Excellent post. I think we also need ot ask ourselves the question: Do our students see themselves as customers? If the answer is yes and we hope to meet their expectations than it could be somewhat problematic to treat them in a way that is inconsistent with this expectation. I think part of the answer is finding a balance but also being somewhat introspective in terms of the “why, when and how?” questions that need to be asked. Why would we treat our students as customers? Why Not? How would we engage them as customers? and then When would we engage them as customers? As you have described, quite clearly the benefit and motivation and perhaps we have been shy to engage this way because of the insinuation of doing so with the bottom line in mind.

Ian Crookshank
AD, Student Community
York University, Toronto

I agree that we should be offering the best experience possible. In an interview a while ago, I expressed that I believed in providing the best customer service possible. Not that students were customers, in a consumer stand point, but that each student who walks into an office deserves the best support, service, and experience that we can offer.

Before sending students to yet another office, I pick up the phone and make sure they are going to the right place. I offer the extra office phone in case they need to make a phone call across campus. I make sure that the student workers know not to send anyone away with “sorry, but I don’t know”. Calling someone who has an answer or who might be able to point the student in the right direction is the best answer. I might not be able to answer specific financial aid questions or housing problems, but I can give them phone numbers to contact those offices directly. I can build relationships with different offices so that when I call I know there will be someone on the other end.

On the other side, I expect good service from other offices. Recently an office I utilize often stopped answering their phones. It would ring and ring and ring and only one person in the office would answer, and only when possible. I contacted that office’s supervisor and expressed my dismay; if I was becoming frustrated, I explained, then I can’t imagine a student attempting to reach the same office for similar resources.

I know this is an old post, but I have two comments to make.

First, the most advanced level of customer expectations is about advice or learning. Marcus Buckingham in “First, Break All The Rules” describes customer satisfaction in 4 levels – accuracy, availability, partnership and advice. The first two prevent dissatisfaction. The second two promote satisfaction and are at the core of student development and education. As an SA professional, this perspective at customer satisfaction has helped me resolve the student as customer dispute.

Even before reading Buckingham, my graduate program director would comment that student development and education is impossible if their key doesn’t fit in the lock. If we are not meeting basic expectations such as their room key working, we will not be able to reach them as an educator.

Thanks for the original post, Gary.