Higher Education

Customer Satisfaction Research in Higher Education

It is only recently, and not universally even now, that institutions of higher education have begun to articulate that they have customers just like other companies that offer products or services. This change is not so much a fundamental change of course or paradigm shift, but probably a simple recognition that they have serious competition for students, and that they need to use contemporary marketing tools to improve their recruitment ("sales") effort. Virtually all institutions of higher education have multiple customer segments-and unlike a manufacturer with multiple product lines, the customer segments in higher education have diverse relationships with the institution. For example consider the following customer segments:

• Undergraduate students – they need good basic education programs, good faculty, opportunity for jobs upon graduation, student housing with all the contemporary amenities, fitness centers, campus saloons, etc.
• Graduate students – they need an institution with a graduate reputation, faculty of note, research facilities, research grants, fellowships, etc.
• Faculty –- competition for faculty means they are customers of the institution, too. Faculty need office space, competitive salary, opportunities for research, stimulating community environment, affordable housing, etc.
• Staff –- staff have unique needs as well: affordable housing, a benefits package, flexibility of work hours/conditions, competitive pay, paid parking, etc.
• Alumni – alumni constitute an important customer segment for all institutions of higher education because alumni are sources for future students, goodwill, financial contributions and legacies, and the like. But alumni have customer needs, too. Reliable contact, opportunities to return to the campus, networking, and the like.
• The local community – another customer segment that often gets lost in the shuffle is the local community, town or village. Often large institutions can appear to run roughshod over small jurisdictions, and create ill will-usually unknowingly and certainly unintentionally. But the local community is a customer of the institution that needs nurturing because it can control aspects of the institution's destiny including such things as building permits, zoning, and the like. Local community needs can range from access to facilities, to communication about events, access to students for babysitting, tutors, interns, etc.

For each of these publics, or customer segments, the institution needs to keep abreast of its level of satisfaction with the institution's performance. For one institutional client of Sterling, an annual survey is taken of each customer segment and levels of satisfaction tracked from year to year. Over time services and benefits to the various segments have been changed in response to trends in satisfaction. As a result, overall satisfaction scores over the last half dozen years have generally trended upward, and the institution benefits from high student retention, high quality graduate students, and stable faculty and staff. Moral to the story: it pays to listen.

Sterling has worked for many years in research for higher education. Sterling has served many individual institutions such as Capital University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, University of California-San Diego and -San Francisco. In addition, the company has also worked with national professional associations associated with higher education including NACUBO (National Association of College and University Business Officers) and NACS (National Association of College Stores).