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Why do you think service science matters to universities as service systems being transformed?
Higher education is being reshaped little by little every day. Slowly but surely, from the smallest community colleges to the teaching institutions to the most prestigious research universities, a new set of key performance indicators (KPIs) is transforming what excellence means in higher education. For developed and emerging market nations globally, higher education creates both an informed citizenry and a high-skill workforce, but how that is achieved is being transformed. What is not changing is the fact that higher education opens up new opportunities in a knowledge-driven global economy. It is what parents want for their children, as well as what professionals want for themselves as lifelong learners with growing career aspirations. So how can institutions compete on the global stage of higher education? Through service science, the emerging science that studies value co-creation in complex systems and proven innovation techniques already being used in other industries.
Service science can provide perspective on the forces reshaping higher education today.1 From online service offerings to self-service technologies to global brands establishing local franchises, these basic forces are transforming whole industries and are being studied by service scientists. Higher education is not the first industry to feel the tug of these forces, nor will it be the last, with finance, health care, and government on the horizon and with retail, media, manufacturing, and agriculture industries well down the road of 21st-century transformation in the age of global sourcing, cloud computing, and the “Internet of Things.”
Ten Reasons
Service science matters to universities for many reasons, but we will elaborate on just ten here.
1. Universities are complex service systems of fundamental importance.
2. Disciplines are infusing service innovation concepts into curriculum.
3. Service science can help universities overcome discipline silos.
4. University-based startups are often new types of online service.
5. Professional associations are adding service science SIGs.
6. Cities, home to most universities, are complex service systems.
7. Service failures can be costly and can derail the careers of students.
8. Service science can help universities move up in rankings.
9. Service science can contribute to good industry-university relations and interactions.
10. Service science can help all universities improve their service excellence “game.”
Read the full article here at EDUCAUSE.
Here is a related article at Center for American Progress.
Why do you think service science matters to universities as service systems being transformed?