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The Role of Marketing in HE
UK HEI in the recent 10-20 years has become much more competitive andglobal, social, demographic, economic and environmental change mediated by technology are taking place. The increase in competition was due to the entrance of new universities in UK HEI after 1992 and to the diffusion of distance degrees spurred by the Internet.
The increasing globalisation of the UK HEI, exemplified by the fact that most of the students especially at postgraduate level are overseas, meant thatUK Universities had to compete for the best graduates with universities from all over the world. Furthermore government funding in the same period was strongly decreased and university have to rely on a combination of different sources. These factors of change have urged UK HEIs to adopt a market orienta-tion strategy to differentiate their offerings from those of their competitorsand to place a greater emphasis on meeting the expectations and needs oftheir stakeholders (DeShields et al., 2005). Student satisfaction with their degree course is an important measure thatuniversities are starting to keep in higher consideration. The student satisfac-tion has very important implications for the university reputation and, canimprove significantly drop out rates (DeShields et al., 2005). Satisfied stu-dents often become advocates and the very first promoter of the university.Even after leaving the university loyal students can help UK HEI to reducetheir costs through some form of cooperation i.e. by means of positive wordof mouth, by offering placements for students or by giving visiting lectures(Hennig-Thurau et al., 2001). Another important marketing concept that would benefit UK HEI isdifferentiation, Universities need to understand their target markets (i.e.students, external stakeholders of different types), assess the target mar-ket needs, modify their offerings to meet those needs, and thereby enhancecustomer satisfaction by delivering superior experiences (DeShields et al.,2005). The student satisfaction and the quality of the student experience withthe university, however, is often restricted to very straightforward and func-tional aspects such as teaching, feedback, lecturer punctuality and very rarelythe overall student experience is engineered and analysed at all the Univer-sity touch points. This is the case of the work of DeShields et al. (2005) andHennig-Thurau et al. (2001) that, although present a quite innovative per-spective on the university, consider only the strictly academic environmentand relationships. However marketing and management discipline must be applied carefullyto UK HEI, ‘Universities are peculiar institutions, they have to operate in abusiness-like way but they are not simply businesses. They may be defined forsome purposes as part of the public sector, but the sector relies for less than half of its income on public funding (private sources being executive courses,overseas student fees, residence and catering charges and charities) and it hasa different relationship with the state from other public service organisations’(Riordan, 2005). In particular UK HEI staff culture is very different fromthat of other public and private companies and it is more open to criticismand dissent. Another critical aspect of UK HEI structure, if compared to thatof normal companies, is that ‘primary loyalties are horizontal to the disciplinerather than vertical to the organisation’ (Riordan, 2005). These peculiaritiesimply that management and marketing practice cannot be imported directlybut must be adapted to the particular circumstances, culture and history ofUK HEI. |
