Heterogenous Clientele and Product Differentiation: Teaching Economics in a Changing Environment

The increasingly diverse student clientele that we now have has significantly changed teaching and learning environment in universities. Correspondingly, the academic focus of courses and programmes has shifted. Understanding this transition is essential if programmes are to be effective, relevant and attractive to students. This paper examines the process of teaching business and economic statistics in the presence of a highly heterogenous student clientele. Employing non-parametric techniques and multivariate analysis, including discriminant analysis, it is argued that product differentiation, epitomised by a diversified portfolio of instruction strategies and methods, is a sine qua non for addressing the needs of a heterogeneous student clientele. A two-pronged strategy of problem-based and individual need-based learning, underpinned by flexible consultation, delivery and presentation, lecture handouts both in hard copy and on the web, a semester project, computer lab sessions and tutorials in the traditional mode, was examined. Evidence, based on student perceptions, supports the hypothesis that the overall satisfaction rate in such a statistics course compared favourably with seemingly more attractive economics and non-economics courses. The paper also identifies factors affecting learning and derives implications using a game theoretic anaysis