Integrity in higher education marketing and misleading claims in the university prospectus: what happened next…and is it enough?

Abstract

In 2013 this journal published the paper 'Integrity in Higher Education Marketing: A typology of misleading data-based claims in the university prospectus.' It argued that UK universities were using data and statistics in a misleading way in their advertising and proposed a nine-part typology to describe such claims. The present paper describes the subsequent responses in national media and academic writing. It then analyses recent developments in the regulation of university marketing in the UK, where the Advertising Standards Authority has publically rebuked universities and issued new guidance. Rulings against six UK universities are analysed and the paper considers the extent to which the new guidance addresses the nine types of misleading claims. The paper goes on to consider how issues such as this come to be addressed by regulators and what incentives will encourage universities to ensure the integrity of their marketing.

Managing racism? Race equality and decolonial educational futures

“…Student demands are wide reaching and also question universities' investment choices and structuring neocolonial relations of power not only in knowledge production but in business choices. Elite universities are investing millions in global markets and students (and staff) are concerned that this investment should be ethical, 10 while others are being challenged on promises made in marketing designed to attract students (Bradley, 2018 ). This aspect of decolonization work has been less visible than the campaigns about the naming of space, colonial artifacts and monuments, and more recently in the UK, both “the curriculum” and the dearth of representation of scholars who are from the Global South, or are racialized as Black or People of Color (POC).…”

Research claims within the education industry: managing reflective practice

“…This stresses that the evidence must already be collected, analysed and available for review before any claims are shared in the public domain. In the past, the ASA has been critiqued as being too relaxed in their policing of advertising claims in the field of education (Bradley, 2013(Bradley, , 2018. This critique has led to the ASA increasing their attention (ASA, 2017).…”

“…The final typology that will be discussed here, and arguably the most relevant for the purpose of education-based claims-making, is the typology created by Bradley (2013Bradley ( , 2018, which focuses on claims emerging from higher education institutions. Bradley (2013) completed the first UK-wide study and assessment of the claims that were being made by higher education institutions.…”

The homogenisation of prospectuses over the period of massification in the UK

“…A concern that available materials do not give clearer information on outcomes of degrees led to a consumer concern even 20 years ago (Hesketh & Knight, 1999) which is only amplifying with massification of the system (Tomlinson, 2017). There has been intense interest in the veracity of information in prospectuses and in the UK regulators have paid increasing attention to their truth claims as 'the information in prospectuses and on websites may be the principal source of evidence for many students' choices' (Bradley, 2018). This is a critical issue in the research and suggests a theme to be considered needed in analysis of prospectuses: what messages are being put forward by the institutions, what arguments are institutions are presenting about the nature of their undergraduate degrees?…”