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In November 2012, Academic Impressions surveyed professionals from 79 institutions of higher education, asking them to grade their institution’s level of customer service and to comment on the challenges faced in improving it. The responses were revealing. A “C” in Customer Service 29 of our respondents rated their institution with a “B” letter grade for level of service offered, and 31 would assign a “C” grade (together accounting for three-quarters of the total responses). Only six would assign an “A.” Among those who assigned a failing grade and those who assigned a “C,” a litany of common complaints emerges: Many of the respondents emphasized that front-line staff are focused on completion of tasks rather than achievement of (student-centered) outcomes, and lack the time and the perspective to provide better service to students. When asked to describe how they see exemplary customer service, overwhelmingly, the respondents focused on responsiveness. And while some respondents cited the need for a “friendly” attitude, among many there is a growing awareness that providing effective service to students has less to do with targeting “customer satisfaction” through an improved demeanor and more to do with eliminating wait times, shortening lines, and ensuring that students receive the […]

Our interview with Dennis Pruitt, vice president for student affairs at the University of South Carolina, suggested the need to direct attention to something that is often overlooked: the need to review and audit institutional policies and procedures that delay students in progressing toward their degree. “Historically, many have assumed that if students get over their homesickness, if they have a good affinity group, if they feel good on campus, they’ll persist. But the two factors that truly help students persist are academic progress toward a degree (having a goal and gaining momentum toward it) and maintaining maximum eligibility for the maximum amount of financial aid (to ensure non-interruption in their courses).”Dennis Pruitt, U of South Carolina In light of Pruitt’s comment, one thing academic and administrative leaders will want to look for at their institution is the presence of “road bumps” in their processes and procedures that delay a student’s progress toward a degree. To find those “bottleneck” points in your procedures that stall students in their progress toward a degree: Reviewing Student Complaints “Most frequently, student complaints emerge around the speed of getting a critical task done. Periodically review complaints, and when you find bottlenecks, take them apart. Often, behind that bottleneck, […]

Improving customer service isn’t only an opportunity in enrollment management. Academic support services often face similar structural, procedural, and training barriers to improving service to students. Cindy Barnes, director of advising and retention at West Texas A&M University, developed a one-stop student success center for the institution. We reached out to her recently to learn more about how she addressed structural barriers, inefficient policies and procedures, and staff training needs to ensure that West Texas A&M could deliver efficient and effective support to students as they pursue their academic studies. Here is some of Barnes’ advice. Addressing Structural and Procedural Barriers At many institutions, varied and decentralized academic support services report not only to different department heads but to different vice presidents. Barnes recalls that prior to the advent of the student success center at West Texas A&M University, support functions reported variously to the vice president of student services, the vice president of enrollment management, and an associate provost. To address this structural issue, it’s critical to bring together department heads from across these divisions to talk through the challenges students face — whether these department heads meet in the form of a student success and retention committee or […]

by Daniel Fusch (Academic Impressions) August 2014. In recent articles, we’ve commented on the fact that there are immediate steps colleges and universities need to take to ensure compliance with Title IX and with new OCR guidelines for grievance procedures in cases of harassment and sexual assault. For complimentary resources on this, see: Title IX Compliance: Steps to Take Today, Next Week, and Next Month Title IX Checklist Reinforcing the urgency of this issue, two recent Academic Impressions surveys — one of campus safety directors and one of Title IX coordinators and campus HR professionals — reveal a lack of awareness of what institutions need to be doing in the short term. What Many Campus Safety Officers Don’t Know We polled 85 campus safety directors at college campuses; of those polled, only two thirds are currently working on updating policies and procedures related to addressing sexual harassment or sexual assault on campus, in accordance with the Department of Justice’s recommendations. Of the 35 who hope to address this in the next year or who have no plans to revisit their policies, nearly all cited one of three reasons for the delay, and all of these reasons are cause for concern: […]