Marketing university education: the Southern African experience

Abstract

The study sought to identify the perceptions of university marketers of the challenges their institutions were facing, the philosophies underpinning marketing thought and practice, and the general marketing strategies employed by the institutions. Seven institutions in the Southern African region participated in the study which was based on a self completion questionnaire and an analysis of institutional marketing documents. That there is a varying awareness in the institutions of the significance of marketing, with the more mature universities exhibiting more developed marketing orientations. Patterns of strategies ranged from marketing as public relations to marketing as sales, with universities in South Africa being the only ones reflecting customer focused approaches. On the whole, marketing in the region's universities remains buried under mainstream institutional activities. The study provides three broad principles which could be used to inform the development of marketing practice across institutions.

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