Higher education marketing : opportunities and challenges in the digital era

Abstract

The higher educational institutions (HEIs), including universities and colleges are increasingly seeking new resources, competences and capabilities to improve their corporate reputation. Therefore, this paper has relied on a generic approach to critically analyze the marketing environment of HEIs. A SWOT analysis was used to examine the micro and the macro environmental factors that can have an effect on their delivery of student-centered education and on their capacity to produce high-impact and influential research publications that will ultimately add value to society. The findings of this research suggest that several HEIs are diversifying their portfolios as they are increasingly recruiting domestic and international students. Hence, this contribution deliberates on traditional and contemporary marketing communications that are being used in different contexts to attract students and prolific faculty employees to HEIs. Moreover, it explains that successful HEIs are capable of forging fruitful and collaborative relationships with different stakeholders, including business, industry, as well as with research institutions in order to improve their academic branding. These issues imply that tomorrow’s HEIs ought to leverage themselves through effective marketing communications amid intensifying competition.