University Of Queensland (UQ): Premier Educational University In Australia

Question:

Discuss about the Marketing for Managers University of Queensland.

UQ was established in the year 1909 and since then they have strived to provide quality education to the students. University of Queensland (UQ) is the Oldest University of Queensland. It is perceived to be one of the premier educational University in Australia. They have always focused towards the development and building of the career of the folks taking admission into the University. UQ is one of the founding members of the Go8 (Group of 8), a partnership of 8 recognized universities to undergo deep research activities for the betterment of the educational quality. UQ offers variety of programs ranging from Science, Arts to Agriculture etc. UQ does not have much competition in the current scenario. However, there are many other Universities like University of Melbourne, Sydney University which tend to pose the competition in major cities like Sydney, Melbourne etc.

In order to increase its popularity internationally as well as nationally and to improve the strength, the UQ have always tried to streamline their strategies, Management agendas have always been focused more, core competencies have been revisited and many more steps have been taken (Arambewela, 2013). In the following sections, we will analyze the same by conduction marketing and competitor environment analysis to find out the current scenario in and around UQ.

In the rankings provided by the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for all the world Universities, the Unversity of Queesnland (UQ) has been ranked in the top 50. It is a major achievement of the University. The UQ is also ranked in the Top 50s as per the rankings announced by renowned ranking providers like QS World University Rankings, Times Higher Education World University Rankings etc. The University has received lot of appraise for its global research positioning along with the election of several new Fellows in the year 2016. The University have esteemed staffs and fellows who have been elected in several honourary fields one of which is getting the election as the Fellows of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (ASSA). More than 150 staffs of UN and the professors are the members of major Australian Learned Academics some of which are notably ATSE, ASSA, AAS etc. The Demand to get into this University is very high and students dream to be a part of the University. The University is growing at an exponential pace and has set one of best vision and missions as part of their process to achieve the goals.

The Segmentation of the Market in case of Education Universities can be done based on the demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioral types of segmentation. The UQ have carefully analyzed all the segmentation strategies before growing to the mammoth university it is now. They have carried out full-fledged in depth analysis of the markets to be targeted and the way it should be targeted (Fry, 2014). The Demographic segmentation analysis have showed that the UQ should focus more on the student age group starting from lower education till Masters. They should group the various education groups and then focus on marketing the various courses available for those groups intensely. This will help the UQ to gain even more market share in terms of students taking admission in the university. The Segmentation based on behavior, psychographic and geographic are equally important and helps in understanding the areas in which the marketing needs to be done and the ways in which people can be convinced regarding the new courses being offered by the University. After the segmentation is done, the target market will be selected from the list of potential markets where the presence of the University can be broadened (Hollensen, 2015).

Marketing Strategy

The Marketing Mix comprises of Product, Place, Price and Promotion. The UQ offers various courses as detailed in above sections. The University has been offering its courses in various areas within Australia at various price points. There are various ways in which the University is marketing the products i.e., courses which are being offered by them. The current Marketing Mix of the University is robust.

The PEST analysis includes Political, Economic, Social and Technological Analysis. The political analysis of UQ shows that the university has been facing issues sometimes in the way they conduct some educational drives. However, mostly it is being encouraged by everyone. The Economic front tells us that the UQ has been generating good revenues since its inception and has been helping in the development of the country (Pappu, 2017). From social perspective, the UQ is very much active and the network of UQ is expanded to all the other Universities in the country as well as with International Universities. The UQ has always focused on the use of latest technology so that the students and the staff can perform their task productively in lesser time.

The University did not faced any competition in its initial stages when it was established in 1909. However, in the current day situation, there are lot of other universities which provide competition to UQ.  Some established universities like Sydney University, University of Melbourne etc. have also many institutes under University in various places in Australia. They tend to give tough competition to the UQ. The competitors however are unable to give tough competition since the university is very old and has positioned itself in a good manner (Mithas, 2013). The University has always focused towards its core competency. The organization which focuses on its core competency always achieves success.

The Strength of the University is the way it handles the issues that it faces during the implementation of the policies for the betterment of the students. The University tries to bring in new courses so that the students are benefitted with it. It also tries to remain updated with latest technologies.

The Weakness of the University are its students and staff. It always take decision in favour of the student and staff. It is good that it gives priority to its people however, in certain situations it has achieved bad name because of the students but it did not bothered about it (Pappu, 2016).

There are many more courses which are emerging and can present opportunities to the University to increase the number of students. The University will always try to utilize this opportunity so as to increase the number of students who have taken admissions in their institutes.

The upcoming new Universities as well as the well-established Universities like Sydney University, Melbourne University etc. poses a threat for UQ. They need to take proper steps so that they can cope up with the emerging threats and can steer their way towards success.

The UQ have already positioned itself as one of the premier University in Australia. Since it’s a very old University, people know about its popularity and try to get their kids into the Institutes under UQ.  The UQ has become a Brand because of the values it provides to the people and students who study in the University. The University had undergone the Value Chain analysis some years back and on the back of that it had done certain changes (West, 2015). These changes will always help the University and its brand name. The Positioning of the University is done as one of the premier University in Australia. They have always focused towards the development and building of the career of the folks taking admission into the University. UQ is one of the founding members of the Go8 (Group of 8), a partnership of 8 recognized universities to undergo deep research activities for the betterment of the educational quality (Wilden, 2013). Thus, we can see that the Brand Positioning is set for UQ.

Conclusion

In the above sections, we have seen about various analysis done to find out the current position of the University in terms of marketing strategies. The report focused on the Background of the CQ University, its Market Summary, Marketing Mix, Segmentation and Targeting, Competitor Analysis, Brand Positioning etc. in detail (Wu, 2014). All these analysis helped in the understanding of current position of the University and the steps it might have to take to improve further.

References

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