Treating Students as the Product is the Best Thing You Can Do for Them
Most universities think students are their customers. They’re wrong. Students are their product.
Of course, students (and their parents) are a type of customer. They write the checks. But . . .
the value of college is only realized when employers hire graduates
If employers stop seeing value in university graduates, it doesn’t matter how much the student knows about Nietzsche or how prestigious the accreditation looks, parents will stop writing the checks.
In the end, the flow of tuition dollars follows the flow of job offers. Thus, the true customer . . . the one that universities must ultimately satisfy . . . is the employer.
And if this is true, the most useful framework for all stakeholders is to think of students as the product:
They enter as raw material;
Higher ed should transform them into high-value finished products that are deployed into the market; and
Employers buy that product (or don’t).
Universities miss this because it feels uncomfortable to say out loud: “Our students are the product.”
but every other industry recognizes this dynamic
Automakers build cars for drivers;
Pharma companies develop drugs for patients;
Higher ed creates entry-level employees for employers.
This perspective doesn’t devalue students. In fact, it clarifies the responsibility higher ed holds—to add as much value as possible to each student so they can meet employer needs and thrive in the job market.
When schools fail to see this, they optimize for the wrong things. They chase prestige rankings. They expand amenities. They obsess over internal compliance. But they never ask the important question . . .
how do we produce graduates who employers love hiring
That’s not just a philosophical shift. It’s a 10 on the education Richter Scale. Nothing about universities works if you don’t view higher ed through this prism.
This is why so many people say the university system is broken. This is why employers have stopped hiring entry-level employees. This is why the university system must be replaced.
There’s a reason I call universities “zombie institutions.” They’re dead. They just don’t know it. And they continue to walk among us . . . eating our brains.
