Location, location, location: does place provide the opportunity for differentiation for universities?

Abstract

The fiercely competitive HE market has led HEIs to invest significant resources in building a distinct identity. An HEI's location forms an inherent part of its identity and the uniqueness of location offers an opportunity to differentiate. However there has been limited examination of how location is used by HEIs and little consideration of how location can provide an effective means of differentiation. Through the lens of place marketing, this exploratory paper provides insight into the way HEIs portray location and discusses whether location can offer a source of differentiation. Using a content analysis of prospectuses and interviews with marketing decision makers, this paper contributes a deeper understanding of the way in which a place brand is constructed by a stakeholder. The study reveals that HEIs portray a location to simultaneously excite and reassure the student which ultimately leads to the commodification of location. As such, differentiation is not possible.

Thematic analysis of marketing messages in UK universities’ prospectuses

“…However, taking pride in the location of the university might have to be shared with others. Location has been found to have an impact on the brand personality of a university (Dholakia and Acciardo, 2014;Winter and Thompson-Whiteside, 2017). It is therefore left for universities in same cities to see how best they use the city to enhance their brand and appeal for prospective students, perhaps in an international market.…”

“…Acknowledging that the main audience for the prospectus is 18-24 year olds (Winter and Thompson-Whiteside, 2017), there is nonetheless a growing number of mature students (Melchiorre and Johnson, 2017). Accordingly, there is a need for universities to mind the textual presentation of their prospectuses and provide information that caters for this wider audience.…”

Analisis Motivasi Pelajar Indonesia Melanjutkan Studi di Jepang dengan Structural Equational Modeling Partial Least Square

“…Terdapat beberapa faktor yang mampu mempengaruhi keputusan melanjutkan sekolah di luar negeri antara lain jenis kelamin, tingkat pendidikan orang tua, pengalaman internasional sebelumnya, usia dan pendapatan rumah tangga (Pope et al, 2013), fasilitas, lingkungan fisik (Winter & Chapleo, 2015), dan lokasi lembaga pendidikan tinggi tesebut (Winter & Thompson-Whiteside, 2017). Universitas yang terletak kawasan Amerika dan Eropa merupakan pilihan utama bagi mahasiswa dari berbagai negara untuk melanjutkan perkuliahan di luar negeri (Dearden et al, 2019).…”

The homogenisation of prospectuses over the period of massification in the UK

“…Institutions were chosen from a geographically limited area in the UK, as location is an important part of identity (Winter & Thompson-Whiteside, 2017), and categorical selection made using case study methodology (Gerring, 2007) to ensure the institutions where data was collected were of varying status, to reflect the breadth of institutions and to see whether value messaging was different depending on status stratification (Marginson, 2016). The methodological choice of case study institutions means that findings based on these four sites are not necessarily applicable to the whole of UK higher education, and the analysis of these prospectuses should not be taken to mean necessarily that the value messages could be generalised across the sector, but perhaps have some relatability (Bassey, 1999).…”