Abstract
This article looks at the idea and practice of “customer focus” in higher education. As a global trend with origins in the business and corporate world, customer focus has come to increasingly shape public services worldwide. Influenced by business thinking, terminology, and practices, governmental organizations across policy areas have used customer focus to reform public services in order to bring them closer to the demands and expectations of their users. The paper particularly analyzes changes in customer focus understanding and its implications for the European higher education policies. The aim of the article is to contribute to a better conceptualization and policy understanding of this growing approach to higher education reform.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Behrens R. Being an Ombudsman in higher education. A comparative study, ENOHE European network of Ombudesmen in higher education, Vienna, Austria; 2017.
Beracs J, Derényi A, Kádár-Csoboth P, Kováts G, Polónyi I, Temesi J. Hungarian higher education 2016 strategic progress report, Corvinus University of Budapest, Center for International Higher Education Studies; 2017.
Csepes O, Kaiser F, Varga Z. Hungary. In: File J, Goedegebuure L, editors. Real-time systems – reflections on higher education in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia. Enschede: CHEPS Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies/University of Twente; 2003. p. 59–76.
Curaj A, Deca L, Hâj CM. Romanian higher education in 2009–2013. The Bologna process and Romanian priorities in the search for an active European and global presence. In: Curaj A, Deca L, Egron-Polak E, Salmi J, editors. Higher education reforms in Romania. Between the Bologna process and national challenges. New York: Springer; 2015.
Dobbins M. Explaining different pathways in higher education policy in Romania and the Czech Republic. Comp Educ. 2011a;47(2):223–45.
Dobbins M. Higher education policies in Central and Eastern Europe. Convergence towards a common model? Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan; 2011b.
Dobbins M. Exploring the governance of Polish public higher education: balancing restored historical legacies with Europeanization and market pressures. Eur J Higher Educ. 2015;5(1):18–33.
Dobbins M, Khachatryan S. Europeanization in the “Wild East”? Analyzing higher education governance reform in Georgia and Armenia. High Educ. 2015;69(2):189–207.
Dobbins M, Knill C. Higher education policies in Central and Eastern Europe: convergence toward a common model? Governance. 2009;22(3):397–430.
Drăgoescu RM. Transformări în sistemul de învăţământ superior din România după 1990, Revista Română de Statistică nr. 3/2013. 2013.
Dziawgo D, Feria I, Saude S. Higher education funding: comparative analysis of Portugal and Poland public systems. Copernican J Finance Account. 2017;6(1):33–53.
Eagle L, Brennan R. Are students customers? TQM and marketing perspectives. Qual Assur Educ. 2007;15(1):44–60.
Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency Report. The European higher education area in 2012, published by EACEA P9 Eurydice; 2012.
Ek A-C, Ideland M, Jonsson S, Malmber C. The tension between academisation and marketization in higher education. Stud High Educ. 2013;38(9):1305–18.
Elen J, Clarebout G, Leonard R, Lowyck J. Student-centred and teacher-centred learning environments: what students think. Teach High Educ. 2007;12(1):105–17.
European Commission. Supporting growth and jobs – an agenda for the modernization of Europe’s higher education systems, Brussels, European Commission; 2011.
European Commission. Education and training education and training monitor 2016 Hungary; 2016.
European Students Union. Student centered learning. An insight into theory and practice, Bucharest; 2010.
Fountain JE. Paradoxes of public service customer service. Governance. 2001;14(1):55–73.
Henkel M. Academic values and the university as corporate enterprise. High Educ Q. 1997;51(2):134–43.
Hungarian Government. A change of pace in higher education. Hungary Higher Education Strategy 2014; 2014.
Jonassen DH, Land SM. Preface. In: Jonassen DH, Land SM, editors. Theoretical foundations of learning environments. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum; 2000.
Kwiek M. Changing higher education policies: from the deinstitutionalization to the reinstitutionalization of the research mission in Polish universities. Sci Public Policy. 2012;39:641–54.
Kwiek M. Changing higher education and welfare states in postcommunist Central Europe: new contexts leading to new typologies? Hum Aff. 2014;24:48–67.
Lawrence S, Sharma U. Commodification of education and academic labour—using the balanced scorecard in a university setting. Crit Perspect Account. 2002;13:661–77.
Lea SJ, Stephenson D, Troy J. Higher education students’ attitudes to student-centred learning: beyond educational bulimia. Stud High Educ. 2003;28(3):321–34.
Leisyte L, Kizniene D. New public management in Lithuania’s higher education. High Educ Pol. 2006;19:377–96.
Machemer PL, Crawford P. Student perceptions of active learning in a large cross-disciplinary classroom. Act Learn High Educ. 2007;8(1):9–30.
Mark E. Student satisfaction and the customer focus in higher education. J High Educ Policy Manag. 2013;35(1):2–10.
Matei L, Hâj CM, Alexe D. Student centred learning: translating trans-national commitments into institutional realities. The Romanian experience. In: Curaj A, Deca L, Egron-Polak E, Salmi J, editors. Higher education reforms in Romania. Between the Bologna process and national challenges. New York: Springer; 2015.
Molesworth M, Nixon E, Scullion R. Having, being and higher education: the marketization of the university and the transformation of the student into consumer. Teach High Educ. 2009;14(3):277–87.
Motwani J, Kumar A. The need for implementing total quality management in education. Int J Educ Manag. 1997;11:131–5.
Newman S, Jahdi K. Marketisation of education: marketing, rhetoric and reality. J Furth High Educ. 2009;33(1):1–11.
OECD. Education at a glance 2014: OECD indicators. Paris: OECD Publishing; 2014.
OECD. Trends shaping education 2016. Paris: OECD Publishing; 2016.
Pădure L. The Politics of Higher Education Reforms in Central and Eastern Europe. Development Challenges of the Republic of Moldova, A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Theory and Policy Studies in Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto; 2009.
Poland Ministry of Science and Higher Education. Higher Education Reform, Warsaw. 2011. Available online at https://www.nauka.gov.pl/g2/oryginal/2013_05/5a93a22d95f1c8a57168d279640bccdf.pdf.
Pollitt C, Bouckaert G. Public management reform: a comparative analysis: new public management, governance and the neo-Weberian state. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2011.
Pollitt C, Dan S. Searching for impacts in performance-oriented management reform: a review of the European literature. Public Perform Manag Rev. 2013;37(1):7–32.
Romanian Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research. Report on the National Exercise of University Metaranking-2016. 2016. https://www.edu.ro/sites/default/files/_fi%C8%99iere/Invatamant-Superior/2016/asigurarea%20calitatii/Metarankingul%20Universitar%20-%202016%20-%20Final.pdf.
Scott P. Higher education in Central and Eastern Europe. In: Forest JF, Altbach PG, editors. International handbook of higher education. New York: Springer; 2007. p. 423–41.
Svensson G, Wood G. Are university students really customers? When illusion may lead to delussion for all! Int J Educ Manag. 2007;21(1):17–28.
Vasilache S, Temesei J, Dima AM. Higher education reforms in Eastern Europe. A Hungarian–Romanian case study. Manage Mark Challenges Knowl Soc. 2012;7(2):295–322.
Wernisch D. Higher education in South Eastern Europe. Report higher education in South Eastern Europe University – economy partnership for enhancing knowledge transfer, WUS Austria; 2010.
Woodall T, Hiller A, Resnick S. Making sense of higher education: students as consumers and the value of the university experience. Stud High Educ. 2014;39(1):48–67.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Ivana, D., Dan, S., Popovici, O.C. (2019). Customer Focus in European Higher Education Systems. In: Văduva, S., Fotea, I., Văduva, L., Wilt, R. (eds) Applied Ethics for Entrepreneurial Success: Recommendations for the Developing World. GSMAC 2018. Springer Proceedings in Business and Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17215-2_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17215-2_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-17214-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-17215-2
eBook Packages: Business and ManagementBusiness and Management (R0)