Marketing Strategies of Dubai Universities - Report Example

of the of the Number Marketing Strategies of Dubai Universities Table of Contents Introduction 3 2. Brief Overview 3 3. Marketing Strategy 4 3.1. Marketing Mix 4 3.2. STP Analysis 8 4. Conclusion 9 Work Cited 10 1. Introduction Universities and Educational Institutes are now operating in a very competitive environment. Each institution is trying to offer the best curriculum for the students and also trying to attract them with the promise of a better career. Providing good quality education is not the only criteria the students use to choose a university. They also look for recruitment facilities provided by the universities. The growing competitiveness in the job market has made the universities differentiate themselves by offering good quality recruitment facilities, as it has become the primary determinant of a student’s choice. In the light of the above statements, this paper focuses on the marketing strategies used by some major Dubai universities. It includes their marketing mix, marketing communication, demographics of the customers and segmentation and positioning strategies. The study covers three universities; University of Wollongong in Dubai, American University in Dubai and British University in Dubai. 2. Brief Overview University of Wollongong in Dubai, situated in the Dubai Knowledge Village, was founded in 1993. It is one of the oldest and among the highest ranked universities of UAE. Students from almost a hundred countries join this university each year, owing to its population strength of almost 3500. The university provides both undergraduate and post graduate educations. The courses and degrees are accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education of UAE. Since it is an Australian university, the auditing is done by Australian University Quality Agency (University of Wollongong Dubai, “About UOWD”). American University in Dubai, established in 1995, is located near the Dubai Media city and is accredited by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. This university was used to be a branch of American Intercontinental University in Atlanta, but in 2007 it was privatized. The university offers curriculum on Business Administration, Engineering, Architecture, Arts, Science, etc. The university offers its services to around 2,600 students (American University in Dubai, “About AUD”). British University in Dubai operates as a non-profit institution was founded in 2004. The university was established as a joint venture of National Bank of Dubai, Al Maktoum Foundation, British Business Group, Dubai Development and Investment Authority and Rolls Royce. The institution has partnership with leading universities like the University of Manchester, University of Edinburgh, Cardiff University, University of Birmingham and Kings College. The university offers under graduate, post graduate as well as PhD to the students (The British University in Dubai, “About BUiD”). 3. Marketing Strategy 3.1. Marketing Mix The marketing of the universities shows the details about their products (courses and curriculums), price (fee structure for the students), place (location of target customers) and promotion (advertisement and marketing communication). 3.1.1. Products: The products are the courses and Services offered by the Institutions. University of Wollongong in Dubai The courses of this university is divided for students who are Undergraduates, Post graduates, Professional Students, Researchers and Language Students. The subjects covered in undergraduate level are Business Management, Engineering and Information technology and Accounting and Finance. The post graduate programs include Arts and Humanities, Engineering and Information technology, Business management and Accounting and Finance. For professional learners the university offers short courses like Administration and Business management, Human resource, marketing management and communications, and Accounting and finance. Full time as well as part time doctorate degrees are offered to Research Scholars of Business Administration. The courses are divided into semesters and projects, the academic progress is measured by credit points. The university also provides training to develop communication skills in English language at a dedicated department known as the Language Studies Centre or LSC (University of Wollongong Dubai, “Post Graduate Programs”). The university also provides scholarship to post graduate student who are both new and existing. The scholarships offer discounts over the annual tuition fees of up to 20 percent based on academic performances and also if the candidate is a child of an alumni. American University in Dubai The University offers courses which are divided into three categories, Undergraduate Programs, Graduate Programs and Other Courses. The Undergraduate Programs offers Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, Business Administration, International Studies, Communication and Information Studies, Fine Arts (Interior design and Visual communication), Computer engineering, Civil engineering, Mechanical engineering and Electrical engineering. The Graduate Programs offers Masters Degree in Business Administration, Education, and Construction Management. The courses included in other programs consist of certificate courses in Middle East studies and intensive English language program (American University in Dubai, “Academic Programs”). British University in Dubai The courses offered by British University of Dubai are categorized under five categories, which are Undergraduate courses, Masters Degree courses, PhD, Professional development and Post Graduate Diploma. The undergraduate programs offer bachelors degree in Arts and Architecture, Industrial Engineering, Computer Sciences, Accounting and finance, Business Management and Electromechanical Engineering. The Masters degree courses include Business Administration, Education, Informatics and Data management, Information technology, Operation management, Banking and Finance, Environmental sciences, Systems Engineering, Building design and process automation, construction management, Engineering management, etc. The university also offers PhD in Computer Science, Architecture and Sustainable Built Environment, Project Management and doctorate in Education. The professional development courses offer individual modules to students who are not willing to register for the entire masters program. The post graduate diploma courses are designed for working individuals who could not complete their Masters degree. All the courses are accredited by Arabian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (The British University in Dubai, “Postgraduate diploma and certificate”). 3.1.2. Price: The price is the fees of the respective institutions for the offered courses. University of Wollongong in Dubai offers their undergraduate courses at 6156.45AED per subject. Most of the programs have around 34 subjects, so the total program cost is around 209286.27 AED. The post graduate courses are offered at 8048.2 AED per subject and an average of 12 subjects per program costs 96567.38 AED. The Doctorate program in Business Administration is offered at 167506.15 USD and the same for PhD in other programs is offered at 225011.66 AED. The university also provides partial scholarship to post graduate student who are both new and existing. The scholarships offer discounts over the annual tuition fees of up to 20 percent based on academic performances and also if the candidate is a child of an alumni. (University of Wollongong Dubai, “Undergraduate Fees and Payment Information”). The American University in Dubai offers their under graduate programs at 3250 AED per credit. The courses are divided between Spring Semester and Summer Sessions. The spring semester consists of twelve to sixteen credit hours and the summer session consists of seven to nine credit hours. The average fees of under graduation program with maximum credit hours are 37,500 AED. The masters programs cost 9900.28 AED for three credit hours, 5390.40 AED for six credit hours, and 29,700 AED for nine credit hours. Additional courses are offered at 2000 AED per module. The language programs are offered at 28000 AED for spring session and 20000 AED for summer session (American University in Dubai, “Tuition and Fees”). The British University in Dubai offers their Masters programs at 64000 AED for every program. The post graduate diploma is offered at 32000 AED to 59000 AED. The Doctorate programs are offered at 165004.49 AED for Education, 250000 AED for project management, and 200000 AED for Architecture (The British University in Dubai, “Financial Information”). Price Comparison The following chart shows the comparison of different program prices in the three universities. The educational programs like the under graduate, masters and PhD have been compared on the basis of their course fees. All the fees amount in the above chart are the maximum course fee of the respective universities. American university in Dubai does not offer PhD courses and their fees are structured based on credit hours. Since the number of credit hours in case of undergraduate course is more than that of the masters’ course, so the fee of under graduate course is more than that of the masters’ course. 3.1.3. Place: The place indicated the location of business of an organization. In this case all the Universities operate in different regions in Dubai. The above map shows the locations of all the three universities, which are marked as follows: (A) University of Wollongong in Dubai (B) American University in Dubai (C) The British University in Dubai The University of Wollongong and The American University in Dubai both are located in the Business district and are quite close to the famous Palm Jumeira, so these universities attract student who would want to have a corporate exposure of the location. However, the British University in Dubai is located in far from the business city, in the Academic city of Dubai, nest to Universities like Amity University, Murdoch University Dubai, etc. Although British University is far from the Business city, however it is located among other universities, which gives the student an academic exposure of the location. Thus the location in the Academic city also proves to a good location to attract students to the institution. 3.1.4. Promotion: All the universities use almost same methods of promotion. The promotion activities include billboards and hoardings which highlights their quality of education and services to draw students’ and parent’s attention. The institutions operate at a competitive environment where each of them tries to differentiate themselves by providing the best education and career opportunities. These universities invest a lot of capital for the promotional activities to create brand recall. They also use social media like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to promote their activities and unique service features. In some occasions they also sponsor certain educational events to promote their brand. University of Wollongong has its own research team which is responsible for market study and promotional activities. The team promotes the dynamic culture of the institute and also deigns the strategic planning for improving its brand valuation. The promotional activities mostly include targeting students who are in the career exploration phase. The advertisements should highlight the major collaborations that the institution has with multinational companies which would provide skills to the students necessary for entering in to the international business environment. 3.2. STP Analysis The STP analysis helps an organization to properly recognize their target customers and position them self as unique brand with unique value proposition. The STPD analysis covers the Segmentation. Targeting, Positioning and Differentiation. Segmentation is dividing the market into groups based on customer profile. The customer base of Dubai Universities consists of students roughly between age group of 18 to 35. In some cases the upper limit of the age group is not fixed since, the candidate for PhD belong to a wide range of age group. Within this age group there are individuals who are working professionals and also ones who have passed out of high school. The age group is further divided based on the spending capacity. It is perceived by the customers that higher fees structure is proportional to better quality of education. Targeting involves choosing the prospective customers. In this case, the target customers of the private universities are families who can afford to spend a substantial amount for their ward’s education. The universities promise better career opportunities and skill development for the students to justify their high fees structure. They usually appeal to the parents’ concern for their ward’s future career. (KHDA, 2014). Positioning involves strategies which are used by an organization to place them self at a particular category in the market. The positioning is after proper assessment of the market environment, threats and opportunities. Every institution prefers to position themselves as the provider of best educational services and career opportunities. The higher fees structure and collaboration with big multinational companies and accreditation bodies provides a premium position to the institutions. These infrastructures and the premium positioning often act as a status symbol for the students, which as a result attract a lot of status conscious customers. 4. Conclusion Higher education has been commercialized and has been transformed into a corporate business. In the ever growing competitive market, the educational institutes are also competing with each other to gain maximum number of students each year. The global job market demands employees trained in industrial skills, keeping that in mind the higher education institutions are offering courses which will help the student to get better jobs. This aspect is often highlighted in their marketing communication, which makes the decision making process of the customers easier. The public institutions offer a wide range of subjects due financial support from the government, thus it acts as a single educational solution under one roof. The higher education institutions must keep in mind that too much commercialization of education can lead to degradation of service quality and may result in customer dissatisfaction. The focus should be on value addition for customers and not solely on making money. Work Cited “About UOWD.” University of Wollongong Dubai, 2014. Web. 11 November 2014. “About BUiD.” The British University in Dubai. 2014. Web. 11 November 2014. “Academic Programs.” American University in Dubai. 2014. Web. 11 November 2014. “About AUD.” American University in Dubai. 2014. Web. 11 November 2014. “Tuition and Fees.” American University in Dubai. 2014. Web. 11 November 2014. “Financial Information.” The British University in Dubai. 2014. Web. 11 November 2014. KHDA. 2014. Choosing a University or College. [online] Available at:< http://www.khda.gov.ae/pages/en/choosinguniversity.aspx > Kotler, P. and Keller, K.L. Marketing Management. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2012. Print “Post Graduate Programs.” University of Wollongong Dubai. 2014. Web. 11 November 2014. “Postgraduate diploma and certificate.” The British University in Dubai. 2014. Web. 11 November 2014. “Undergraduate Fees and Payment Information.” University of Wollongong Dubai. 2014. Web. 11 November 2014. Read More