Branding the Higher Education: Identity Construction of Universities through Logos, Mottos and Slogans

Abstract

Branding of higher education has become a common phenomenon nowadays. The universities are adopting various branding strategies to distinguish themselves in the competitive environment. This study, therefore, aims to examine the identity construction of universities through logos and mottos. The researcher divided the Pakistani universities into three major groups i.e. five pre-70 public sector universities, five post-70 public sector universities and five private sector universities to find variations in university logos, mottos and slogans due to their diverse background. Incorporating Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) with Kress and van Leeuwen's (2004) model, the researcher analyzed how the universities represent a corporate identity through innovative logos, mottos and slogans to get recognized instantly. The logos use a combination of various geometric shapes, mottos and colors to be more attractive, unique and memorable. The researcher also found that the universities provide direction and invoke a promise of change through their logos and mottos. It is also observed that the public sector universities promote an Islamic ideology by taking their mottos from the Holy Quran and the Hadith while majority of the private sector universities either don't provide them or invent their own slogans.

Headnote

Abstract

Branding of higher education has become a common phenomenon nowadays. The universities are adopting various branding strategies to distinguish themselves in the competitive environment. This study, therefore, aims to examine the identity construction of universities through logos and mottos. The researcher divided the Pakistani universities into three major groups i.e. fivepre-70public sector universities, five post-70 public sector universities and five private sector universities to find variations in university logos, mottos and slogans due to their diverse background. Incorporating Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) with Kress and van Leeuwen's (2004) model, the researcher analyzed how the universities represent a corporate identity through innovative logos, mottos and slogans to get recognized instantly. The logos use a combination of various geometric shapes, mottos and colors to be more attractive, unique and memorable. The researcher also found that the universities provide direction and invoke a promise of change through their logos and mottos. It is also observed that the public sector universities promote an Islamic ideology by taking their mottos from the Holy Quran and the Hadith while majority of the private sector universities either don't provide them or invent their own slogans.

Keywords: Universities, Branding, Identity, Logos, Mottos, Ideology

Introduction

The traditional role of universities was to maintain their prestigious status and to contribute in society by dissipating knowledge. The sole and noble purpose of higher education was to create non-utilitarian knowledge, encourage human development and produce great scholars (Askehave, 2007; ZHANG, 2017; Kwong, 2000). The students would struggle to secure admission in the typical public sector universities and the Higher Educational Institutes (HEIs) were considered the "pinnacle of learning" (Osman, 2008: 58). This longstanding image of the university was independent of any advertising or branding strategies. The only factor upon which the public sector universities would rely on was the performance of their students in the practical and professional world. This final product in form of students would build an image of the universities which in turn developed the publicity value. Thus, the public sector universities got promotional value without any marketing strategy or without going through the process of branding (Wernick, 1991). In fact, the old and traditional universities built "a distinct brand personality" by providing quality education and the names of well-known universities were considered to be sufficient (Randall, 1997: 67). Consequently, higher education largely remained "insulated" from marketization aspects until the past decades (ZHANG, 2017: 64).

However, the role of the universities has changed in the 21st century and they are transformed into business entities. The modern university is now considered a bureaucratic machine by Young (2002) where there are no students and teachers but "suppliers" and "consumers". Therefore, creating a successful brand or identity is important for every institution whose success depends upon its clients (Rust and Uys, 2014). It is also an innate nature of people to be identified by something successful because the association with a less or unsuccessful brand or identity is difficult to manage. For universities whose survival mainly depends on external stakeholders, developing a strong brand is an imperative part of the marketing strategies nowadays (Watkins and Gonzenbach, 2013). Thus if the universities want to establish a strong brand identity, they should give a more concrete evidence to support their claim through images, logos, words and slogans (Hoang and Rojas-Lizana, 2015).

This change in discursive practices of higher education is related to the bigger economic and political changes in the world. The higher education in Pakistan is also no exception as it is facing challenges in form of shortage of funding and intense competition. This is a new situation and the universities are encouraged to be more business-like by raising more funds from private sources and to see students as their customers who buy their products and services. In the Pakistani context, "the market model of financing university education" is being encouraged through advertising "the university's core services to the customers" as it is considered that universities can't be isolated or indifferent from society and a close link should be developed between "university and society" and "market and industry" (Akhtar and Kulsoom, 2012: 8992).

In this promotional culture, visuals are also considered quite important by the admission and recruitment offices of universities (Askehave, 2007; Anctil, 2008; Ramasubramanian, Gyure, Mursi, 2002; Hartley and Morphew, 2008). Images are used for variety of purposes i.e. symbols, expressions, emotions and various other ideas (Kress, 2000; Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006; Fairclough, 2001). In some situations, images capture what words cannot explain (Fairclough, 2001). Logos are also part of the visual culture to construct the identity of the universities on new parameters. The universities used to have logos even when they were not inclined towards branding as a strategy (Osman, 2008). Logos are symbols that differentiate one brand from the other. They are like the signature of any organization and shortcuts to remember and recall the brand in consumer's mind (Adr, Adr and Pascuc, 2012). In the corporate world, having a well-designed and unique logo is considered a first step to start the marketing campaign (Proborini, 2013). It also serves to show the organizational identity as it follows certain policy, identity and brand guidelines (Drori, Delmestri and Oberg, 2013). Hence, the university logos are a practical proof of the branding of universities as to how the corporate trends have inculcated themselves in higher education. For identification, the university slogans and mottos also carry importance and considered as the basic principle of marketing (Barabas, 2017). For this very reason, the universities generate bold and realistic mottos and slogans to attract the prospective students by following the traditional advertisement practices (Mafofo and Banda, 2014; Osman, 2006; Wells, Burnett, Moriarty, 2003). These slogans and mottos proclaim the unique place of the university in higher education.

The last two decades have observed a growing interest in research on the use of language in professional and public settings in general and the effect of market ethos on the discourse of higher education in particular (Bhatia, 2004; Swales, 2004; Askehave, 2007; Mayr, 2008; Fairclough, 1995; Pearce, 2004; Osman, 2008; Tian, 2010). However, despite the ever-increasing importance of the issue of marketization in higher education, previous researches into promotional discourse and identity construction of the education institutes are quite limited (Zollo, 2016; Osman, 2008; Xiong, 2012; 2014; Askehave, 2007; Amjad and Shakir, 2014; Hui, 2009). In Pakistani context also, there is lesser work on branding of higher education institutions (Ahmad and Dar, 2015). This area of research is considered to be important for various members of society, such as heads of HEIs, faculty members, researchers, advertisers and most notably students (Bano and Shakir, 2015). However, in the Pakistani context, only a few sections of online prospectuses have been observed through corpus tools to observe the frequency of specific linguistic features (Bano and Shakir, 2015; Arshad and Shakir, 2014; Nasir and Shakir, 2015; Amjad and Shakir, 2014). In the past few decades, researchers have shown great interest in exploring the meanings of logos (Belk, 1998); however, the identity construction of universities through logos and mottos is an unexplored area in Pakistani context which provoked the interest of the researcher to examine them.

Pakistani universities have unique and well-designed logos and catchy mottos or slogans which provoked the interest of the researcher to explore them. In particular, this paper analyses how do the universities construct their identity through logos, mottos and slogans and what type of image emerges as a result. Integrating CDA with Kress and van Leeuwen's (2006) model, this analysis reveals that the logos are designed as a distinctive symbol of the universities by a very beautiful amalgam of mottos or slogans, images, specific colors and names in a particular arrangement. Through their logos, mottos and slogans, the universities also promote an image that is more closed to Islamic values. The results are in line with Drori et al. (2013) that the catchy logos, mottos and slogans are redefining the social role of the universities and the higher education where the universities are defined as organization while higher education is termed as a product or commodity.

Literature Review

Current Situation of Pakistani Universities

In Pakistan, the public sector universities were established first and they enjoyed all the necessary support and perks from the government sector. The government sustained higher education as a national interest (Akhtar and Kalsoom, 2014); however, a more ambitious and dynamic journey to well-reformed higher studies in Pakistan initiated with the establishment of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in 2002. HEC is an autonomous government organization responsible for distributing public funds to universities and Degree Awarding Institutes (DAIs) provided by the federal government and accrediting their degree programs. However, with the passage of time, the gap between the ratio of students and available resources increased (Mehmood, Aftab and Mushtaq, 2016; Akhtar and Kalsoom, 2014). The fast growth in higher education affected finances and human resources. The number of students in the public sector universities exceeded the government subsidizing limit. On the other hand, financial resources for higher education began shrinking with each passing day leaving a terrible impact on the development of higher education and adequacy of universities (Akhtar and Kalsoom, 2014: 83). Government funding became insufficient for the demanding needs of the institution. The difference between the universities' income and expenditure increased with the passage of time as the income did not prove to be sufficient for survival (Memon, 2007). Thus, the issue of financing turned into a central point in the governance of Pakistani universities (Akhtar and Kalsoom, 2014).

To fill this gap, the private sector universities emerged in mushrooming growth. It led towards intense competition among the universities and the marketization of HEIs turned out to be essentially imperative in the global and competitive context (Alam, Saeed and Khan, 2016). The previous studies (Bano and Shakir, 2015; Khan et al., 2012; Akhtar and Kulsoom, 2012) proved that the commercialization of education has become more apparent and the need for using marketing tools is greater than before in Pakistan nowadays.

Visual Resources and Branding of Universities

Scholars generally believe that branding is also important in education just like the corporate world (Pesch et al., 2008; Gopalan, Pagiavalas and Jones, 2008). Branding provides institutional identity and distinguishes it from other competitors (Gupta and Singh, 2010; Curtis, Abratt and Minor, 2009; Judson et al., 2009). Furthermore, it is believed that in the business world, the selection of colors and logos seem to have the tremendous effect in attracting the emotional response of users (Owoyele, 2016). These new corporate type logos also position the institutional 'core values' (Molesworth, Nixon and Scullion, 2009). In this regard, many of the researchers adopted semiotic analysis of logos (Arnold, Kozinets and Handelman, 2001; Mick et al., 2004; Bishop, 2001, Thompson and Haytko, 1997; Zakia, 1986, Schroeder, 2002; Vihma, 1995).

Identity Construction of Universities through Logos and Mottos

It is strongly believed that if the universities want to "introduce" their product to their customers (students), they need to provide solid proof to sustain their claim (e.g. slogan, logo, words and images) (Hoang and Rojas-Lizana, 2015; Barabas, 2017). In university settings, the usage of logos and mottos represent their institutional identity (Slaughter and Rhodes, 2004; Anctil, 2008; Toma, Dubrow and Hartley, 2005; ZHANG, 2017). Moreover, it is asserted that unforgettable mottos and logos have been useful for educational institutions for many years and create recognition, legitimacy and meaning leaving a strong impression on the institution (Pulley, 2003; Saichaie, 2011). According to Drori et al. (2013), a university logo combines various expressions including motto and images organized in a particular arrangement with specific colors to identify university and celebrate its unique character, history, vision and other features. These logos, mottos and slogans proclaim the unique place of the university in higher education. The university logos and mottos are not only manifested on prospectuses but also extend to websites, T-shirts, monuments, souvenir, certificates, files etc. (Swales, 2004). Thus, Osman (2008) considers these logos and mottos as a symbol of the university.

Hazards Associated with Brand Identity

However, there are some studies which oppose the identity making efforts of the university through logos and other visual resources. For example, Rust and Usys (2014) contend through their quantitative study that students are not convinced by the identity management efforts in term of logos. They consider these efforts as unnoticeable and feel shy to wear shirts, caps and other clothing with university logos after classes. Researchers assert that these efforts of building an identity should be rethought by the university. Hollowa and Hollowa (2005) also argue that perhaps some of the universities are gone too far in an effort to adopt the corporate style image in higher education. They recommend that it would be more prudent for the universities to give a traditional university impression than following the corporate strategies blindly. Despite all the arguments and debates regarding branding, universities are spending more and more resources on branding by redesigning their logos, catchy mottos and attractive advertising campaigns (Mehmood, Aftab and Mushtaq, 2016). The logos, mottos and slogans emotionally affect and have tremendous influence on attractiveness being the first step towards advertising campaign. Consequently, this transformation in symbols and logos in branding university is the result of more inclination of university management towards a global culture (Mautner, 2005).

Research on Promotional Content in Pakistani Context

In the Pakistani context, the research on promotional content of the universities is quite limited. Bano and Shakir (2015) analyzed the first and second person pronoun in 'About Us' section of online university prospectuses of 463 higher education institutes from Australia, India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States of America and considered university prospectuses as an important text to promote and market education. Their results are consistent with Helen (2017), Ahmad and Dar (2015), Bauer et al. (2013) and Brown and Sen (2010) who also emphasized the promotional aspects of prospectuses. Taking the Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English (LGSWE) as a reference guide, Nasir and Shakir (2015) investigated the corpus of total 500 universities from India, Pakistan, Australia, U.K. and the U.S.A. to observe the language of online university prospectuses. The researchers report the presence of the 'present tense' in higher frequency as compared to the past tense to fulfil the demand of promotional language by making actions and achievements as a normal routine and that it satisfies the purpose of using 'on-line' language. They also added that universities use promotional strategies i.e. marketization, commodification and corporatization to construct their identity (Roggendorf, 2008). The significance of non-narrative features of Pakistani prospectuses has been focused by Ahmad and Shakir (2014) who employed corpus-based analysis. They observed five sections of online university prospectuses i.e. about, department, facilities, library and Vice Chancellor message and found the non-narrative, argumentative and informational features. They found the attributive adjectives and present tense to market in the educational settings. While studying the function of language in online university prospectuses of UK, India and Pakistan, Amjad and Shakir (2014) employed corpus method to show that the language is more informational in nature. In this regard, India is highly informational and the UK is less informational. It is also established that the department section is more informational while the vice chancellor message is more interactional and less informational. These informational messages are written with extreme care. Indeed, researchers consider this shift towards promotion as the 'colonization' (Bhatia, 2004: 83) of discourses with particular reference to academia.

The previous literature shows that the research on identity construction of universities through logos and mottos is an unexplored area by the researchers in Pakistani context which provided a strong justification to the researcher to analyze the logos and mottos from marketization aspect and their role in constructing the identity of the universities.

Research Methodology

The researcher selected universities from diverse regions of Pakistan to observe the variations in logos, mottos and slogans in three different context. The total time span in which the universities have been selected is from 1970s to 1990s. The researcher divided the universities into three groups. Group one is a set of public sector universities that were established before 1970. Group two is a set of public sector universities that were established after 1970 and group three is a set of private sector universities. As majority of the private sector universities have been established after the 90s, no further group could be established under this category in terms of the date of establishment. All the universities in the three groups are located in diverse regions of Pakistan. They are classified by the diversity of arts and Sciences disciplines. These institutions have similar control, high level of undergraduate enrollment and are essentially Flagship universities in their respective regions. They also share high research activities and have greater residential settings. The selected universities are also located in different provinces of Pakistan. These universities also offer diverse arts and sciences disciplines.

The major reason behind distributing the sample into three groups was to observe the differences and similarities in the logos, mottos and slogans of the old and new universities from three different backgrounds.

Theoretical Framework

The insights of Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) are utilized for the visual analysis. In this regard, Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) developed a systematic technique to examine images. However, Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) along with other researchers (Flick, 2009; Bergman and Meier, 2004; Mitra and Cohen, 1999; Hodge and Kress, 1988) explained that visual analysis methods are in the developmental stages and vary extensively according to the nature of research. Visuals can be interpreted in a variety of ways; so, the researchers can opt the methods that coincide with their research questions (Hodge and Kress, 1988). This study focused upon the two metafunctions proposed by Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) which include the visual roles of images (representation meaning) and the color of logos (compositional meaning). The first meaning is representational in nature. It refers to the characteristics of represented images displayed in the visuals. While the second meaning is compositional metafunction which relates the interactive and representational meanings with each other through interrelated systems. Through salience, various elements are utilized to attract the viewer's attention to different degrees through tonal value (or color). Kress and van Leeuwen's (2006) suggests that the positions of visual elements convey the importance of the promotional messages that the universities aim to deliver to the viewers. Furthermore, suggestive induction of the shapes provided by Adir et al. (2012) provided guidance to the research to identify the shapes of logos.

The CDA perspective is also adopted in this study. To study the relationship between language use and its social context, CDA is quite a comprehensive approach. Language is not just written or spoken; rather, it encompasses images as an important medium of communication (Hall, 1997; Fairclough, 1992, 2001; Kress, 2000; 2004; Kress and van Leeuwen, 2006; Hodge and Kress, 1988). Fairclough (2010) also takes text as an integral part of an event in representing, acting and identifying it. Texts are considered a "part of a social action ... (texts) simultaneously represent aspects of the world, and simultaneously identify social actors, contribute to the constitution of social and personal identity" (p. 75). Thus, identity is considered to be created through the text we produce and the linguistic choices we opt for, thereby, repositioning it from cognition to social construction through discourse.

Fairclough's (1992) three-dimensional framework for Critical Discourse Analysis has been adopted in this study. According to Fairclough (1992), the textual analysis should not be isolated from discoursal and institutional practices. Institutional and discoursal practices in Fairclough's (1992) framework include analyses of broader social and political structure. The three stages in the Fairclough's (1992) model provide a sociolinguistic perspective to interpret the following research question.

1. How do Pakistani universities construct their identity through logos, mottos or slogans?

2. What kind of image of universities emerges as a result?

Research Findings

Identity Construction through Logos

The basic findings are consistent with Zhang and O'Halloran (2013) that semiotic resources such as colors, images, and navigation styles are used strategically to highlight the corporate and commercialized information for promotional purposes. It has been observed that logos, mottos and slogans of each university are quite different from the other. The universities are quite innovative in designing their logos as each one has a unique style, geometric shape, motto and color scheme.

Geometric Shapes

The geometric shapes are important for corporate identity. The universities in this sample use diverse geometric shapes to suggest a specific image. All these shapes represent certain attributes and functions of logos (Adir et al., 2012). Adir et al. (2012) provide suggestive induction of the shapes.

Guided through the above table, the rectangle shape of logo of IU indicates progress and successful duration. The combination of pyramid and circle in KIU indicates integration and perfection. The circle shape of logos of FAST, UMT, UAJK, CUI, SBKWU and BU show the perfection and balance provided by these universities to the students. On the other hand, the square shape of logos of FJWU and SZABIST symbolizes stability and power. Crescent shapes used by CU, KIU, UAJK, QAU and KU are also very symbolic. The moon represents the guidance of God on the path through life while the crescent represents progress and evolution. It is also noteworthy that the logos of pre-70s universities are shield shaped which is an outstanding element distinguishing the old universities from the new one. One can observe that all the shapes carry quite optimistic connotation reinforcing the positive identity of the universities.

Mottos and Slogans

A slogan is a repeated phrase that depicts the product promise while the motto is more like a mission statement, a fundamental promise and a pledge. The slogans and mottos discursively realize the corporate identity and goal of the universities. For example, the mottos of various universities are either verses from the Holy Quran or sayings of the Holy Prophets (S.A.W). These religious mottos are inscribed in the logos of universities. This practice has dual meanings. On one hand, it shows universities' affiliation with religious practices and on the other, it shows the strong emphasis of Islam on seeking education, exploring the universe and sharing knowledge. These mottos are apt and bold. They act as a strong and effective punch line which can be remembered for a longer time and make the universities stand out from the rest (Osman, 2008). The universities reiterate these mottos; for example, BU's motto is a famous quotation of Hazrat Muhammad (S.A.W) "Seek Knowledge from the cradle to the grave". It shows that the importance of gaining knowledge in Islam is from birth to death considering education and learning a never ending process. Similarly, KU's motto "My lord, increase me in my knowledge" is a famous prayer of a Muslim in the Holy Quran to increase his/her knowledge. UAJK indicates the importance of effort in one's life through the famous verse "Man gets whatever he strives for" which shows that human beings get anything in life according to their effort. KIU also quotes a famous verse from the Holy Quran "Say: Behold what is in the heavens and the earth! " which is an open invitation to see, observe and explore the whole universe. FAST also takes a verse from The Holy Quran "Who has taught by the pen, has taught man that which he knew not" where Allah reaffirms one of his blessings to teach human beings what they were not aware of before. Islam equally emphasized upon both men and women to seek knowledge.

Some of the universities generate their own slogans. For example, IU asserts its distinguished position to provide an opportunity for students to start their bright future at the right place through the slogan "Where your future begins!" SZABIST claims to provide the environment where students can discover their unique qualities by raising the slogan "Discover yourself" while UMT strongly convinces the students that this university should be their first choice where their bright future starts through the slogan "My first choice". Likewise, FJWU also invents its slogan as "Opening portals of excellence through higher education".

Wells et al. (2003) assert that a slogan is a unique catchword that contributes well in the promotional campaign. The slogans are categorized into two major types (Russell and Lane, 1990): hard-sell slogans and institutional slogans. The first type is highly competitive as it includes the prominent characteristics of the service or the product being advertised while the second type establishes the prestigious image of the company to enhance their product or services. Thus, the university slogans are related to the second category of institutional slogans. The exact time of the origin of the slogans by Pakistani universities is not known; however, one can guess that they started as soon as universities started adopting the marketing strategies. Russell and Lane (1990) provide the following four literary techniques to enhance the memorability of slogans

Boldness-using powerful, strong, startling and unexpected phrases

Parallelism- using repeated words, phrases or sentences

Rhyme-using repeated sounds, alliteration or rhythm

Aptness-using direct or appropriate words

It appears that Pakistani universities also follow these techniques while deciding their slogans. For example,

Boldness-Opening portals of excellence through higher education (FJWU)

Boldness-Center of excellence in higher education (FAST)

Rhyme-Great Place, Great Learning, Great Future (UMT)

Aptness-Knowledge for Life (SBKWU)

Consistent with Osman (2008), the use of words like 'excellence ' by two universities shows that boldness is exemplified with such words and the universities associate themselves with such high stature. The repetition of the word 'great ' is also noteworthy as the repetition of the word do create lasting effect on the memory of the readers.

The universities have unique names, slogans and logos which serve to distinguish them from the rest of the universities. Nonetheless, the slogans of pre-70s universities are not invented by them. They take their slogans from any verse of the Holy Quran or Hadith. In this way, they not only share their motto but also highlight the importance of education in Islam. On the other hand, a majority of the post-70s and private sector universities are more inclined to invent their own slogans by following the corporate traditions. However, UAJK and KIU from post-70s group use the Quranic verses while FAST from the private sector also uses Hadith as its motto.

Names

The results are consistent with Roggendorf (2008) that the universities also use their names in logos to establish their corporate identity. The university names and the acronyms are considered brands in itself and an important component of this advertising genre. Universities repeatedly use their names or acronyms on the logos as well as on rest of the promotional content to be remembered by their readers for a longer time. The names of the universities are usually written in English; however, UAJK and KU write it in Urdu which is the national language of Pakistan. Mostly, the universities name themselves either for a famous personality or for a city or location. This strategy is considered a brand strategy in the corporate world. For example, the universities which name themselves after a personality are:

FJWU- named after Fatima Jinnah, the sister of Quaid-i-Azam the founder of Pakistan

SBKWU-named after Sardar Bahadur Khan- a famous politician and former chief minister of KPK

QAU-named after the founder of Pakistan- Quaid-i-Azam

SZABIST-named after Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a famous politician and former prime minister of Pakistan

On the other hand, few universities name themselves after cities or location. For example,

KU-named after Karachi- capital city of Sindh province

PU-named after the Punjab province

UoP-named after Peshawar- capital of KPK province

BU-named after the Balochistan province

UAJK-named after the state Azad Jammu & Kashmir

KIU-named after Karakorum- a large mountain range

Few universities reveal their religious affiliation by taking their names from religious vocabulary. E.g.

IU-named after the first word of the very first revelation of the Holy Quran

The data verify the findings of Turley and Moore (1995) that the universities try to give a unique and memorable name as distinctive and unforgettable names create a positive brand image. People are thought to react to the names and the symbols related to any university (Temple, 2006; Sevier, 2001; Landrum, Turrisi and Harless, 1998). Through these marketing strategies, universities appear to act like corporate firms (Bunzel, 2007; Brookes, 2003; Cornell & Galasinski, 1998). According to Drori et al. (2013), "branding is inextricably linked to marketing; the reason to create a (recognizable and unique) brand is to establish a marketable feature, and such a feature is necessary under conditions of intensifying competition over resources (funding, renowned academics etc.) and consumers (students)" (142).

Color

Color is also an important aspect that enhances the power of communication and makes an impact on the perception of the reader. This is because, in promotional material, color is the first thing that potential customers can notice. Color has always been utilized in the history of human beings to differentiate important information from unimportant, to affect the memory and to lead towards taking emotional response from the client (Harrison et al., 200; Owoyele, 2016). It can be observed through the data that white, blue and green are dominating colors in logos. In this regard, blue conveys security, loyalty, peace and timelessness (Zhang and O'Halloran, 2013). For Mutz (2016), the blue color involves intelligence. Furthermore, white suggests clean, fresh and purity. On the other hand, green is the color of life, nature and renewal. The researcher is mindful, however, that these meanings cannot be generalized to every context. This is because people in different contexts interpret these colors differently (Mafofo and Banda, 2014). While drawing a difference in perception of colors, Przybyla (2017) assert that in the West, black is the representation of darkness, of the unknown and of evil while in the East, black is associated with the opposite, being good health, richness and prosperity. In the west, white is the color for a bride's wedding day dress, it is the color of angels and of peace, and is associated with cleanliness. In the East, however, white indicates sorrow. It is a representation of mourning more often than not.

Contrary to the expectations of the researcher, the logos of the public sector universities were more catchy and colorful as compared to the private sector universities. It is quite amazing as usually the private sector is thought to be more inclined towards branding due to funding issues. The color schemes used by these universities are quite successful in making connection in the viewer's mind between the visual design and the university.

Discussion

Since by definitions, all the universities are offering diverse and advanced courses, the faculty members are distinguished scholars and the facilities are more or less the same, they are trying to bring difference among their otherwise similar practices by branding through unique logos, mottos or slogans. A similar pattern of results was obtained by Drori et al. (2013). It has been observed that modern universities are more inclined towards simplification of logos in term of shapes and contracted content as compared to old universities. The stylistic features of this branding in new universities show more graphic and visual simplification by being less figurative or detailed and more abstract. The logos of the new universities are comparatively less expressive and more business-like with no borders and soft color schemes. All the pre-70s universities use verses from the Holy Quran or sayings of the Holy Prophet (S.A.W) as their motto while few post-70s and private sector universities also follow the same practice. It shows a strong affiliation of these universities with religious values. Rest of the universities invent their own slogans to attract the students' attention. In short, both public and private sector universities are using mottos and slogans; however, the old public sector universities put themselves in a different perspective by taking their mottos from the Holy Quran and the Hadith while inventing a new and unique slogan appears a practice of new universities. In this context, they are working more like business corporations. The brand identity of the universities is also established through unique names which provide memory short cut to the people. The names of the universities represent variety of ideas, attributes and personalities and used on various services offered by the institution. The results verify the findings of Boateng (2015) that these names tell the readers many things about the brand by developing emotional associations.

Branding through logos, mottos and slogans is equally common in both the public and the private sector universities despite the prevailing belief that the private sector is more inclined towards marketization. The logos, mottos and slogans are not only the identity marker of a particular university but also of the social context and the historical and the religious background in which the identity is established. Generally, all the universities are mimicking the promotional practices of the corporate world in an unprecedented manner. In line with the ideas of Drori et al. (2013), these practices underscore the status of university to any corporate company being run on business like management, rather than a center of knowledge where the truth and learning prevail.

Conclusion

The trend of modernization in terms of logos, mottos and slogans is quite evident in all the universities. The logos, mottos and slogans proclaim the unique place of the Pakistani universities in higher education. Through the logos, mottos and slogans, the universities appear to rely on branding as a tool to develop a uniqueness in their otherwise similar product or practices. Thus this study corroborates with Hoang and Rojas-Lizana (2015) that logos, mottos and slogans are playing a significant role in the representation of universities. The pre-70s universities represent an Islamic image through their mottos while the private sector and the post-70s universities represent progressive and modern image by coining their own slogans and mottos.

The researcher is of the view that branding the universities like any product has been considered a way to come out of financial crisis. The trend might be compatible with the latest requirements; however, the priorities might be set on the right direction and difference must be maintained between the academia and the business industry. The researcher agrees with Iqbal, Rasli and Hassan (2012) that neither logo nor a crest or motto or a slogan develops the band image of the university. Instead, the impression of the university in the minds of the people matters when they hear or see a name of symbol of the university.

References

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(ProQuest: Appendix omitted.)