Marketing management of a non-public university

• Main Author: Piotr Mikosik
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Institute of Aviation 2014-09-01
• Series: Marketing of Scientific and Research Organisations
• Subjects: client; consumer; marketing; marketing management; non-public university; personal relationship market; personnel management; student
• Online Access: http://minib.pl/en/marketing-management-of-non-public-university/

2005 was the peak year for the university sector.Nearly 2 million students attended Polish universities, and the favourable trend has continued uninterrupted for 15 years.Such a high demand for knowledge also resulted in a strong growth in the number of universities.However, since 2006 the number of students has begun to fall, and taking into account the demographic data it should be assumed that this trend will continue in the years to come. Research conducted for the Ministry of Science and Higher Education indicates that the methods of university management in Poland are outdated in comparison with global solutions.This is because research is centred around scientists, and not geared towards expectations of the students.In light of unfavourable demographic trends, and thus increasing difficulties of the universities to remain in the market, it should be expected that university authorities will have to focus on market expectations to a greater extent than today and will have to focus on development of skills of marketing management.Although this situation is also partly true as regards public universities, this article takes into account mainly the perspective of private universities. The aim of this article is to present the possibilities and barriers to building a strong competitive position of universities in the sector.The scope of considerations presented in this paper covers issues of strategic management of a university, marketing and aspects of university personnel management.This article is developed on the basis of available literature, reports, more than a dozen years of work experience in a number of private universities in Poland and on the basis of the author’s research performed in order to prepare marketing strategies for such universities. Key conclusions of this article are as follows: Universities should pay more attention to the importance of strategic planning In determining management priorities, universities should take into account to a greater extent the point of view of the customers, namely the candidates and the current students The key activity of strategic importance to the university should be to build a strong image of the university and to develop teaching skills of lecturers.