"Satsified and/or dissatisfied?" The experience-based perceptions of social work student customers of studying at an open and distance-learning university

Abstract

Introduction: When labelling institutions of higher education as “service industries”, the consumers of services of such higher institutions can no longer only be regarded as “students” but should be viewed as “customers”. They are customers who seem to be well informed about their rights as consumers, who demand effective and quality services, who voice their concerns and dissatisfaction through formal and informal channels (i.e. in communications to University authorities as well as through public demonstrations and in the media and on social networks (Sander et al., 2000:309)). As an example, one article in the printed media comes to mind (i.e. “Unisa students march to protest high fees, service” by Tsabeng Nthite in The Pretoria News on 23 September 2006:3).