Walking A Tightrope In University Marketing
by: Brendan Wilde
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Word Count: 379
Now that UK universities are officially entering a marketplace and having to sell themselves to consumers ( students ), it’s interesting to see how this new environment will pan out in view of the experience of other countries where the commercial evolution of the higher education sector is already well advanced.
Way back in January 2009, a university professor in Canada wrote an article which in many ways typifies the cultural clash between academics and their marketing staff who are struggling with the reality of working in what is effectively a business.
This particular professor was berating a director of communications at a rival university for stating how it was about time that academics woke up to the fact that they lived in a commercial marketplace and should accept the necessity for proper branding and professional marketing to their potential customers i.e. prospective students.
As might be expected, he adopted a rather haughty attitude to the female PR lady who had been promoting her own institution with such adjectives ( maximum of 2 syllables naturally ) as “ can –do university “ where you will find “ top-notch research “. He could not see how academic institutions could be sold in the same way as cars and beer. Neither could he understand how business ethics could be reconciled with ethics in academia given the “ unique moral mission of the latter “.
This attitude is, of course, totally understandable ; after all, one dictionary actually defines the word “ academic” as meaning “learned or scholarly but lacking in worldliness, commonsense, or practicality.”
The age-old problem of getting high minded, intellectually superior academics to step down from their ivory towers and come to terms with modern reality is something that is not new to specialist agencies like 360 Education who were handling the marketing of further education establishments long before the new regime arrived.
Happily they can now discern a trend towards universities giving full rein to their marketing departments, many of whom use the agency to develop and promote educational brands both at home and in vital overseas markets. “ There was a time when senior academics almost had to wash their mouths out at the very mention of the word “ advertising “ but it seems that a new sense of reality has dawned” they report.
About the Author
Brendan Wilde writes a range of educational and career development issues. For more information please visit education marketing consultancy
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