Modern customers and open universities: can open universities develop a course model in which students become the co-creators of value?

Abstract

Marketing specialists have recently redefined the roles customers and enterprises play in the economy. Modern customers are connected, informed, mobile, educated and internationally oriented. They seek enterprises that empower them to co-construct personalised experiences. This view of the customer–enterprise relationship has a great impact on the ways markets function. Open universities can apply developed principles in marketing to optimise the value of their degree programmes. A capita selecta course within the Open University of the Netherlands has given students the opportunity to personalise learning. Within the limits of the formal Master programme, students were encouraged to define personal learning goals, study tasks and work to be delivered and formally assessed. In this paper, the course is analysed according to the principles of customer–enterprise relations, and I explore the question: can open universities develop a course model in which students become the co-creators of value?