International marketing of British education: research on the students’ perception and the UK market penetration

Abstract

The study functions as marketing intelligence inputs for the UK Government, the British Council as well as academic marketing planners for constructing their marketing opportunities‐threats audits, it investigates international students’ perception about the UK education and it researches UK performance in the world markets for international education. UK education has been known to be the best in the world. For many years, the UK universities have enjoyed a high reputation and have benefited in accelerating its market penetration worldwide. Unfortunately, this superiority has begun to decline. Other countries are strongly emerging with their quality education. The study shows that UK competitors achieved a remarkable growth of their international students’ enrolment while the UK achieves only a marginal growth with declining market penetration abroad. The findings confirmed the central importance of pricing, product and promotional variables in designing and marketing UK education abroad.

Students as customers: a paradigm shift in higher education

“…Regardless of the educational quality per se, attending a prestigious university does mark a difference in future opportunities (Kingston and Smart, 1990;Clarke, 2002;Dill, 2003;Montgomery and Canaan, 2004). In this respect, Binsardi and Ekwulugo (2003) pointed out that students do not 'buy' qualifications as such, but rather the benefits that a title can provide them in terms of employment, status, and lifestyle, among other things. On the other hand, the fact of belonging to a highly selective university predisposes students to have a more positive attitude and greater satisfaction with the university experiences they live.…”

Exploring rationales for branding a university: Should we be seeking to measure branding in UK universities?

“…One respondent also discussed the wish "to position the institution as world class in an international arena" (older university), clearly indicative of the increasing international competition UK universities now face (Binsardi and Ekwulugo, 2003).…”

Internal brand co-creation: The experiential brand meaning cycle in higher education

“…Therefore, the role of the brand in communicating the institution's values and identity to consumers becomes more prevalent as a strong brand reduces risk in decision making. Although there is some resistance to the notion of students as customers (Barrett, 1996;Conway, Mackay, & Yorke, 1994), some authors argue that HE is people-based, reflecting the key nature of services marketing (Binsardi & Ekwulugo, 2003;Mazzarol, 1998;Nguyen & LeBlanc, 2001;Parasuraman, Zeithaml, & Berry, 2003). However, the concept of brand image and reputation may be interpreted differently in HE compared with other services organizations, necessitating studies with a specific focus for the HE context.…”