Marketing Strategies Of Deakin University In Australia And Globally

About Deakin University

Deakin University was founded in 1974 and was considered to be the 4^th ranked university in Victoria that came up with one regional campus at that particular time. In the year 1978, it was officially being unlocked and the present scenario sees this university ranked among the top 2 per cent of the world universities. Deakin University is stated to be one of the biggest universities related to research within Australia that has been expanding at a faster rate. It has been considered that around 90 per cent of the research that is been done in the Deakin University is stated to be world class. The university comprises of 5 main campuses that takes in the online cloud campus. It also holds 13 strategic research centers along with 4 research institutes and 6 regional study spaces. In Australia, Deakin University is ranked 3^rd when it comes to facts like employability, as it has been producing bright students over the years (www.australianuniversities.com.au, 2017). Deakin University Council Chancellor, John Stanhope has been responsible for the supervision and common course of the university. It is also publically responsible for the actions been dedicated by the university.

Deakin University has been mainly focusing on the part of education and research work. Deakin, being one of the top graded universities within Australia excels in its research work. The industry of education is a vast one, with the existence of thousand of universities across the globe. Deakin University has been able to market itself in the best possible way in both the domestic circuit along with the global level. Deakin offers around 550 courses that takes in undergraduate level to the doctorate level offering students different sort of course to select from for their career (Gummerus,  von Koskull, & Kowalkowski, 2017). Deakin is diversified in nature and is upgraded with technology and is one of the leading universities in the digital learning centre. Deakin is a public university, attracting local attention but at same time focusing on the global level along with targeting those who have been well off along with those that are not, Deakin provides several scholarships for various courses,

Deakin University only focuses on magnetizing those that have attained the age of 16. It is one of the public universities that have been offering education to the many global students. Deakin University has been offering over 550 courses ranging from the bachelor level to the doctrine level. It has been offering various courses offering courses in laws, Business, Arts and Medicine. It targets a larger amount of people who have been eager for a good career and ravenous for education. Deakin University has been able to attract students from countries like China, Vietnam and India who have been coming to Australia for studying in Deakin. Off campus is also been offered by Deakin University who are not been able to make it to the country due to certain issues, positioning its Online Cloud Campus in helping the overseas students. This university is in the habit of attracting global students who have the prospective of excelling in the course. This university ahs even offered scholarships to the Indian students who are done with their PhDs. Deakin University wants students to augment their reputation as there has some advantages in being with one of the reputed universities of the world (www.australianuniversities.com.au, 2017).

Market Summary and Demand Assessment

Political factors take into account the factors of government having influence on its performance. Government has enabled this university in gathering enough properties for establishing its campuses all across Australia. Deakin University has been receiving funds from the government across Australia. It is a public university and has been offering millions of dollars for conducting researches.

Education industry offers Deakin University with enough space and is not much effected like the organizations existing in the other industries. Deakin has effectively been building on the contribution of its and contributing towards a stable Australian economy. It has also been able to produce enough jobs and is responsible for around 2.5 per cent of the Gross Regional Product and 2 per cent of the household income (Russell-Bennett,  Wood & Previte, 2016). Deakin has been playing a significant role along with contributing towards the social well-being of the company.

Deakin University has been influencing by several social trends and conditions connected to education industry. Several campaigns have been started by Deakin for supporting feminism and working on the rights of women. Presently, women rights have become the most significant thing and support is being offered the ideas of feminism.

In the present scenario, technology has revolutionized the whole world. Technology has been growing at a faster rate and if one is hoping to expand he/she needs to keep themselves updated with the technology. Deakin boats of an IP address of its own with the professors starting to emailing themselves. Deakin possesses Online Cloud Campus where students from across the globe having access to the university and its education.

Deakin University has made effective use of all the 4Ps for being successful in the market. The products can be the 550 courses it offers to all the students across the globe along with the rich technological facilities. A broader range of scholarships have also been provided to the students. The tuition fees that students need to offer to the Deakin University are the ‘price’ for the global students and the domestic or local students. For ascertaining the ‘place’ factor of the university, Deakin is situated bodily and practically. Deakin is one of the leading digital ways of learning through the introduction of the Online Cloud Campus for the students (Gummerus,  von Koskull, & Kowalkowski, 2017). Along with that there is existence 5 of its main campuses, 4 research institutes and 13 researches strategic research centers. In case of the promotional activities, Deakin University has acquired enough brand value along with its achievements on its way.

Deakin University is considered to be among the top universities consisting of 2 per cent across the globe which is stated to be an huge achievement. However, there is existence of certain other universities who have the ability of providing Deakin University a stiff competition. Universities like that of Sydney boasting of 54,000 students whereas Deakin has around 46,000 (Vallet-Bellmunt et al., 2017). The University of Sydney (UTS) boasts of both the students of the post-graduate and the undergraduate level. UTS has been marketing itself really well than Deakin University in the global stage, attracting more students than Deakin though both the Universities offer similar sort of courses. Another area of concern for the global students is that the UTS course fees is much expensive than the Deakin University.

Segmentation and Target Market

The following strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats have been taken into account in evaluating the position of Deakin University.

Deakin University’s strength can be accessed through the facilities it offers through its multi-million researches along with the existence of learning centers that are rich in technology. A cutting edge facility is being offered by the University management to the students along with the prominent quality of teaching and research. The fact that it is in the top 2 per cent of the global universities offering education globally proves the fact that it has done enough to be recognized at the global stage (Russell-Bennett,  Wood & Previte, 2016)..

Deakin University has one weakness which is it has got less foreign students than the other universities. The factor of pricing for the international students is set high contrast to the local students attracting more domestic students. Deakin being a public university does not attract too much fees from the students, so the Australian citizens need to pay much less as compared to some of the other private colleges. International students need to pay much more if they are going for certain other private universities.

Deakin University focuses mainly on the research part along with offering education to students across the globe. A lot of attention needs to be given on the educational factor as improving that would attract more students. The opportunities that are obtainable to Deakin University is that it can attain further in its research on the technological progression (Storbacka, Nenonen & Brodie, 2016).

Deakin University witnesses a lot of competition in the industry of education. Deakin has been one of the best research universities that have existed over the years, but it is still ranked at 17.  Universities like UTS are better positioned attracting many students, especially the foreign ones.

Deakin University has been working hard in bringing itself to a place where it is at this present moment. In the global rankings of the university, Deakin University has been awarded the ‘Top Graduate Employability’, entering among the top 2 per cent of the universities across the world. It has become one of the top leaders in the area of online education. In Australia, it is ranked the number 1 MBA University and has also been rated first within Victoria for the satisfaction it has been able to offer to the students. Deakin has been able to position itself in an position that is quite high, preparing itself for the tough competition ahead.

The main objective of Deakin University would be to augment and execute local and international strategies of promotion for achieving student recruitment targets. Deakin University would do well in developing a data driven advancement with the improvement in the pipeline for recruitment which would be enabling in both the rates of conversion and applications. Deakin University needs to ensure that the model of pricing and levels are competent and reflect Deakin’s positioning in the market. The University would need to augment the growth of the PG course and prioritize, within the allocation of the budget and the level of the activity in the marketing that is being targeted (Ebert & Griffin, 2015). Deakin should be able to attract more global students like the UTS for which it needs to recognize the significant university recruitment partners through market and enlarge targets and the plans for promotion. Deakin should be able work with the international teams and the Associate Deans of International from each school delivering targets.

Current Market Analysis

The major outcome of these plans in 2018 would be increase in the income from the global activities of the university along with increase in the proportion of the postgraduate students. It should also improve on the conversion of the international and local applications. The promotional objective of Deakin University would be in promoting academic excellence through quality programs, engaging learners and an innovative teaching process and environment for learning. Deakin would do well in utilizing the institutional goals along with precedence for the enrollment and programs related to academic as a structure for communication and marketing the work products.

 Deakin, in order to prepare itself for the bigger challenges and stiffer competition should generate and support a positive experience within the campus that supports recruitment for students, enrollment and withholding. It should also be able to develop efficient tools for research in engaging and motivating the targeted students and in defining the important messages. Deakin by 2018 would also need to extend its reach and depth through developing of the strategic programs. It should be leading the process of collaboration in maintaining and advancing the brand identity of the university through the factors of messaging, design of communication and execution (Balan, 2014). It should also be able to utilize the research-based process of decision making in informing the media and decisions related to message for promoting the Victoria region, the brand of the Deakin University, commitment of community and engaging significant stakeholders.

Product:

Deakin University is one of the leading education facilities with around 49000 students, in the process of offering both Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses and is dedicated to brilliance via best possible faculties at their disposal. It has the best process in selecting the brightest students who have the zeal and the motivation for a brighter career. Deakin University offers a unique experience to the students along with the chance of learning through the academics. Some of the course offered by Deakin University is:

1. Education & Training
2. Engineering & Design
3. Architecture
4. Health Sciences
5. Humanities and Social Science
6. information Technology

It is a public university for which it cannot attract too much fees like the private universities. Deakin University has a bigger operating budget along with annual income with colleges having larger collective endowment. Its operating income stood at $948,774 in 2015, seeing much increase from what it was in 2014 at $898,553 (Kotler, et al., 2015). The vital sources of its income is the government as it is a public university, it receives funds from the government for its operations, Deakin University has been a  premium brand and has assumed a premium policy of pricing in terms of the fees for the students, especially the global ones. Being one of the reputed universities its students are more than ready in paying the required fees for admission.

Deakin University has been the top-tier university not only in Australia but also at the global stage. It is located in the region of Victoria and Melbourne and has gained immense popularity, becoming one of the status symbol for the individual students attending the university course. Deakin University is a full-fledged collegiate campus that takes into account several institutions.

PEST Analysis

Deakin University provides scholarships to the ones who are meritorious and want to excel academically. Deakin Scholarship for Excellence, Deakin Funded Scholarship Program, and Deakin International Scholarship are some of the programs that have been initiated to offer students some respite and assistance in getting admission to one of the prestigious universities of Australia (Ebert & Griffin, 2015).. Deakin University has also been raising funds and awareness to tackle the deadly bushfire incidents frequent in the region.

While discussing the market competition of the Deakin University, the comparative advantage theory needs to be considered.  As per the comparative advantage theory has been proposed after a firm evaluation of the entire market structure and its competitive market discourse (Armstrong, et al., 2014).  Differing from the classical theory this neoclassical mode of theory has been proposed in order to study the competitive academic market. After the Commonwealth budget in the tertiary academic sectors most of the Universities in the country have gone global. The international market for the Australian universities has been effectively creating a new realm of its student segment. The market competition, however, depends on the standard of tertiary service provided by the Universities.  As far as Deakins University is concerned, the competition lies in the fact of attainment of the international students.

One of the strongest Universities in terms of the admission of the international students is the University of Sydney and University of Melbourne.  The basic difference lies in the fee structure of the universities. For instance, average fee structure for a post graduate engineering course in around AU$ 30,000 per annum in the University of Melbourne. On the other hand, an international student for the same course is to pay AU$ 48,000 per annum in the University of Deakin.  This difference in fee structure has entailed the difference in student admission in the University.

The strongest competitor of the University of Deakin is the University of Sydney.  The reason behind such strong competition is the influx of the international students in the University of Sydney.  In the international market, University of Melbourne is considered to be the most popular university in the country leaving the University of Sydney behind in the race (www.deakin.edu.au, 2017).

Moreover, the University of Sydney and the University of Melbourne facilitate the international students with effective scholarship schemes.

                                                                     Fig: University wise Fee Structure

                                                                       Source: Created by the Author

Having understood the exact fee structure of the Universities, it can be clearly stated that University of Melbourne and University of Sydney has the clear indication to facilitate the students with lower fees structure than Deakin University thus attracting the greater number of the international students.

Political Factors

In order to reach to the greater number of the customers strong media messaging system needs to be devised. Different media programs such as IMC, POP and Guerilla technique would be put into effect as the university seeks to dive into the greater aspect of the market. The marketing of the university is going to focus on improvisation of media and advertising technique as they are the strong determinants of how people would perceive on the accession of service provided by the university.  Deakin University looks into the matter of acquiring the strong realm of media as it would typify the television channels and radio programming associated with print media such as news papers, hoardings and flexes. This part of the paper frames a budget planning.

The aforementioned table vividly illustrates the budget allocated in different media segments. The entire media program would encompass different segments provided by ABC network. Hence, contracting ABC network would be the main objective of the University’s marketing strategy.  The above mentioned budget has been set on the basis of hypothesis. The total projected budget for media and advertising is going to be 295,000 Australian dollars. The budget focuses on the costs of business contract with different Television channels and network providers. For instance, annual contract with ABC network for Master Chef Australia would likely to cost AU$ 200,000. The cost for entire TV unit is likely to be AU$ 30,000. For event marketing, the budget has been set to be AU$ 7000.  

The major outcome of these plans in 2018 would be increase in the income from the global activities of the university along with increase in the proportion of the postgraduate students. It should also improve on the conversion of the international and local applications. The promotional objective of Deakin University would be in promoting academic excellence through quality programs, engaging learners and an innovative teaching process and environment for learning. Deakin would do well in utilizing the institutional goals along with precedence for the enrollment and programs related to academic as a structure for communication and marketing the work products.

Reference:

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

Australian Education Network. (2017). Retrieved from Australian Universities.com.au: https://www.australianuniversities.com.au/compare-universities.php?uni%5B%5D=deakin&uni%5B%5D=sydney&submit=SUBMIT

Balan, C. (2014). “Pay What You Want”: A Participative Price Setting Mechanism. International Journal of Economic Practices and Theories, 4(5), 952-963.

Chetcuti, A. R., Cauchi, S., Gatt, K., Camilleri, D., Buttigieg, D., Borg Rizzo, G., … & Bond, W. (2016). The impact of culture on services marketing communications: a study on AIESEC (Bachelor’s thesis, University of Malta).

Deakin University plays major role in economic strength of Warrnambool region. (2010, December 10). Retrieved from Deakin University: https://www.deakin.edu.au/about-deakin/media-releases/articles/2010/deakin-university-plays-major-role-in-economic-strength-of-warrnambool-region

Ebert, R. J., & Griffin, R. W. (2015). Business essentials.

Gummerus, J., von Koskull, C., & Kowalkowski, C. (2017). Relationship Marketing: Past, Present and Future.

Kotler, P., Keller, K. L., Manceau, D., & Hémonnet-Goujot, A. (2015). Marketing management (Vol. 14). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Russell-Bennett, R., Wood, M., & Previte, J. (2016). A services approach to social marketing. In Looking Forward, Looking Back: Drawing on the Past to Shape the Future of Marketing (pp. 330-330). Springer International Publishing.

Storbacka, K., Nenonen, S., & Brodie, R. J. (2016). Forum for markets and marketing as a context for collaborative theorizing. Marketing Theory, 16(2), 257-260.

Vallet-Bellmunt, T., Rivera-Torres, P., Vallet-Bellmunt, I., & Vallet-Bellmunt, A. (2017). cooperative learning, perceived learning and academic achievement in teaching marketing. educacion xx1, 20(1), 277-297.

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