Market Assessment And Segmentation Of Swinburne University | Swinburne University Rankings

Marketing Efforts to Attract Students

Swinburne University is focusing on its market assessment with a separate marketing department which is responsible for the marketing of the university among the prospective students and their parents. The staff is also motivates to market about the usefulness of the courses offered at the university. The marketing managers are responsible for bringing maximum walk-ins in the university campus and then converting them into admissions. They are also taking care of branding and popularity among various universities to attract more and more admissions. Suggestions are taken from the students about what extra they want to see in the university (Gribble and Blackmore, 2012).  

Swinburne University’s popularity can be understood as its global demand and the numbers of admissions are increasing year by year. Total number of student enrolled for the session 2016-2017 were around 57994, students in vocational education were18114 and 39880 in higher education. Total number of students studying in Australia is about 1313776 and about 4.41% students are studying with Swinburne University.  As per The Times Higher Education World rankings Swinburne is ranked as one of the top 351-400 universities of the world in year 2014, 2015 and 2016. Swinburne having one of the best design schools in the world. It is awarded with Quacquarelli Symonds World Rankings of Universities in 2016. It is one of the only three institutions in Melbourne listed in the top 50 institutions for the Art and Design (University Rankings, 2017). ‌

It is a systematic division of large number of different population into small groups on the basis of common features. After dividing such small groups the next is to pitch them in such a manner to attract towards the specific product (Armstrong, et. al., 2014). In case of Swinburne University the targeted segment is the students appeared or passed higher secondary education.

When a prospective market is divided on the basis of boundaries such as city, state or country than it is geographic segmentation. So the targeted areas are various cities of Australia and foreign countries.

Dividing the population on the basis of the physical characteristics of the personality such as age, education, income of family, gender and family size etc. is demographic segmentation. Targeting the age group of 17-25 years is the main area of target. This age people have interests in movies, music and social media. So the area to be targeted is mainly on social media with the help of digital marketing. And promotional campaigns in various high schools to aware about Swinburne University. The other targeted areas are the neighbor countries and social media which is the cheapest and good marketable area to attract students (Schiffman, et. al., 2013). Knowledge of English language is must for the student of outside countries to take admission in Swinburne University.

Swinburne University’s Popularity and Rankings

Targeting the students on the basis of interests, activities and the various facilities which attracts them towards the university such as Wi-Fi campus, course related tours, practical exposure etc.

It offers the various time shifts and full time as well as part time courses which suits the various requirements of the students. So that the student who are working part time and wish to study can manage the same. Lectures can be attained at early mornings or late evenings.    

It is to know potential customers of a business. It is the answer of why, where, who, what and how. It involves targeting to the students of the various high schools with the help of visiting campuses, participating in educational fairs, organizing counseling and with the help of marketing campaigns (Shams, and Huisman, 2012). The students can also be targeted with the help of organizing events social events to attract attention towards the university.

Political:

Political factor doesn’t affect more to the universities in Australia. But still if government changes in rules regarding foreign student’s admission and the visa allotment then it is threat to the universities for admissions. The university has to handle their various departments, follow strict criteria’s and arrange finance from own efforts. Even the marketing of a university may be affected by such policies (Kotler, 2012). There are strict rules for government grants to such universities which are complied on certain parameters and audited by external authorities and on the basis of the reports the grants are transferred.

Economical:

The main sources of inflow of money towards the university are Fees of the students and Grants from governments/regulatory body. Grants depend upon following the specified criteria of the grant commission. Inflation and interest rates influence students from foreign countries. Outflows are salary to teaching staff, administration and maintenance of the campus and the various departments in the university. It also has to spend on marketing, manage transport for students bringing the admissions to the campus.

Social:

Social factor in case of Swinburne University is the standard of education, living standard, perception towards the education system and the development in terms of employment in the country. Diversity in these standards will impact the decisions about a particular university.

Technological:

Technological advancement in the field of education is important criteria of comparison in current time. The use of latest digital software for study, evaluation and examining the learning’s of the students is attraction for the students and parents (Beetham, and Sharpe, 2013). It provides access of the information to the students from anywhere Swinburne is using Swinburne online library, access to study resources and academic contents, and communication of information are technological advantages.

Demographic and Geographic Segmentation

Competitor analysis enables the University to gain the competitive edge as compared to other competitor. In other words, it is effective to identify the strength and weakness of the University. There are different universities in the Australia, which are competing with together regarding similar courses such as Bond University, Deakin University, RMIT, University of Newcastle, University of Wollongong, and University of Sydney. Despite to this, Swinburne University has effectively focused on the innovation, entrepreneurship, and research thereby, it gains the competitive advantage (Grant, R. M. (2016). However, University takes the initiative i.e. to sustain their courses, makes cross-cultural partnership, and provides equal opportunity to the students and staff.  Concurrently, University provides all type of facilities, which involves bookshop, accommodation, financial support, health and well-being, food, drink, and retail, employment advice, and security to students. Here analyse the competitor analyses of the RMIT for Swinburne University.

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) is the Australian tertian institute. This institute is very famous across the Australian regarding the professional teaching, applied research and involvement with community and industry, and vocational education. Though, ready for life and work is the main power of the University. Approx 4.9% students are come from abroad for higher study in RMIT.

Value and brand positioning are the image of a particular product or service in the mind of a customer value might be in terms of money where as brand positioning is a comparison with the other brand in the mindset of the consumer. Swinburne University is also successful in creating the value in the eyes of the customers. It has adopted updated syllabus to empower students with the best knowledge. The professional staff and experienced professors are leading students to new dimensions of knowledge.  Over the years it has positioned itself as it is considered among the best universities not only in Australia but among the whole world. It molded the approach of the students towards creative thinking to compete with the current scenario (Mazzarol, and Soutar, 2012). Discipline helps them to strictly follow the values and implement the concepts in projects.

Swinburne University has positioned itself as a trusted brand in the field of education. It has emphasized on research in technology, science, business, design and innovation. It has core strategy that good teaching and continuous research creates diversity in the lives of the students and ultimately contributes in the growth of Australia.

Swinburne will continue to grow with the improved quality in education; the aim of marketing is awaking the maximum population of not only Australia but to the whole world. The marketing managers are planning strategies to adopt the traditional and modern marketing resources to market the university. The focus will be on three pillars the students, Research and connections with various industries and communities (Bossu, et. al., 2012). The students are targeted on the basis of learning and the industrial alliances to make them understand the concepts practically. Regular research helps to understand the areas where the university is lacking with comparison to the other universities. The connection with the various brand names also helps the university promotion as the students understand the importance of the placing in multinational companies.

Targeting High School Students through Digital Marketing

 Main objective of 2018 is to create confident and self standing professionals who lead to the needs of the industries and have social impact on the society. The university will be equipped with the flexible modules and innovative ways of learning. University is also focusing on entrepreneurial and enterprising state of mind; it will create the promotional and marketing strategy for the same (Swinburne University of Technology, 2017). The traditional methods are banners, events and campaigns at various seminars, schools and fairs. The recruitment and placement records are shared with the students to make them realize the trust and the level of institution they are going to join.

Marketing mix strategy is very effective for the University regarding launching the different new programs. There are 4 elements of the marketing mix like price, place, promotion, and product. Here analyses the marketing mix of the Swinburne University is as given below:

Product

There are different courses that are provided by the University, which are very tangible so that every student can easily enroll in different programs like law, health, engineering, and games and animation. Though, University designs various graduate and post graduate programs as per the needs of students and market demand (Gordon, 2012). Basically, University concentrates on the research and innovation activities, which can be helpful to raise the University reputation and strengthens the experience of professors.

Pricing

Pricing is varying as per the different courses run by the University. As per the University standard, its price is a little bit high. For this, fees of the programs are different according to the domestic and international students (Gordon, 2012). Those who can’t afford the fees, they can apply for scholarship regarding fees concession. Likewise, University is also fixed the prices according to the different aptitude exams like GMAT and SAT. 

Place   

Currently, University has three campuses in different Australia region like Hawthorn, Croydon, and Wantirna campus. These campuses are provided all type of facilities to the students and staff. Along with this, University has also provided the different online courses for those students who are not able to come in the campus for studying. 

Promotion

Swinburne University is the top largest University in the field of research, innovation, and technology. However, University has also framed his timeline i.e. “Swinburne, Think Forward’ this shows the University strategy. It has already worked together with different education agents for promoting the University and its programs. Apart from this, University can also use the different promotional tools such as magazine, newspaper, social media, online ads, banners, and digital signage. Thus, these tools are quite effective to raise the University presence and retain more students. 

These are the strategies helps to gain edge over its competitors and give the best possible advantage strategically. Swinburne University is focused to attract more and more students. This is the main need of all the universities. Competitive strategies suggest the possible ways it can avail to compete with its competitors. Competitive strategies mainly help in building profitable customer relationships, gaining competitive advantage and analyzing the competitor. Most important thing to be keep in mind is no company can follow a single strategy. One of the basic competitive advantages Swinburne can follow is cost leadership (Wilkins, and Huisman, 2012). They can provide education facility on lower cost than its competitors in Melbourne whether it is RMIT, La Trobe University or Deakin University. The second factor is Product differentiation Swinburne is offering various courses but its competitors are also focusing on same courses but it can take advantage by introducing clubbed courses, certification courses with main course etc. Focus in this strategy the company is pointing on specific smaller segments rather than targeting the whole market. So Swinburne must target some specific educational institutions to attract students for admissions.

Here analyzes the media and budget of the Swinburne University

Above table analyze the media and budget allocation of the Swinburne University for the year 2018. It shows the University plans to invest money in the different media in order to enhance the University presence and retains the students easily. Concerning this, University makes the budget of $61500 in different media for the year 2018. As a result, this budget enables the University to increase the brand presence across the Australia, which can be effective for the University in terms of more students enrol in different academic courses (Sharrock, 2012). 

Every business understands the importance of survival and growth. The products introduced and the amount of capital invested in the products is needs for generating better returns. Swinburne University is also offering several numbers of courses. It is providing various types of courses depending upon the suitability of the students such as full time course, part time course, distance learning program and online courses. It is easy to understand the growth of these units but sometimes it is a problematic task to decide which strategic unit is becoming burden on the university. These are named as Cash cows, Stars, Dog and Question mark. So BCG matrix will suggest the movement of the various courses offered by Swinburne University whether they are generating good cash flows or are going to become burden for the University (Boone, and Kurtz, 2013).

Full time course is still the one having high market share and low growth rate. Online course is having low market share but is having higher growth in past year showing more interest of students towards online studies. Part time course is becoming question mark which may move towards stars if focused. Distance learning is also near to question mark so focus is required on distance learning course.

Expected Outcomes and Conclusion:

Swinburne University is relatively new university when compared to Deakin and La Trobe Universities. Accordingly the number of students in all the three universities are maximum in Deakin, than in La Trobe and then in Swinburne university. But in case of foreign students Swinburne is having highest number of students 9016 students whereas Deakin and La Trobe are having 7468 and 7629 students respectively. It can be said that the university is performing well in the education industry and the recognition in the foreign countries is showing better results for the same. Swinburne is offering various programs which are fulfilling the needs of large segments this bring the diverse demography at a single platform where there is possibility of exchange in the social and cultural habits and thoughts. It provides platform to explore various new areas such as industrial tours for management students, surveys and projects for entrepreneurs, visits to tourist places for the students of arts and many more. It is using the technological advancement in best possible manner by providing students with Wi-Fi campus, online study material, information and examinations. This all helps student to work in techno friendly environment as well as the practical exposure helps to understand the required skills and bring experiences.  

References:

Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S., and Kotler, P. (2014) Principles of marketing. Australia: Pearson education.

Beetham, H., and Sharpe, R. (2013) Rethinking pedagogy for a digital age: Designing for 21st century learning. UK: Routledge.

Boone, L. E., and Kurtz, D. L. (2013) Contemporary marketing. UK: Cengage learning.

Bossu, C., Bull, D., and Brown, M. (2012) Opening up Down Under: the role of open educational resources in promoting social inclusion in Australia. Distance Education, 33(2), pp. 151-164.

Gordon, R. (2012) Re-thinking and re-tooling the social marketing mix. Australasian Marketing Journal (AMJ), 20(2), pp. 122-126.

Grant, R. M. (2016) Contemporary strategy analysis: Text and cases edition. United States: John Wiley & Sons.

Gribble, C., and Blackmore, J. (2012) Re-positioning Australia’s international education in global knowledge economies: implications of shifts in skilled migration policies for universities. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 34(4), pp. 341-354.

Kotler, P. (2012) Kotler on marketing. USA:Simon and Schuster.

Mazzarol, T., and Soutar, G. N. (2012) Revisiting the global market for higher education. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 24(5), pp. 717-737.

Schiffman, L., O’Cass, A., Paladino, A., and Carlson, J. (2013) Consumer behaviour. AU: Pearson Higher Education.

Shams, F., and Huisman, J. (2012) Managing offshore branch campuses: An analytical framework for institutional strategies. Journal of Studies in International Education, 16(2), pp. 106-127.

Sharrock, G. (2012) Four management agendas for Australian universities. Journal of higher education policy and management, 34(3), pp. 323-337.

Swinburne University of Technology (2017) Annul report 2016. [Online]. Available at:

https://www.swinburne.edu.au/media/swinburneeduau/about-swinburne/docs/pdfs/swinburne-annual-report-2016.pdf (Accessed 29 May 2017).

University Rankings, (2017) QS Australian Universities World Rankings. [Online]. Available at:

https://www.universityrankings.com.au/the-times-australian-rankings.html (Accessed 29 May 2017).

Wilkins, S., and Huisman, J. (2012) The international branch campus as transnational strategy in higher education. Higher Education, 64(5), pp. 627-645.

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