Administration and Faculty Perceptions (in an Online Post-Secondary Institution) of Whether Students Are Purely Students Customers or Both

Marguerite Barta
InSITE 2009  •  Volume 9  •  2009
This paper explores whether students are customers, students, or both students and customers. The following are discussed: How do administrative members (deans, assistant deans, chairs, assistant chairs), full-time faculty, and adjunct faculty members within an online post-secondary learning institution perceive their students’ status within the organization? Are the students purely students, or are the students also customers? What paradigm exists within the minds of the administrative members and faculty members? If the students are purely students, then is the online post-secondary learning institution purely a function of scholarly excellence? Conversely, if the students are customers, then is the online post-secondary learning institution predominantly a business that is selling a product and must go to great lengths to keep the e-customer happy? What are the perceptions of administration and faculty? Are the students purely students, or are the students also customers? Furthermore, if the online post-secondary learning institution recognizes that there are, indeed, customers, is it sure that the students are the customers? Perhaps some administrative members and faculty members consider the customers to be the final consumers of the product, so consideration of whether the students are purely students or whether the students are customers is moot.
student, customer
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