Prof Hinson urges African universities to commission student experience surveys

Professor of Marketing and Global Thought Leader at the University of Ghana (UG), Robert Ebo Hinson, has called on African universities to conduct surveys on student experiences to better understand their needs.

He explained that universities must gather insights into student journeys if they are to produce graduates who are industry-ready, balanced, and successful after graduation.

Speaking as the keynote speaker at the 2026 UG Student Experience Conference on June 17, 2026, under the theme “Transforming Student Experience Through Service Excellence and Innovation,” Prof Hinson said:

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“So if you want to produce students who are balanced, industry-ready, sharp, you need to get a sense of what the value needs of the students are. The point I made was that we need to go back as universities and understand student journeys. Where do they even encounter us in the first instance? How do they approach us?

“What happens in Level 100? What happens in Level 300? Because if you don’t know what their expectations were from the beginning, as the journey progresses, you can’t even check whether the journey is working or not. So I want to encourage every university in Africa, please go and commission your first-ever university-wide student experience benchmark survey. That way, over time, you can keep tracking whether or not you are delivering on their value needs.”

The marketing expert urged universities to adopt collaborative approaches in dealing with students rather than imposing decisions on them.

“Universities need to become more customer-led. The days when it was all about declarations and decrees are gone. These Gen Z students don’t take commandments like a military army. They’ll ask questions: Why should I do this? What is this for? What will happen if I do this? We need a more collaborative approach. A university that does well on student experience is a collaborative university because it works with students to meet their goals and aspirations.”

The Provost of the College of Education, speaking on behalf of UG Vice-Chancellor Prof Samuel Nii Ardey Cudjoe, highlighted actions taken by the university to improve student experience on campus.

“We want to share some of what we have been doing. Our strategic plan for 2024–2029 focuses on student experience, and one of the initiatives is our hotspot comfort zone. This year alone we have commissioned three hotspots across campus, designed to provide students with reliable Wi-Fi, study space, and rest areas. We have also launched the One Student, One Laptop initiative,” he noted.

UG Students’ Representative Council (SRC) President, Richmond Ofori Larbi, in his solidarity message, called for innovative ways to enhance teaching and learning, adding that the SRC is committed to contributing to this cause.

“Innovation is no longer optional. It must guide how we teach, how we learn, how we engage, and how we resolve challenges. Likewise, service excellence must be reflected in responsiveness, accountability, and consistency in meeting student needs. The SRC remains committed to constructive collaboration with all stakeholders to ensure that the voices of students are not only heard but actively integrated into decision-making processes that shape our academic community,” he said.

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