Science and Engineering Education : Who is the Customer?

Abstract

As education systems move toward business models of operation, there is a strong tendency to misidentify the student as the customer. Misidentifying the student as the customer leads to interpretation of the course credit or degree as the product. The true product is the additional knowledge, skill, and ability that course credit and degree should represent. Consequences are potentially disastrous, because the notion that the customer is always right can lead to the perceived product (course credit or degree) meeting the desires of the misidentified customer (student) rather than the real product (value added to student) meeting the standards of the properly identified customers (future employers and taxpayers).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 30, 2012
Accession Number
ADA565333

Entities

People

  • Amy Courtney
  • Michael Courtney

Organizations

  • United States Air Force Academy

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Commerce
  • Computer Networks
  • Education
  • Employment
  • Engineering
  • Instructors
  • Personality
  • Personnel Management
  • Schools
  • Standards
  • Students
  • Test And Evaluation
  • Training
  • United States
  • United States Military Academy
  • Universities

Readers

  • Economics
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).
  • STEM Education