Do Business Schools Have Students or Customers?

The debate continues, gathering strength at the moment at business schools. Here are some opinions from higher education leaders, collected by The New York Times:

A recent article in The Chicago Tribune described a continuing debate in business schools over whether their enrollees should be regarded as “customers” rather than as traditional students. Should the students have more say over what they are taught and even how they are judged? What’s the risk of the student-consumer approach in M.B.A. programs? And does the issue reflect broader issues in higher education?

Can you match the following quotes with the debaters who wrote them? You can choose from Mark C. Taylor, Richard Vedder, David Bejou, Edward Snyder, and Stephen Joel Trachtenberg.

Students are investing time and money with a purpose in mind. The school that does not serve that purpose will not survive.

The best students don't view themselves as customers, and they shouldn't be treated as such.

Treatment of students as customers is not about grades or unrealistic expectations; it is about a new paradigm of shared governance.

The "student as customer" philosophy has created an underworked and overindulged group of future national leaders.

To deny that higher education is a product and students are customers is to duck the tough questions we should be asking.

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