Brand Role In Higher Education Essay

845 Words2 Pages

The role of the brand in higher education has been considered as very important. The brand is possibly the most important connection a prospective student has with an institution. The brand of a university carries with it a promise of a particular level of service and student outcomes. In the case of education, the service is more than a simple set of tangible features but is a complex bundle of benefits that satisfy customer’s needs (Clarke, 2009).
Because a university as a service organization is one large, undifferentiated mass of people and process, coupled with the unique characteristics of its services, the marketing challenge has been how to differentiate these organizations in the market place so that they will be preferred by consumers …show more content…

By understanding how higher education institutions create desirable brands, universities can attract world-class faculty, sponsorship, and high-quality students, leading to improved public image and goodwill (Hemsley-Brown et al., 2016).
Before clarifying the next point, some concepts need to be clarified. Brand Reputation, Brand Image and Brand Identity:
University Reputation: a spread of opinion regarding an entity or as an interaction between stakeholders in which the university has no direct impact. A perception of quality associated with the name, in the university environment perceived brands can be used by as a quality indicator, may be determinant in the future willingness to repurchase or recommended the services offered by the university to others. A good reputation can be passed from one department to a new department or from one branch to another (Shyle, 2015). While university reputation has traditionally been the main indicator for the uniqueness of a higher education institution, with the emergence of branding, the adoption of concepts such as brand identity, meaning, image, and reputation are becoming increasingly important (Hemsley-Brown et al., …show more content…

Image can be affected by a series of factors: academic excellence, friendships formed, feelings of pride as graduate students, and the national image of the university, the image of the university’s level of research, social events and homogeneousness among students. Also affected by ancillary services which include: library, computer laboratories, the availability of quiet zones and areas for study (Shyle, 2015). Students perceive the image of their HEI in relation to other HEIs (Williams Jr & Omar,

Open Document