pp.99-102.
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Sims, Serbrenia J., Sims, Ronald R. (1995). Total Quality Management in Higher Education: Is It Working? Why Or Why Not?
Praeger/Greenwood ISBN 027594946X
If institutions of higher education are serious about improving quality in both their educational and administrative components, then they should look to Total Quality Management (TQM) as an all encompassing method for achieving these objectives. An understanding of TQM and the ability to adapt it to unique college and university environments is essential to improving the quality of college administration. This book provides a brief history and review of the development of TQM as we know it today. Various educators who have taken part in successful TQM efforts analyze its application in the higher education environment. This volume will be of considerable use to college and university administrators as well as those teaching education administration.
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Spake, Amanda. (May 9 2005). The World Of Chef Jorge. U.S. News & World Report v. 138 no 17 pp. 64-6
Jorge Leon Collazo, the first executive chef of the New York City schools, has dealt with the intimidating task of making school lunches healthful and a pleasure to eat. Since taking up the post almost 12 months ago, the man known as "Chef Jorge" has been putting into effect new district regulations, adopted in February 2004, aimed at reducing childhood obesity and boosting nutrition for New York City's 1.1 million schoolchildren. Collazo has introduced a number of changes, which have been endorsed by the city's Office of School Food, and there have been significant improvements in nutritional quality, taste, presentation, and the popularity of the food served. Fundamental to his success is his conviction that the students are his "customers" as much as the people he once served in restaurants and corporate dining rooms.
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Stafford, Thomas F. (1994). Consumption Values and the Choice of Marketing Electives:
Treating Students Like Customers. Journal of Marketing Education, Vol. 16, No. 2, 26-33.
In all of academe, educators in marketing should be best suited to a customer orientation. Customer-oriented marketing education might include an effort to better understand the values students derive from the services they receive, in order to aid in the diagnosis of choice behavior. The Theory of Consumption Values is presented as a conceptual framework to aid in understanding the values considered by students when evaluating course choices. A demonstration of the use of this theory to diagnose such choices is then provided. Results indicate that, among five specific consumption values (Conditional, Emotional, Epistemic, Functional, and Social), the choice of a course in customer behavior is predominantly driven by the desire for variety (the Epistemic value) and scheduling imperatives (the Conditional value).
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Steyn, GM., Schulze, S. (Summer 2003). Assuring Quality of a Module in Human Resource Management: Learners' Perceptions.
Education (Chula Vista, Calif.) vol 123 no 4 pp. 668-80.
Being quality minded in education means caring about the needs and expectations of learners and ensuring that they are met. Learners' perceptions thus provide important information for lecturers if learners' needs are to be met. This awareness led the lecturers of a module in Human Resource Management which formed part of a Master's programme to pose the following research question: Did the learning material and assessment system of a module in Human Resource Management delivered by distance education meet the needs and expectations of the learners? In an attempt to answer this question, some important concepts such as quality, quality assurance, quality teaching and distance education, were clarified and an overview of the module, Human Resource Management, was provided. Learners' perceptions of the module were also determined empirically. Both quantitative (closed-form items) and qualitative data (open questions) were obtained by means of a questionnaire. Thus the article illustrates how to tackle quality assessment by considering the needs of customers (learners) and ensuring they are adequately met.
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Symonds, William C. (Nov 17, 2003). Cash-Cow Universities For-profits are growing fast and making money.
Do students get what they pay for? Business Week no. 3858 pp. 70-74.
As traditional universities struggle with soaring costs and plunging taxpayer subsidies,
the 10 largest publicly listed for-profits have already grabbed more than a half-million students. Overall for-profit enrollment will jump by 6.2% this year. That will push the industry's revenues to $13 billion this year, up 65% since 1999. They cater to the voracious appetite for college-level skills among groups neglected by conventional higher-ed institutions. They also target working adults hungry for technical and professional skills. Rather than recreate the Ivory Tower, private universities such as the University of Phoenix treat students like customers whose goal is to get a job or a promotion. Already, 10% of MBA candidates attend a for-profit, up from 2% a decade ago. For-profits were one of the stock market's best-performing sectors during the bear market. Essentially, the new for-profits have taken the ethos of the traditional trade school - delivering specific, marketable skills - and applied it to higher education.
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Swenson, Craig. (Sep 1998). Customers & markets Change. vol 30 no 5 pp: 34-39
Most professors cringe at the idea that college students should be treated as consumers and their education as a product, but the changing of society and the economy demands that colleges prepare a significant proportion of the population as a new work force.
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Thakkar, Jitesh., Deshmukh, S G., Shastree, Anil. (2006). Total quality management
(TQM) in self-financed technical institutions: A quality function deployment (QFD)
and force field analysis approach Quality Assurance in Education 14, no. 1: p. 54-74
To explore the potential for adoption of TQM in self-financed technical institutions in the light of new
demands and challenges posed by customers/students and society. The paper presents use of quality function
deployment (QFD) which prioritizes technical requirements and correlates them with various customers'/students'
requirements for the present Indian context. As an extension to the basic model of QFD - house of quality (HOQ),
the scope for futuristic improvements is explored through a four-phased QFD process. Challenges involved in the
implementation of TQM are investigated using an approach of force field analysis. Identifies technical and students'
requirements for the modern educational set-up. Provides information about the severity of various technical requirements of competitive education. Recognizes the need for continuous improvement, cultural change and effective use of financial resources to improve the value addition at each level. Develops an understanding of the issues to be addressed at each phase of TQM implementation. It is expected that insights gained will help sensitize the emerging self-financed institutions towards the demands of new age students. Conclusions derived will also provide some opportunities for reflection by students, faculty members and leaders/top management of institutions for continuous development at an individual as well as institutional level. A novelty of work lies in the use of a mix of qualitative and quantitative approaches, which not only evaluates the present system but develops an understanding of future challenges to continuous improvement.
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Vail, Peter. (2000).Beware the Idea of the Student as a Customer:
A Dissenting View, University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN.
Sad to say, business models are being widely applied in academe. Here's a little essay I wrote critiquing the idea that the student is a "customer." Most of my B school colleagues thought I was being too fussy and conservative and were not persuaded.
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Walsch, Daniel. (November 1998). The Student as Customer: Other Points of View.
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Whiteman, Jo Ann M. (2003) Supporting the Adult Learner in an Online Environment. Information Analyses.
A growing number of community college students no longer come to campus. The Internet is a catalyst for what many believe will be an explosion in distance and distributed education.
More older, part-time, working students than ever before are attending higher education. They do not want a traditional relationship with their colleges. They want to be treated as customers; they want service, convenience, and quality control. If colleges want to market online learning, they must review the support extended to the adult in an online environment. As adults enter higher learning, many seek a kind of academic redemption and re-construction of their life and sense of self. Their experience in the community college affirms both their sense of limitations and their confidence that they can succeed. Many adults are unprepared in math, reading, or writing skills necessary to perform college-level work. Combined with new technologies, this may create uncertainties and discouragement. Many adult learners need alternate intake, learning, and service options because of life situations. Those without an understanding of technology requirements in distance and online courses benefit from initial and continuing technical support. Community colleges should also provide educational services available any time and place.
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Winston, Gordon C. Toward a Theory of Tuition: Prices, Peer Wages, and Competition in Higher Education.
Discussion Paper.
College tuition, as the price of higher education services, defies familiar economic analysis in important ways. It is recognized that tuition is a price that covers only a fraction of the cost of producing those educational services (about a third nationally), creating an in-kind subsidy for students, with the balance made up by large flows of donative resources from gifts, appropriations, and returns on wealth. This paper examines yet another important economic peculiarity of tuition. It takes seriously input and output markets implied by M. Rothschild and L. White (1995, "Journal of Political Economy") in which a single event, the student's matriculation, is simultaneously a transaction in both an input market, where a price is paid for a student's peer quality, and an output market, where a price is paid for the college's educational services. Those two prices are obscured by the fact that the peer wage is paid in the form of a discount on the price of educational services as well as by the fact that the schools' sales (tuition) revenues are significantly augmented by those donated resources. This framing sees a school's access to donated resources (wealth) critical in determining which market--peer quality or educational services sales--will most influence its behavior. Apparent anomalies in the product market, like queues of unsatisfied customers that persist while schools refuse to expand capacity--disappear when they are seen to be the result of an input market where a queue of job applicants is used to allow the firm to select on worker--peer--quality (the result of an Akerlof-Yellen efficiency wage).
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Zinn, Tracy E. (May 24, 2007). Students as Customers: Are We Selling Their Wares? 14th Annual APS-STP Teaching Institute,
Increasingly common in higher education is the idea that students are customers. In this presentation, I will discuss results from a study in which students and faculty answered questions on "students as customers." I will also discuss possible implications of these results.
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Schoolwork as Products, Professors as Customers: A Practical Teaching Approach in Business Education.
Journal of Education for Business v78 n2 p97-102 (Nov-Dec 2002)
In a marketing course, students used the principles of product, price, place, and promotion to market their course work to the professor/customer. Assessment of 357 students over 4 semesters showed this experiential method resulted in higher achievement and greater understanding of customer expectations and satisfaction.
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Schools of Quality. Third Edition. Corwin Press, Inc., 2455 Teller Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA
This book presents the concept that quality as a keystone philosophy in today's business world can be applied to school systems as a means to improving education and all aspects of school culture, producing a school of quality. The author uses examples such as Japan's adopting William E. Deming's quality-control principles to help it skyrocket from post-World War II destitution to becoming a powerful driving force in the global economy, whereas America experienced a decline. The intelligent application of quality control in process as well as product lowers the costs involved in correcting errors further down the product assembly line. Additionally, the creation of meaningful relationships among departments, work groups, and customers enhances worker morale and effectiveness. Application of this philosophy of Total Quality Management to the school environment produces a meaningful and enriching experience for students, teachers, and administrators conducive to lifelong learning. Appendices provide practical tools for school organizational transformation, charts defining roles for School of Quality participants, Deming's management scheme applied to companies and schools, a comparison of Quality and traditional paradigms, an educational impact report, the SCANS report, a description of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program, and sources of additional information.
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Students as Customers: A Mangled Managerial Metaphor.
Paper presented at the Carolinas Speech Communication Association Convention (Charlotte, NC, October 13-14, 1995).
Greater reflexivity concerning the ways of discussing pedagogy could improve the way educators conceptualize their roles. Close attention to metaphors about education sounds a note of caution about the transfer of language from one discursive realm (business) to another (education). The transference of the "total quality management" (TQM) vocabulary, complete with the identification of students as customers, from business to education occurred when widespread problems with American education gained public attention. The pressures of competition among colleges and between the United States and foreign countries resounded in educational circles about 1990. Although the treatment of students as customers has advantages for streamlining some operations, education involves an ongoing process heavily dependent on the student's willingness to participate in learning. Cognitively rich metaphors do not arise from merely substituting one term for another, and the incompatibilities between the business realm and the educational realm render the application of consumer metaphors to education problematic. Meeting every "customer's" standard, moreover, requires negotiation and compromise because not everyone shares the definition of what constitutes a high quality education. Universal satisfaction presumes that standards and expectations of quality will be uniform for all constituencies and that none of these needs will conflict. Literature on TQM in educational settings equivocates when discussing a user-based definition of quality. TQM has already been implemented successfully at several universities, and money has been saved. Students still deserve more from educators, however, than immediate gratification.
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