Marketing and Competitive Environment of University Brand

Question: Discuss about the Marketing and Competitive Environment of University Brand. Answer: Introduction University of New South Wales or UNSW established in 1949 is a leading Australian University focused on professional, technological and scientific disciplines offering an extensive range of research programs, undergraduate and postgraduate courses. With more than 50,000 students UNSW is one of the most cosmopolitan universities in Australia (Portnoi, Bagley, 2014). Market Summary With the increasing competition, Universities are working vigorously on marketing and creating their logos as institutional logos. UNSW has a team of market professional that work on marketing the university amongst the future students. UNSW is regularly making its presence, and appearance noticed in events related to students. It is using social media as a platform to attract students by making use of social media for advertising their university ("Trends in Higher Education Marketing, Recruitment, and Technology," 2014). Marketing and Competitive Environment UNSW: Demand Assessment UNSW is the first preference as a university for the school leavers. In the year 2016, more than 7400 students received an offer to study in UNSW. The students admission average has increased by 4.7% than last year. The UNSW office says that the demand for UNSW has increased by 10% from the last year (Knight, 2016). The University has gained some 500 students who received the top most rating in ATAR. This shows that the demand for UNSW as a preferential university is quite high (Rutter, Lettice, Nadeau, 2016). Segmentation and Target Market Australian Universities are providing an exceptional education to not only the resident students of Australia but students of all over the world. UNSW has also segmented its target market according to the national and national students. UNSW aims to be the Preference University for all the top students, and therefore, its main target market includes students ranking above 95 in ATAR. To attract these students UNSW offer scholarships and accommodation discounts as well as additional bonus points (Bagley, Portnoi, 2014). It provides flexible college hours because these students help in sustaining innovation and bringing a positive change in the society. International students that are mainly targeted by UNSW include the students of countries like Malaysia, China, Singapore, Vietnam, India, and Brazil. Another segment that it is targeting includes adult learners programs to educate such students are introduced in UNSW. The online education is a very big segment of education and UNSW al so has a different section for its online students (Cole, 2015). Marketing Mix Analysis A marketing mix analysis helps to know the methods and tactics that a company uses to promote its brand in the market. The current marketing mix of UNSW is as follows: - Price- Pricing is the factor that makes or breaks the market. UNSW has a very fair pricing strategy for the courses it is offering to the students. It provides all the fair services that are best in class for the fees it charges its student for the educational services it provides to them (Ellis, Loughland, 2016). Promotion- Promotion of a brand is important as it helps to create a market for the product and services. Currently, UNSW is using social media as the main platform to promote its services to the future students. The former students are also acting as a great promotion criteria that help in creating the brand promotion for the university (Gamage, Sciulli, 2016). Place- UNSW is situated in the heart of Australia therefore, known as the most cosmopolitan university of the Australia. The location of the university is in Sydney which is one of the best cities Australia providing numbers of indoor and outdoor activities. The University itself has a state of art infrastructure providing up-to-date facilities and living conditions to its students (Jensen, Webster, 2016). Product- UNSW offers around 900-degree courses to the students to choose from. Being the best in class employers, UNSW employs some great faculty that means goof education standards for the students studying in the University (Portnoi, Bagley, 2014). After conducting the marketing mix analysis of UNSW, it is quite clear that the University is trying to give the best facility at best price to its student. This is the reason that so many school leavers want to get enrolled with UNSW for further studies. PEST Analysis PEST Analysis helps to know how the external factors influence a company. The PEST Analysis of UNSW is conducted here, and it is as follows: - Political- external politics does not have a lot of effect on the university working, but the rules and regulations for the enrolment and transfer of student coming from other countries affect the number of student taking admission. There are certain education rules that universities have to follow (Rutter, Lettice, Nadeau, 2016). Environmental- UNSW is situated in Sydney, Australia where the possibility of natural hazards is quite low. It is an environmentally friendly city, and the university also follows the rules regarding the sustainability of the environment (Janiszewska, Insch, 2012). Social- UNSW is a university that takes students from all over the world. People from different culture and society come here and studies together. For the university management, it is very important that the people and their cultures should be well-respected and followed. UNSW makes sure that no one is treated with a different point of view which creates harmony amongst the students (Yuksel, 2012). Technological- Students of today demand high-quality and updated technologies for their study purpose. UNSW understand the need of the updated technology and regularly update their technological gadgets for the use of the students (Bagley, Portnoi, 2014). Competitors Analysis UNSW is a university that is earning a lot of growth from the extraordinary performance of its students. In the current ranking, its position as compared to it s competitors has improved. It is on the 3rd position which makes it one of the top most universities of Australia. But, in the current education market, all the university are using different marketing techniques to attract the top most students. Hence, by analyzing the current competitors situation, the competition is quite high for UNSW (Cole, 2015). SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis helps an organization to analyze its strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities. Here the SWOT Analysis of UNSW is conducted and given as follows: - Strengths UNSW has a great brand value UNSW has a reputation of 40 years working in the education field Offers a big range of degrees, specialized courses, and teacher education Staff is very talented and conscientious Its reasonable fee structure (Ellis, Loughland, 2016) Weaknesses The courseware has degraded because of the lack of investment Staff is over-burdened There is lack of documented procedures, policies, and processes (Gamage, Sciulli, 2016) Opportunities Many countries are still there who can be approached for students. Development of cooperative programs can be added Teachers from over-sees can be recruited to welcome more students (Janiszewska, Insch, 2012) Threats Changes in the government policies related to education may impact the flow of international students Currency fluctuations affects the flow of international students Other countries are working on their curriculum and can prove as a threat with the number of students enrolling in the new universities (Jensen, Webster, 2016). Brand Value Positioning Analysis UNSW is a university that is giving great students to the world from last 40 years. Its aim to provide innovation with sustainability has given it a brand name which is being used by the university as its asset. The university has a great brand value because of the patents, studies, and researches it has given to the world. Students from all over the world come on student or holiday visa to become a part of this university. The credits earned by this university are recognizable and acceptable around the world which makes it a preferential choice for students as a university for further studies. Hence, the brand value position of UNSW is quite good amongst the students (Portnoi, Bagley, 2014). Conclusion Today, higher education has become a competition and universities have to work hard to maintain its potion in the market against its competitors. A market and environment analysis are conducted here that showed what is the situation of one of the top most university of Australia UNSW about its competitors. Various analyses like demand assessment, target market, marketing mix analysis, PEST analysis, SWOT analysis, competitors analysis, and brand value positioning of UNSW are conducted here to analyze, its marketing position. After conducting all the analyses it is clear that UNSW has got a good market position about its competitors in Australia. Though there are many areas that can work as a threat for the university, therefore it is important that the university work on improving them. Hence, it is clear that with a bit of improvement UNSW is a good university for the students to enroll and work on their bright future. References Australian Universities and Rankings | Competitive Careers. (2017).Competitivecareers.in. Retrieved 1 April 2017, from https://competitivecareers.in Bagley, S., Portnoi, L. (2014). Setting the Stage: Global Competition in Higher Education.New Directions For Higher Education,2014(168), 5-11. Cole, G. (2015). Executive summary of Effects of pronoun brand name perspective and positioning on brand attitude.Journal Of Product Brand Management,24(2). Ellis, N., Loughland, T. (2016). The Challenges of Practitioner Research: A Comparative Study of Singapore and NSW.The Australian Journal Of Teacher Education,41(2), 122-136. Gamage, P., Sciulli, N. (2016). 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