Marketing communications of higher education institutions in the Republic of Serbia

Abstract

In order to face increasing competition on the market and address other new challenges, higher education institutions (HEIs) started to apply new business approaches which led to the development of higher education management and marketing. As efficient marketing communications are necessary for survival and development on higher education market, topics related to this field have had a distinct place in higher education marketing since the establishment of this discipline. Various strategies and activities, types and means of marketing communications have been defined in theory. The modern tendency is their integration for achievement of communication and strategic goals. After the review of marketing communications specifics in the mentioned context, the author presents the realized empirical research related to HEIs in the Republic of Serbia. Starting from the facts that domestic higher education market has widened relatively recently and competition has been significantly increasing since 2000, the author hypothesizes that numerous marketing communications activities are being used. The main research question is: Which types and means of marketing communications are used and how well are they integrated? The research relies on web sites of HEIs as main sources of information, as they are legally obligatory means of communication in Serbia. The author searches for other types and means which are embedded or at least mentioned on the websites, and treats that as indication of integration. The main research findings support the assumption on use of various types and means of marketing communications, but reveal problems in integration and show that HEIs use similar activities while innovative and original means and types of marketing communications are scarce.