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Keywords
Image, Positioning, Higher education, South Africa, United Kingdom
Abstract
"Create an image for your company or your competitors will do it for you." In the higher education sector this statement by Keever is equally true; as competition for students increases and funding decreases universities and technikons need to create and maintain a distinctive image in the market place. Higher education
institutions are becoming increasingly aggressive in their marketing activities to convey an image that is favourable to their public, be they prospective students, employers, funders etc. Investigates how marketing is used to convey higher education institution type image in the UK and South Africa. Using correspondence analysis, shows the unique positionings that have been created by the old UK universities, the new UK universities, South African universities and technikons. Also identifies which marketing tools these institution types use in conveying their institutional image.
Introduction
The image portrayed by institutions of higher education plays a critical role in the attitudes of the institution's publics towards that institution (Yavas and Shemwell, 1996; Landrum et al., 1998). Paramewaran and Glowacka (1995) in their study of university image found that higher education institutions (HEIs) need to maintain or develop a distinct image to create a competitive advantage in an increasingly competitive market. It is, after all, this image that will impact on a student's willingness to apply to that institution for enrolment, or a donor considering an endowment, or a company selecting an institution to do contracted research and development. At a time when HEIs around the globe face declining student numbers and decreasing funding grants, it becomes imperative for them to determine their images in the eyes of their various publics.
The tertiary education system is undergoing fundamental metamorphosis in both the UK and South Africa. Both countries' institutions are facing changes in government funding, globalisation of higher education is bringing on new competitors, applications from new students is declining, and lastly, the former polytechnics in the UK have become universities and technikons in South Africa now have degree awarding status. Bakewell and Gibson-Sweet (1998) argue that these changes may result in the new universities in the UK being "stuck in the middle", with only half of the respondents in a survey...