Marketing Essay For University Of Fujairah." (46 Characters)

You are directed to write the assignment number 3 according to the following criterions:                                               

Provide a Title Page (Students’ Name, ID Number, Course Name/Code, Faculty Name)

Submit both a soft copy via Moodle and a hard copy to the instructor.

Please return to the course syllabus to get more information about the assignment.

This assignment worth %25 of the total marks.

This assignment is prepared to meet the course learning objective number one, two, three and four as explained in the assessment instruments and CLO mapping.

The plan should be in 10 - 12 pages (A4) with one space and Times Romans.

20% and above hits in the plagiarism report would mean non-credit for assignment submission.

The templates to be followed are given and explain in the class and intensively in chapter (2) Developing Marketing Strategies and Plans.

The report must show student’s analytical skills and his/her ability to evaluate and provide market SWOT analysis, assessing growth opportunities, goal formulation and strategic formulation.

SWOT Analysis of the University of Fujairah

UOF or the University of Fujairah was founded as Fujairah College and received the license of institutionalization in 2006. The month of September saw the university offering two associate degree programs in the areas of business administration and information technology. It was the year 2016, when the accreditation body (CAA-MOHESR) granted the university license to elevate the status as a higher learning institute and provide higher education program amongst the students and citizen of Fujairah(Ahmed, 2016). The university soon after getting the accreditation, started working towards its 5 year strategic plan (2016-20), all the objectives identified in the plan were pointed in the direction of maximizing the usage of technology to provide good quality education opportunity for every student in the region. The university offer following courses as part of its curriculum; Business administration, Information technology, Mass communication and Public relation, Arts, social sciences and humanities and General education. Saed Ben Muhammad Al-Raqabani sits on the chair and is determined to improve the standard of education in the city of Fujairah (Salloum, Al-Emran & Shaalan, 2017).

The purpose of the report here is to create a marketing plan for the sustainable growth of the University of Fujairah, conducting a SWOT analysis, understanding the potential for growth, goal formulation and strategic formulation. The report will also include financial projection of the university for the year 2018-22, marketing strategy and tactics to attain the defined objectives for the university.

Fujairah is one of the seven Emirates which constitutes the UAE, and is the only Emirates which has a coastline only on the Gulf of Oman and none on the Persian Gulf.  The Emirate covers 1.5% of the area of the UAE and has a population of around 200,100 people. Educations have been identified as the top priority by the government for building the future and ensure the sustained prosperity of Fujairah. The Emirate offers a superior learning environment with leading academic institutions and training facilities (Al-Emran & Salloum, 2017).

Situational analysis is a collection of method which the authorities use to analyse the organization’s internal and external environment to understand the capabilities of the organization, its customers and the surrounding business environment. The decision making process which is a part of situational analysis is the SWOT analysis (Clarke, Friese & Washburn, 2015).

SWOT analysis is a very fundamental framework which is used in analysing the internal business environment. The analysis focuses on the strength and weakness which are internal to the organization and opportunities and threats which are external to the organization (Upadhayay & Vrat, 2017).

Situational Analysis

Strength

• Focuses on the advantages of the organization
• What the organization does better than anyone else
• What is the Unique selling point of the organization
• What makes people buy your product/service (Barnawi, 2017).

Weakness

• What can be improved
• What can be avoided
• What are the reasons to lose the sale (Mansour & Kanso, 2017).

Opportunities

• What are the trends which can shoot the business
• Changes in technology
• Changes in the government policy (Gupta & Mishra, 2016).

Threats

• Obstacles the organization face
• Competitors positioning
• Bad debt or cash flow trouble (Natarajan, 2015).
• Is Changing technology threatening the position of the organization?

Based on all these factors, the SWOT of Fujairah can be illustrated as:

The situational analysis can be evaluated by the following points:

• University has almost all the modernised infrastructure and technology which is needed in the present world
• The courses adopted by the university are the most popular courses.
• Growing competition from: Ajman University, Higher college of Technology and Institute of applied technology
• Political instability is a cause of concern
• Strong government support to the universities in the Emirate to increase the standard of education to meet the standards of western countries.

 

In some earlier reports published in the daily news of UAE, it was mentioned that the quality of education in the UAE region is highly debatable, despite of tough legal regulations on the education bodies. The quality of graduates passing out from the universities is a source of major concern, another major concern being the type of courses offered by institutes in the region. All these aspects point out in the direction of strong growth opportunities of education for the Fujairah University. The opportunity can be further categorized in the following section:

Infrastructure facilities	Develop state of the art infrastructure to attract the national and international student
Usage of Technology	SMART classrooms have eliminated the traditional white board or the projector slides study methods. The present technology is SMART classroom.
Marketing	Not much has been done yet in the marketing department to increase awareness among the student in the area
Introduction to new courses	Courses like healthcare, nursing, Mass communication, Biotechnology, Digital learning are very less spread across the Emirate. Although, the potential for such courses is huge, globally. The university should cater to these courses to boast its diversity if courses and also the student strength.
Government support	The government of Fujairah has put on priority the improvement of the education system in the Emirate, which is definitely a growth opportunity for Fujairah.
Quality of the programs and changing Perception	The quality of programs and module in the advanced courses is still no match to the western and the eastern countries. A number of areas for the improvement can be identified and the university has to work upon them to align the course objectives with the present world scenario.

Marketing strategy in the simplest of the terms can be understood as the plan to get more business on the board. It is an organization’s future looking approach to ensure business sustainability. In order to create a marketing strategy, what is essential to understand is the market in which the organization is operating, and then comes the target market, competitors and other factors which might impact the organization in reaching its end objectives (Kotler, 2015).

A clearly sought marketing strategy is an accumulation of the elements of marketing mix, also called as the 4P’s of marketing.

Product- The product organization wants to introduce to its target market or its audience (Baker, 2014).

Price- The kind of pricing an organization adopts to in order to achieve its desired goals and objectives (Ryan, 2016).

Place- The place of service delivery or product location of the organization (Natarajan, 2015).

Promotion- The promotional methods used to create brand awareness and increased the business for the organization (Johnson, 2016).

Product	Offer course in · Business administration · Information technology · Mass communication and Public relation · Arts, social sciences and humanities · General Education
Price	Depends for domestic and international student and also on the basis of course adopted. Undergraduates Local Student- (3,700-5500 Euros) International student-(5000-7500 Euros) Postgraduates Local Students- (7400-9200 Euros) International student- (7400-9200 Euros)
Place	University of Fujairah campus
Promotion	Social media marketing, Educational websites, Daily News.

Every organization in existence requires creating goals for it to ensure the attainability of the goals and have a clear focus of accomplishing the goals. The goals and the objectives have to be aligned with the marketing strategy of the organization to ensure the attainment of the goals. SMART goal framework is a revolutionary connect which the organization in the present days are using to define their goals.  SMART goals help to get clarity of idea, have a clear focus, resource implication, based on a timeline and how to use the resources productively (Hwang, 2014). The mnemonic SMART stands for the following:

S-Specific (The goals have to be highly specific else the purpose or the focus gets lost in the journey). The five W have to be answered while creating the goals

• What has to be accomplished
• Why is the goal important
• Who all are involved
• Where is it located
• Which resources or limits are involved (Burton & Lawrence, 2017).

Marketing Strategy

M-Measurable (The importance of measurable goals lies in tracking the progress of the goals). The following questions have to be answered while creating goals:

• How much
• How many
• How will I know my goals are accomplished (Leem & Lee, 2018).

A-Achievable (The goal has to be realistic and attainable in order to be successful). The following questions have to be answered:

• How can the goal be accomplished
• How realistic the goal is (David, 2016).

R-Relevant (The goal has to be relevant to the organization and should drive the organization forward). The following questions have to be answered while creating goals:

• Is the goal worthwhile
• Is this the right time for the goal
• Does the goal match the effort or the need of the organization
• Is the goal applicable in the present socio-economic environment

T- Time based (Every goal has to be attached with time, else the goal is kept on a limbo)

Specific	· Facilitate a neat structured Smart learning program. · Enhance the professional qualification of the staff and the students. · Increase the efficiency in campus operations · Increase the number of students to 2X · Increasing the communication and engagement around the institution · Foster innovation in the campus · Usage of advanced technology to impart learning. · Training facilities to the students · Update and enrol the University for Courses in Healthcare, nursing, hotel management, advertising and digital media.
Measurable	The above mentioned goals can be measured by: · Number of students enquired and enrolled for the courses. · Enquiries for college admission · Efficiency of the SMART learning programs · Actual innovation at the centre · Evaluation of the staff and the students according to the specific training imparted to them
Attainable	The goals are attainable in accordance with the market environment and the coordinating government policies.
Realistic	The goals are highly realistic and the university’s agenda is the attainment of these strategic objectives in the duration of (2016-2020)
Time based	3 years

The goals are set in accordance with the Strategic goals the university has defined for itself; the attainment of the goals is beneficial for the Emirate as well for the development of the education in the area. The quality of the graduate student passing will further define the effectiveness and efficiency of the institute to impart the education.

A marketing plan can be understood as a document which in all comprehensiveness explains the steps or the promotional activities the organization will conduct in order to attain the objectives mentioned above. The marketing plan for the university is as follows:

Online	The generation of millennial (1981-1991) is the most technologically advanced generation of our times. Targeting these millennial who can consumer information on the go is very tricky state. The following strategy have to be implemented to increase the awareness about the university: · Promotion of the university on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and educational websites. · Promotion of the university to domestic and international student · Organic content to be pushed to both the domestic and international students via social media. · Student profiling through big data analytics and putting them on an e-mail blast list. · Starting conversation on the social media platform about the courses university is offering and engages the students with the content. · Promotional campaigns or discount offered to early bird registration · Blogging about the university by the Alumni association of the university. · Upload a video of the infrastructure facilities, classroom infrastructure, the campus, the alumni and the mission and vision of the university on YouTube.
Offline	Promotion on TV, newspaper, Magazines and circulation of college magazine among the local student. Start a referral program for the students to give the leads on interested students. Offering scholarship program to both domestic and international students. Create a program with a reach to international students on the benefits of studying in the university. Visit nearby schools and promote the university in classes 10-12th.
Billboard	Promote the university by acquiring billboards in and around the Emirate
Mobile Marketing	Increased smartphone penetration has helped to target the students on the go. Thus the university to show the ads of the university to the students on their mobile phones
Promotional material	Brochures, catalogues, industry accreditation, placements, companies enrolled with the university and many more such documents have to be freely circulated amongst the domestic students of the Emirates.

The above marketing plan will ensure the increase in the number of students in the university, comprising of both the domestic and international students. The plan will help in creating awareness about the university in the nearby countries. It is often seen that Indian families migrate to UAE for work purposes, and most of the times they accompany their family. Hence, Indian students can become ideal target audience for the university courses. Also, the mass promotion of the university, its facilities, and its advanced technology classrooms will drive a sense of curiosity among the students and parents to visit the campus, where they can be retained by showing the positive history of the university.

It is a set of strategic methods which are used to promote the goods and services of the business with the single aim of increasing the profitability and maintaining a competitive edge over its competitors. In this particular case, the marketing tactic has to be used to attract the education to have an experience of a world class education facility which will help in shaping their career and ensure a successful future filled with knowledge, learning and growth. Some of the tactics which can be used in the case of University are:

Not limiting the promotion to only organic, but doing a lot of inorganic promotion on social media and online channels. Offline channels have to be given equal importance because of the popularity of TV in the Emirate.

SMART Goals for the University of Fujairah

The university should not lose on any opportunity where it can go out in the open and promote itself. It has to leverage the opportunity given in other Emirates university and sponsor their college fests to have a real time interaction with the students.

Creating testimonials for the promotion of the university by the Alumni and showcase their track record since its inception.

The engagement is a metric for digital media promotion; the university has to do consistent social listening to understand the sentiments of the students and what students are talking about them on the web. This will help them to identify the areas of improvement and address the concern of the students then and there.

University of Fujairah
Profit & Loss Statement
Particulars	Amount ($)	Amount ($)	Amount ($)	Amount ($)	Amount ($)
	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Income
Tuition fees	171337500	191898000	220682700	253785105	284239317.6
Funding body grants	40,700,000	40,900,000	50,000,000	50,300,000	50,500,000
Research grants	52,100,000	50,000,000	48,000,000	46,000,000	45,000,000
Donations	1,180,000	4,420,000	5,510,000	5,950,000	6,200,000
Other Income	48,300,000	48,500,000	48,200,000	47,900,000	47,500,000
Total Income	313617500	335718000	372392700	403935105	433439317.6
Expenditures
Staff salary	110,250,000	118,000,000	125,000,000	132,000,000	140,000,000
Depreciation	15,450,000	16,200,000	16,900,000	17,000,000	17,500,000
Other operating expenses	98,650,000	105,900,000	107,100,000	110,000,000	112,000,000
Finance costs	7,050,000	1,600,000	1,300,000	1,250,000	1,000,000
Total Expenses	231,400,000	241,700,000	250,300,000	260,250,000	270,500,000
Earnings before tax	82,217,500	94,018,000	122,092,700	143,685,105	162,939,318
Taxation	150,000	155,000	190,000	200,000	215,000
Net income for the year	82,067,500	93,863,000	121,902,700	143,485,105	162724318

University of Fujairah
Balance Sheet
Particulars	Amount (€)	Amount (€)	Amount (€)	Amount (€)	Amount (€)
Assets	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Current Assets
Trade receivables	31,400,000	30,100,000	30,000,000	29,800,000	29,500,000
Cash	40,500,000	35,200,000	35,000,000	34,800,000	34,500,000
Other assets	40,302,500	81,029,000	43,952,700	54,834,205	49,724,318
Non-current assets
Fixed Assets	320,865,000	274,314,000	315,800,000	319,800,900	322,000,000
Other assets	4,000,000	6,220,000	7,150,000	7,250,000	8,000,000
Total Assets	437,067,500	426,863,000	431,902,700	446,485,105	443,724,318
Liabilities
Current Liabilities
Creditors	105,000,000	103,000,000	100,000,000	98,000,000	96,000,000
Provisions	80,000,000	70,000,000	60,000,000	50,000,000	40,000,000
Non-current liabilities	170,000,000	160,000,000	150,000,000	155,000,000	145,000,000
Total Liabilities	355,000,000	333,000,000	310,000,000	303,000,000	281,000,000
Equity	82067500	93863000	121902700	143485105	162724318
Total Liabilities & Equity	437,067,500	426,863,000	431,902,700	446,485,105	443724318

It is a process which ensures the achievement of the strategic objectives of the company. A set of metric has to be defined to identify the check points in the road to achievement of the goals. First and foremost a committee to be formed to monitor the development and track the success of the online and offline marketing plan

Online	Monitor the traffic on the website. Monitor the engagement and conversation around the university. Understand the online behaviour of the engaged audience for better targeting of the promotional materials. Monitor the delivery of impressions, bounce rate, CTR.
Offline	Track the data of the enquiries pouring in from the city. Tracking the enquiries pouring from out of the city. Develop plan for new found territory for business promotion
Billboard	Ensure that the billboards have the same targeted message as agreed upon. Ensure that the billboards are assigned as per the location requested.

 

Conclusion

University of Fujairah was founded in the year 2006; it was the year 2016 when the university got the accreditation from the governing body to develop infrastructure and work towards providing higher studies to the students of the Emirates as well to promote the university across the globe. The idea here is to market the university to the Emirate and the outside world, people are really not aware of the courses being offered at the University. Therefore using the contemporary tools of marketing, which is web promotion, online promotion, social media promotion, Blogging and SEO/SEM, the university has to create the buzzword about higher studies to people across the globe. The marketing plan will ensure the success of the goals of the university.

References

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