Students as University Customers
The simple, most accepted and understandable definition is that a customer is one who pays for goods and services. University students, in general, are definitely paying or being sponsored to be part of the academic institution, therefore there is a certain income flowing into the university for the students to be there. Educating a person is considered as providing a service in the sense that work is being done by a person (the lecturer) and that work benefits someone else (the students). Educating students towards their future endeavours, is essentially what universities do. Therefore one could confidently say that universities are providing a service and students are paying for that service.
However
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For example one could look at the duly performed system which UCT makes use of. If the student does not meet the duly performed requirements, the university excludes them from that particular course. That sort of treatment does qualify students as customers. Take the analogy of a person walking into a bus and being asked to get off because they are not intelligent enough. If UCT considered its students as customers, they would help those who are struggling and not exclude them. However UCT does not free-willingly do this. On the same point, one could speak of the issue of expulsion. If students are customers, and by society’s acceptance, “the customer is always right” (as long as they do not destroy anything belonging to the business), then why are students restricted from doing anything they want within the institution, which concerns them. For example students who cheat in exams qualify for expulsion but, whoever cheats in an exam is not cheating the university, but rather excluding himself from the opportunity of …show more content…
If the sites are properly managed and regulated, ratings can be manoeuvred to reflect the truth. For example, it is often easy to pick out students who are giving an exaggerated negative opinion. If those people who are viewing the sites can be very critical in their preview of the comments, one could expect the sites to be quite successful. The other positive of the having sites is that they are the most viable solution in terms of including as much people as possible. There is probably no other system which could acquire as much student participation as the rating sites. This is generally because students are always on computers and the convenience of the sites is very appealing to them. The sites thus give the university and other people an extremely broad opinion as to how people feel. When the advantages and disadvantages are weighed, it would appear that implementing the rating sites may be in the favour of South African
Is college a commodity or is it not? This question seems to be popping up everywhere. In the article, “College is not a commodity. Stop treating it like one,” Washington Post write Hunter Rawlings gives his opinion on why college is not a commodity. He discusses the factors about the values and actions of the students and their education.
In the essay, “College Consumerism Run Amok” authored by Kevin Carey describe how colleges are careless with their money. Throughout the essay, Kevin Carey explains why normal people think the average price of college tuition has risen across the United States. People believe college tuition is rising because students demand colleges to have “creature comforts”, such as luxury dorms, a fully operational gym, and a climbing wall. Also, that the creation for “creature comforts” in colleges has caused academic standards to decline. Yet, colleges market to students with these amenities instead of showing students comparable statistics: the quality of teaching, scholarships, and academic environment. Kevin Carey, in the end, sums up his idea with
College is marketed towards students as an essential part of building a successful future. The United States “sells college” to those who are willing to buy into the business (Lee 671). With the massive amounts of student debts acquired every year, and the rising costs of
The terms ‘neoliberalism’ and ‘consumer culture’ effectively portray a society focused on consuming and producing, both elements in a larger market based lifestyle. This market lifestyle revolves around living to produce things for financial gain while consuming things that will improve one’s life financially. This is reflected in a larger university society where universities sell themselves to potential students as being the most beneficial for their consumer needs while later grooming them with certain skills to have an advantage in the workplace. Thus the university atmosphere has become one centered on marketplace
Tuition is the cost to take classes at a college or university and is the most expensive part of a college education as it makes up 60 % of the overall price tag (Bashkar and Gopalan). Tuition has become increasingly more expensive over the years and has increased by nearly 500% since 1986, which is far more than inflation or tuition (Willie). The question is, why has there been such a mas...
In a letter to columnist Ann Landers, a college professor wrote about his views of the education system. He feels that universities have turned into businesses where teachers are just looking for money and students are just looking for a piece of paper with a title on it. He says that the students of today think they are automatically entitled to a degree because they pay tuition (Depressed Old Prof. 3-B). Adding to the profit motive for schools is the government which, for the p...
To begin with, there are valid points made. For starters universities need to stop considering themselves as businesses and stop putting business first, and
We as managers must understand that not just people from the community is our customers, but also our employees are too, and business partners, suppliers etc. For example, we have owners (managers), waitress, busboys, dishwashers, cooks; these were the employees who worked at Eppies Restaurant. Employers have always have choices about how they want their business run, but today managers must be more user friendly. Since business runs a cycle one company relieves on other companies services, this would be an external customer.
Tuition is the price that is charged to takes classes at a private school or college, or university. The fees are an additional cost for campus facilities including labs, computers, and recreational center(s) etc., paired with the tuition, which creates the total cost of attendance for college. Where the college is located – if it is in the student’s state of residency or not – the type of college, and the student’s enrollment s...
"A customer is the most important visitor to our premises. He is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption to our work; He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider to our business; He is part of it. We are not doing him a favour by serving him; He is doing us a favour by giving us the opportunity to do so."
The more profitable firms are those that are able to maintain their most valued customers throughout time. To satisfy a customer means to make him faithful and customer satisfaction becomes the index that measures the ability of the firm to produce income for the future.
UKM should decrease the fee so that it will not burden the students to pay. Same goes as UiTM, UKM need to reevaluate the courses given as what is the main objective of the program so that the outcome will come out effectively.
Wasserman, Michael. 15 Techniques When Dealing With Customers. My Success Company. 25 January 2005. .
In other words, their purchasing power is more focused on their need, health, and efficiency and cost effective. It is with this in mind, this writer would say that there lies a possibility for a company to cater to both its best interest and that of the consumer conjointly. Without customers, there would not be any company; therefore, a secure partnership between the company and customers would be more beneficial for both parties, in that the customers would be loyal to the company based on if they feel valued and if their needs are being met by the company. The company can foster this partnership by building a strong customer relationship management – where they have a customer-centric model in which they learn ways to enhance their product and service through feedback received from the customers. Here, both interests of the company and the customer will be
To effectively sell a product or service, organizations have to really know how customers behave, regarding to what they buy. The study