Pandora says,
"I am in the middle of a paper on student satisfaction calling it:
"Customers for Life? The Introduction of Relationship Marketing in Higher
Education."....
Student satisfaction is linked to matriculation rates/attrition rates and
ultimately alumnae donations. ....
The problem is the system has exalted the administration and instructional
staff above student input, so the idea of student as customer has become
anathema. The 19% Drop in College enrollment is proof of that. "
As a parent of two kids currently attending college, it is all-too-easy to
agree with Pandora's thoughts. I have a few points of clarification based
on this experience and based on conversations with several college
presidents.
Pandora said student satisfaction is linked to attrition/matriculation
rates. From a systems dynamics perspective it may be more accurate to say
student satisfaction _results in_ attrition/matriculation rates.
Also, student satisfaction results in fond memories, which results in
donations which results in upgraded facilities & infrastructure which
results finally in student satisfaction. So there is a causal loop.
The point for me is colleges can be academically uncompromising without
sacrificing future donations because donations are linked to how
administrators treat them and what kinds of facilities there are, and are
not linked to being demanding.
However, we don't really know what the 19% drop in college enrollment is
attributed to. It may be demographics, or any number of factors. The best
Schools--or most prestigious--are finding their applications way up, not
down, and they are not particularly customer-focused.
--Rol Fessenden 76234.3636@compuserve.com
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>