In fact, being 'customer-oriented' is one of its five core values.

The polytechnic even set up a service centre called the One-Stop Centre to attend to its students' needs.

'Customers are the focus of everything we do,' its spokesman said, adding that its staff are appraised based on how customer-oriented they have been.

Its excellent service helped it achieve the highest score among polytechnics here in a recent survey measuring customer satisfaction levels across various industries.

Respondents to the survey, by the Singapore Management University's Institute of Service Excellence, were asked to rate schools in areas such as the quality of service and how well their expectations are met.

The institute's academic director, Dr Marcus Lee, said Republic Polytechnic did well in all aspects surveyed, adding that it was valid to consider students as customers. 'Students are vital. Without them, a school would have to shut down. Measuring student satisfaction is therefore important to education providers.'

This view is shared by Republic Polytechnic's principal and chief executive Yeo Li Pheow: 'Being the newest polytechnic, we were aware that for (the school) to attract more first-choice applicants... we had to strive even harder.'

If students were won over by the benefits the school provided, he added, they would become 'ambassadors' to convince friends and family to choose it too.

So it set out to be customer-oriented from the beginning, he said.

Read the full report in Monday's edition of The Straits Times' Home section.