Meeting Service Needs of the Changing Profile of Student Customers

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to investigate how Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) in the United Kingdom (UK) can redefine education services to meet the needs of student customers. The student demographics extracted from the UK’s Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), Key Information Sets (KIS) and an example HEI, University of Greenwich, UK, are explored and analysed. Additionally, the National Statistics Survey (NSS) on student satisfaction is also examined. Statistical analysis alone is insufficient to form a contextual view of the general student customers’ profile. The changing demographics and the current student customers’ prolific use of technology highlighted the fact that the past understanding of student profiles and their education needs no longer apply in the current context. A new method of student customer profiling is suggested. Service procurement in HEIs and the Service Consumption Life Cycle of student customers are discussed in the context of service needs and iterative interactions with specific service delivery focal areas within the HEI. A recommendation is made for periodic risk regulation assessments using new student customer profiles against areas of service needs to ensure a set of quality service delivery to meet the needs of these new students.

Keywords: Student Demographics, Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), Key Information Sets (KIS), Student Customer profiling, IT Literacy, IT Skills, Service Blueprinting, Risk Regulation, Service Procurement, Service Consumption Life Cycle

DOI: 10.54941/ahfe100252