Spotlight

There appears to be a lot of discussion around the term ‘customer’ in relation to Further and Higher Education at the moment.  Articles (e.g. THE - Times Higher Education) along with outcomes from events (e.g. JISC Conference) highlight this further.  I (Andy Stewart) decided that I’d run a session at the Support Northumbria conference to find out the thoughts of fellow colleagues.

As you’d probably expect a range of perspectives were given, often associated with an individuals current role and past experience.  Much of the discussion focussed around students with the room split on whether we should view them as a customer, after all they are paying for particular services.  If we don’t view them as a customer how can we possibly deliver on expected outcomes and deliver effective services?  Another delegate responded highlighting that the relationship should be viewed much more as a partnership, the student plays an integral role in their time at any institution.  The more time they invest in this partnership the better the outcome overall, for the institution as well as the individual.  One delegate recalled their time at an institution and highlighted that as a student it’s not all about getting a grade, rather an involvement in a unique and beneficial cultural experience - a statement I must agree with.

After thinking through the discussion I feel I must apologise to delegates in that I may have asked the wrong question.  Although the discussion was lively and useful, hopefully challenging people to review their current thinking, I believe a much more pertinent question would be to ask who are our customers?  The most recent grant letter received by HEFCE states:

“…and where I hope the Council will continue to focus during 2009-10, include engaging with business; widening access to higher education; supporting quality in HE; enhancing employability; sustaining world class research; and responding to climate change.”

Pretty simple wouldn’t you agree?  All jokes aside, what this seems to come down to is “future employers” and “society generally” being the core customers of institutions, a distinction I must attribute to a brilliant blog post by Lloyd Armstrong, Jr.  Perhaps we could argue the removal of ‘future’ and concentrate solely on ‘employers’ and ’society’, reason being students could be ‘work-based learners’.  All of this ties in nicely with the Business and Community Engagement (BCE) initiative currently underway within JISC, a cross cutting theme which needs to be addressed by the core components of any institution - Research and Learning & Teaching.

I particularly relate to the suggestion by Lloyd that education is “…in the knowledge chain management business”.  So what does this mean for the ’student’?  One delegate touched on the idea that their financial transaction was not so much in return for goods/services but an investment in their own future.  Again, something Lloyd touches upon in his post:

“…they are ‘independent partners’ who have invested in an education that will enable them to become valued contributors to their institution’s knowledge chain.”

I must thank all those that contributed to the discussion and encourage further debate using the comments facility below!