Economic Analysis & Policy Vol.37 No.2, September 2007 187 © 2007 TEACHING ECONOMICS IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT: THE CASE OF INTRODUCTORY POSTGRADUATE ECONOMIC STATISTICS * Mohammad Alauddin and John Foster School of Economics The University of Queensland Brisbane Australia This paper compares overall student satisfaction within and across disciplines in the instruction process of introductory postgraduate economic statistics with a highly heterogenous student clientele employing non-parametric and multivariate analysis. The analysis finds that product differentiation is a sine qua non for a heterogeneous clientele. Evidence, based on student perceptions, supports the hypothesis that the overall rating in the statistics course compares favourably with other economics courses and is on a par with non-economics courses. It underscores the vibrant reality that student diversity has changed the university environment. Effective, relevant and attractive programmes require understanding this transition. The paper’s novelty lies in its use of a range of analytical frameworks demonstrating that by explicitly addressing the heterogeneous character of student needs in the instruction process, even in quite difficult courses, overall rating can be at least on a par with other courses within and between disciplines. 1. INTRODUCTION The teaching environment in universities has undergone profound and far-reaching changes in Australia and elsewhere in the developed world. This has resulted from issues of changing labour relationships, government involvement, curriculum and technology, underpinned by what some authors call the process of “McDonaldization” 1 of higher education (see for example Hayes and Wynyard, 2002; Margolis, 2004). * This is a thoroughly revised version of the paper presented at the Second Biennial Developments in Business and Economics Education (DEBE) Conference, Edinburgh, UK, 15–16 September 2003. The authors wish to express their gratitude to two anonymous referees for constructive comments and suggestions. Special thanks are also due to Mark Bahr for multivariate analysis, and to Rodney Beard for useful comments and assistance with the game-theoretic analysis. Usual caveats apply. 1 “McDonaldization” was summarised conceptually by Ritzer (1998) as “efficiency”, “calculability”, “predictability”, and “control”. The fast-food industry serves as the modern model, including a decentralised franchised structure of ownership; global markets; rational scientific processes of production and management; emphasis on