University marketing directors’ views on the components of a university brand

Abstract

Marketing and communications directors and managers in 25 universities in London and the south east of England were interviewed to establish their opinions regarding the major components of a university brand that they deemed to be relevant to student recruitment. The respondents described ten main elements of a university brand that they believed prospective students take into account when evaluating institutions. These included a university’s educational identity (notably vis-a-vis whether it pursued a widening participation agenda and the degree of diversity of its student body), the institution’s location, the employability of its graduates, its visual imagery and its general ‘ambience’ (as being ‘friendly’, ‘welcoming’, etc.). Reputation, sports and social facilities, learning environment, courses offered and community links were also assumed to represent important factors of a university’s brand, looked at from a potential student’s point of view. Interviewees from post-1992 (i.e. mass market) universities voiced concerns regarding the need to transmit certain forms of marketing message about the non-traditional natures of their student intakes (in order to defend their core markets) and the negative impact this might have on a post-1992 institution’s capacity to recruit in other market segments.