There is a
central concern that I hear from college presidents about academic customer
service. “Does it work to increase student satisfaction and retention?"
A fair
question that I am very pleased to answer with a simple yes. And then prove it
through a university that has fully embraced the concepts of academic customer
service.
Does
academic customer service work? If increasing a graduation rate by more than
11%, increasing enrollment by over 2,500 students, increasing applications by
31%, having the funds to more than double the faculty, obtaining investments to
start three more schools of study and four new buildings, and jump from 15 to
number one in the US News and World Report rankings, then academic customer
service works.
High Point
University in North Carolina under the leadership of Nido Qubein has proven
that academic customer service, seeing to the reasonable needs and responsible
expectations of students and parents in the classroom and across the campus,
works.
When Qubein
took the helm of High Point, it was a decent enough school with the same sorts
of problems most other universities had. The economy was in the deepest
recession it had seen since the great depression eight years ago. Its
enrollment was down bringing its revenue with it. It was not able to invest in
new teachers because the school’s population did not support the expenditure.
Enrollment was down to 1,450 students and getting to the point of cuts in the
school’s programs and employees. Its graduation rate (the real retention rate)
was at 51.4% (6 year rate) and is now at 63% for the first cohort to go through
the academic customer service changed university and expected to rise
considerably with future cohorts. There were 107 faculty before Qubein
introduced an academic customer service culture into the school. Now there are
260.
What High
Point did was change the university from a traditional ”enroll ‘em and let them
sink or swim” indifference to students, to a university fully focused on
students and their academic success. He made the students one of the primary
centers of everything the University did and does. He not only met their
expectations to be treated with dignity and concern, he exceeded it. And
he expects them to respect the protocol of the academy and its traditions.
He began
with recognizing that the students and their parents were indeed customers of
HPU who had needs and expectations. They needed a solid education and
meaningful success. They expected an energetic campus life. So he focused on
both. After he did an audit of the campus and its academic programs, he saw for
example that the grounds and facilities were not up to the standards of
students and employees to make them proud of going to HPU. This is looking at
the objective correlative of a university, the setting in which learning takes
place. He knew if his motto of “be extraordinary” was to take hold at HPU
everything about the school had to be exceptional. So he went ahead and
upgraded what was there and added three new buildings. The construction
was led by $230 million in gifts that Qubein secured. Yes, he made the school
leveraged by borrowing the money for the buildings but he knew that to fulfill
student’s affective ROI, they had to feel proud of the school’s facilities and
grounds. In addition he had the campus grounds enhanced to now have 300 types
of trees, 2,000 types of plants, 22 gardens for students and others to plant
and adds about 600 plants a year now. What is important to note is that the
plantings have become part of the learning environment. For example, classes in
botany, biology, environmental science, plant taxonomy and other courses use
the plantings as a living laboratory.
This is an
important point here. Qubein did add student focused amenities such as a
concierge service for students, free ice cream delivered in a truck that serves
as a community outreach experience for student volunteers, and live music
during meals to increase student engagement at HPU among other things but he
more importantly realized that a great part of customer service for students
happens in and for the classroom. The school was selling that to potential
students and Qubein realized they had to come through with great learning for
the world ahead of graduation.
He further
realized that one of the important things that students needed and fully
expected was success. They came to school to learn and graduate to get jobs
after college. So he had HPU first focus on making certain that students
succeeded. He was not going to take the point of view that they are adults who
can have the right to fail. He realized they paid to get an education and
diploma so he was going to do all he could to assure they received them.
Not by coddling, grade inflation or having faculty dumb down their classes as
critics of academic customer service believe customer service causes but by
devising an effective Early Alert system to assure success in the classroom and
in life. The assistance and cooperation of faculty made the program
effective.
He insisted
that classes be conducted at their highest level. That students be challenged
and that if any indicator of a student not doing well occur, they be entered
into the Early Alert system. That system is similar to the ones we have
discussed earlier and suggested for schools. It can be accessed by anyone on
campus but especially by faculty. If a student misses classes, faculty are
called on to immediately notify the early warning advisors that this has
occurred. If a student seems to not be doing well, the faculty member is called
upon to approach him to offer help as well as enter that into the Early Alert
system so an advisor can contact the student. Moreover, Early Alert is
conducted the fourth week of the semester and attendance and any grade
information that might suggest a student to be at risk is to be reported.
Freshman tutors, and Learning Excellence experts aid in the process. Advisors
and students are requested to follow up with a conference and course planning
to improve performance and attendance.
The Early
Alert system has counselors and advisors who then reach out to students who are
at risk and do all they can to help them resolve any problems and gain the
learning they need. This system is an intrusive service the University provides
to assure that students are fully served and their expectation of being
successful can be met if at all possible. The University does not withhold
services at all and let the student sink or swim on her own. They make sure
that all the services of the institution are brought to into play to assure
student success.
President
Qubein credits the Early Alert system for much of the University’s retention
success. “The best ROI (financially & behaviorally) comes from the
Early Alert program in the classroom where every professor watches and reports
each student’s success patterns (and we follow up to ensure each student
attends class, does work, gets tutoring, etc) and the Excellence In Learning
program which provides significant personalized attention to students who need
it.”
Learning Excellence
is a service that assures that faculty interact with students and provide
individualized help for any student who is having trouble. Learning Excellence
is a unique program that provides an individualized, formal support system to
assist students in achieving academic success at High Point University. The
program is open to any HPU student and offers extensive support to
students with learning differences as well as those who want to organize and
improve their academic abilities. A student does not have to be in
academic trouble to access the service. It can be used by any student who wants
to achieve at her highest level. Learning Excellence develops a
learning action plan specific to each student so she receives the
personalized attention and encouragement needed.
As we have
suggested many times, the University asks faculty to be the last ones out of a
classroom and be assertive with students as the exit to be sure they understand
the materials covered. Learning is not just a selling point but a promise at
HPU. This is just an additional customer service that helps assure students
succeed.
These are
all academic customer services that can be implemented at any school that wants
to be more successful. These are a large part of HPU’s success though the free
ice cream, live music and student concierge get most of the attention. They too
are obviously customer service that make High Point a university that students
want to stay in. The total package makes the students believe they are
receiving a full return on their investment.
And does it
prove that academic customer service works?
An 11.6%
jump in graduation rates
Enrollment
increasing by 2,850 students
A 31%
increase in applications
A more
talented student body
3 new
academic schools
46 new buildings
A
reinvigorated campus
A jump of 15
places in the US News Report rankings to be ranked number 1
A better and
greater revenue stream to afford new initiatives and growth
And national
recognition for the University…
I’d say that
academic customer service works very well indeed!
For more on customer service's benefits to an institution, get a copy of
From Admissions to Graduation: Achieving Growth Through Academic Customer Service by Dr. Neal Raisman
Neal Raisman is the president of NRaisman & Associates, the leading provider of academic customer service for increased retention training and consulting
413.219.6939
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