Compact with Texans

Customer Service Principles and Objectives

Objectives

1. Continually seek to improve the quality of the education and services offered to students by TWU personnel.
2. Value, recognize, and reward customer service efforts by TWU personnel.
3. Annually use assessment tools and evaluation systems that will assess student expectation from the educational experience.
4. Develop an approach to service based on user friendliness that is designed for convenience, ease of communication and prompt response.
5. Use multiple communication sources to deliver information that is timely and relevant.
6. Conduct regular evaluation of complaint procedures for effectiveness and user friendliness.

Principles

• Facilities: The facilities used by students and their families shall be well maintained, clean, properly presented, and accessible.
• Faculty, Staff, Administration: The TWU staff members who provide services are dedicated to quality customer service. Training programs, which promote customer service, are available to all employees and required for some. Frontline staff are expected to be readily identifiable through nameplates or tags.
• Communications (Printed and Electronic): Communications with customers shall be courteous, accurate, and efficient. A toll-free number is provided for use by new students and their families. Directories to campus offices and services are widely available. The Student Handbook, Catalogues, Course Schedules and the TWU Internet web pages clearly communicate the various formats and procedures for communication with various services and programs.
• Timely Service: The University and its staff will respond to each customer in a timely manner as described below:
  • A response to email inquiries will be provided within two working days or less.
  • A response to written inquiries will be provided within five working days or less.
  • A response to telephone inquiries will be provided by the next working day.
  • Inquiries in person will be handled immediately whenever possible, with any necessary follow-up to be completed within two working days or less.
• Printed Information: Printed materials from TWU will be accurate, timely, and informative.

Customer Service Complaint Procedures

Academic and student service related complaint procedures are provided annually in the Student Handbook and online at: https://servicecenter.twu.edu/TDClient/KB/Default?CategoryID=4491. The Office of Student Life may advise students who are uncertain about approach procedures.

Customer Service evaluation forms are available in each "front line" service office. These forms can be completed and submitted directly to the supervising Vice President. Customer service complaints may be reported verbally, in writing or by email to Dr. Monica Mendez-Grant, Vice President for Student Life. Customers filing a complaint can expect a summary report within five working days.

In addition, customer satisfaction surveys are administered regularly. Results of these surveys are used in training and in university planning for continuous improvement.

Description of the Survey Methods and Analysis of Data

TWU is committed to assessing and improving customer satisfaction. Annually since 2017, a student satisfaction survey is administered to collect feedback and measure the level of satisfaction of undergraduate students at TWU. The Student Satisfaction Inventory (SSI) is a commercial survey instrument produced by Noel-Levitz that is designed to measure students' satisfaction with their college experience. While colleges measure student satisfaction for many reasons, according to Noel-Levitz, “chief among them is that student satisfaction plays an important role in student engagement, learning and success. Institutions that measure satisfaction can understand this role, can systematically improve the quality of their undergraduate experience, can offer more educational value to students and families,” and can meet the “demands for accreditation and accountability.”

The SSI was last administered at Texas Woman's University during the fall semester 2019 under the supervision of the Vice Provost for Institutional Research and Improvement. The surveys were made available online to all students enrolled at TWU in keeping with the recommended methodology. 1,425 surveys were returned and analyzed by Noel-Levitz.

Utilizing a seven-point scale (1=not satisfied at all, 7=very satisfied), the SSI is designed to collect feedback on 73 general expectation items and 10 items specifically defined by TWU. On each item, respondents rate both the importance of the specific expectation as well as their satisfaction with how well that expectation is being met. “Means for importance and satisfaction for individual items are calculated by summing the respondents’ ratings and dividing by the number of respondents. Means for importance are typically in the range of 5 to 6 and mean satisfaction scores are typically in a range of 4 to 5. A performance ‘gap’ can be determined by comparing the difference between the importance rating and the satisfaction rating. Typical performance gaps vary based on the type of institution and the population surveyed.” (Noel-Levitz)

Respondents also were asked to rate their satisfaction with 10 items designed to assess TWU's commitment to specific student populations and to rate the importance of 9 items that assess pre-enrollment factors. Finally, respondents were asked to rate 3 summary items related to their college experience. A national sample was provided comparing satisfaction information from TWU with that of other four-year public universities.

Summary reports for target populations were provided comparing TWU student responses to a national sample of students at other four-year public institutions. Responses among the target populations were provided according to the following: age (18 and younger, 19-24, 25-34, 35-44), ethnicity (African American, White/Caucasian, Hispanic), gender, enrollment status (day, Evening, Weekend), educational goals, residence, class load/class level (full-time, freshman, sophomore), residence (residence hall, off-campus housing, parent's home), grade point average (2.0-2.49, 2.5-2.99, 3.0-3.49, 3.5 or above), and employment status (full-time off campus, part-time off campus, full-time on campus, part-time on campus, not employed). A year-to-year report was provided which allows us to compare TWU student perceptions over time.

A strategic planning overview provided by Noel-Levitz lists the strengths (high importance and high satisfaction) and challenges (high importance and low satisfaction and/or large performance gap) as indicated by SSI respondents at Texas Woman’s University. This report provides the best summary of TWU results for immediate action planning.

Results are as follows:

• 93.40% Texas residents
• 89.68% female
• 13.83% African American, 22.43% Hispanic, 43.74% Caucasian
• 6.27% ages 18 and younger, 35.91% ages 19-24, 28.09% ages 25-34, 15.55% ages 35-44, and 14.18% 45 and older
• Freshman and sophomores comprised 20.40% of respondents, 37.40% of respondents were upperclassmen, and graduate and professional students comprised 41.33% of respondents.

Strategic Planning Overview

This report identifies the areas that matter most to TWU students, where the university is meeting its expectations, and where the university has room for improvement. It also highlights how the university compares with a national sample of 4-year public universities. The overview identifies our top strengths and our top challenges.

“Strengths are items with high importance and high satisfaction. Challenges are items with high importance and low satisfaction or large performance gap. Occasionally, one or two items may appear as both strength and a challenge. This occurs when an item has very high importance, relatively high satisfaction as well as a fairly large performance gap. The satisfaction score may qualify it as a strength, while the performance gap qualifies it as a challenge. It is important to emphasize the challenge aspect because of the high level of importance placed on the item by students.”

The Strategic Planning Overview also summarizes how the universities results compare with the comparison group by listing TWU’s strengths and challenges.

A total of 17 items were listed as “strengths.” These items are identified as above the mid-point in importance and in the upper quartile (25%) of satisfaction scores. The strengths are listed in descending order of importance.

1. Nearly all of the faculty are knowledgeable in their field.
2. Security staff respond quickly in emergencies.
3. My academic advisor is knowledgeable about requirements in my major.
4. The campus is safe and secure for all students.
5. I am able to experience intellectual growth here.
6. There is a good variety of courses provided on this campus.
7. There is a commitment to academic excellence on this campus.
8. Computer labs are adequate and accessible.
9. Library resources and services are adequate.
10. This institution has a good reputation within the community.
11.  There is a strong commitment to racial harmony on this campus.
12. Students are made to feel welcome on this campus.
13. Faculty are usually available after class and during office hours.
14. Student disciplinary procedures are fair.
15. On the whole, the campus is well-maintained.
16. The staff in the health services area are competent.
17. Freedom of expression is protected on campus.

A total of 9 items were noted as “challenges.” These items are identified as above the mid-point in importance and in the lower quartile (25%) of satisfaction or the top quartile (25%) of performance gap scores. The challenges are listed in descending order of importance.

1. The quality of instruction I receive in most of my classes is excellent.
2. The instruction in my major field is excellent.
3. Tuition paid is a worthwhile investment.
4. Faculty are fair and unbiased in their treatment of individual students.
5. Faculty provide timely feedback about student progress in a course.
6. My academic advisor is concerned about my success as an individual.
7. Financial aid awards are announced to students in time to be helpful in college planning.
8. Parking lots are well-lighted and secure.
9. Adequate financial aid is available for most students.

Satisfaction

In general, TWU student responses reflected a higher level of satisfaction with most items than those of their peers at other 4-year public universities. Instructional effectiveness also received high scores, as did academic advising and safety and security of the campus.

The items given the highest satisfaction rating and in the top 50% of importance rating by TWU students with comparison to other students at 4-year public institutions were as follows (listed in order of importance):

Conclusions

The SSI provides a generally positive view of student satisfaction at TWU. TWU students consistently reported greater overall satisfaction than the national sample. Of the 73 total items on the SSI, TWU responses on 53 of the items showed higher satisfaction than the national sample of 4-year public universities, 29 of which were rating in the top 50% for importance. Of the 73 total items on the SSI, 53 were statistically significant, with 39 items being statistically significant at the 0.001 confidence level.

The general student population reported satisfaction particularly in areas of instructional effectiveness (i.e. Nearly all faculty are knowledgeable in their field), safety and security, campus climate (i.e. The institution has a good reputation within the community, There is a strong commitment to racial harmony on this campus, Freedom of expression is protected on campus), and campus support services (i.e. Computer labs are adequate and accessible, library resources and services are adequate). Items related to course offering and instruction, and campus safety were ranked as most important by TWU students. The areas with a low level of satisfaction were related to parking on campus, athletic programs contributing to school spirit, living in residence halls (space and food selection on campus), and amount of time for financial aid awards to be announced. It is the intent of the Division of Student Life to address items of concern. One way to address items of concern is through University Committees. Through participation in one of many university committees, students play an important role in policy determination and implementation.

Overall, there was a decline in TWU satisfaction from the fall 2018 and fall 2019 survey administrations. The only increase in the major scale groups was in “Concern for the Individual.” While this is the case, TWU satisfaction ratings still exceeded the National satisfaction ratings in 2019 in all scale groups (all statistically significant except Recruitment and Financial Aid), with the exception of Academic Advising, Safety and Security, and Responsiveness to Diverse Populations, which saw no statistical difference between the groups.

The information provided in the survey results will be useful in both identifying strengths and challenges and in planning strategies to enhance and improve the experience of students at Texas Woman’s University.

Page last updated 10:44 AM, June 7, 2023