Strategies for the Marketing of Higher Education

Education is now a global product with institutions worldwide competing for students and finding ever more creative ways to satisfy student needs and preferences. With the continuing rise in the preference for flexible distance learning, educational institutions are finding that when students and faculty have significantly different cultural backgrounds and learning styles that the expectations of the learning experience can be unfulfilled. In first considering marketing in education we very swiftly articulate general questions such as: "just what makes our school or university different?", "who exactly are our customers?", and "how can we compete with other providers?" They are general but of course deceptively simple and even the specification of 'who is the customer' require some consideration. There are actually many definitions of what marketing are, some more general in scope than others and perceptions are constantly being reviewed.