CQ University: Essay On Courses, Branding, And Marketing Strategies.

History and current position of CQ University in Australia

CQ University is one of the best universities in Australia. It started its campaigning in Queensland with just a small space of area and only approximately 71 students. However, with gradual development in and inception of strategies, it went on winning the hearts. The University, which once started with only 71 students, it has now become one of the top universities in Australia. As per the repost of Australian Bureau of Statistics, the university is currently standing on the 23^rd position in terms of top universities in Australia. The main purpose of the assignment is to check the competitiveness of the university in terms of marketing of its products or services, brand value and interest level of students (Cqu.edu.au, 2017).

The way in which CQ presents its brand value and capabilities is influencing the world across the globe. This is because of the fact that most of the students are potential lovers of the university. The branding of the university with the use of logo and uniforms, it has transformed the hard bit of life into its favour. The marketing director of the university has all the responsibilities from marketing of the products or services, to the recruitment of students, promotional stunts, online promotion and design of corporate materials. The marketing director has also the responsibilities to ensure the ethical standard of the marketing strategies. CQ University is amongst the top most choices for the international students. The university is currently standing at the 23^rd position in the list of top universities in Australia. The university has a good grip on the market, as many domestic and international students prefer this university. With an intention to influence the world of education, the university has succeeded in making an impression. However, it is still far way from its inspired destination, which is to become the top choices for both the domestic and the international students (Crouch & Housden, 2012).

As far as demand is concerned, the University has been successful in attracting both the domestic and international students. However, it is behind to some universities in terms of attracting the international students such as Griffith University of Victoria. The university has achieved its one of the biggest achievement in the year 2014 when it won the status of dual sector. It can now provide education and the vocational training at the same place. This was something of its kinds, which gave the university a big boost ad placement in the eyes of world education. It has still a long way to go to become the most favourite destination for educational lovers from across the globe (Lantos, 2015).

CQ University's branding and marketing strategies

The target market of the university is the students of both the domestic and the international countries. However, the university has strong bonding with the feeling for Queensland. The university wants to inspire all the people living in Queensland. Apart from this, online students are also the target market, which it achieves by reaching to them through the medium of online platform (Simons, 2013).

Product – The university has a very good mixing of the courses. It tries to attract students with its varied thinking on flexible kinds of studying. Those who are studying in this university have their full rights to avail some other courses in the partner institutes of the CQ University. The best part of this offering is the flexibility and time effective factor, which is very vital for the students especially to the international students. The student can avail other courses of one year and at the same time; they would be able to save their precious time. It could have never been possible by opting to those courses after the completion of university (De Mooij, 2013).

Distribution – The management of study and courses are made possible by building a partnership relation with some other universities. Those partner universities provide collaborative study options to the students, which indeed saves the time. Merger is another approach, which the CQ University opts for its expansion into some other parts of Australia. This was one of the reasons behind the success of the university. The University had once started as a small study centre but with the passage of time, it has now become metropolitan university in major cities of Australia (Armstrong et al., 2014).

Price – The fees structure for Science, Arts and Education subjects are comparatively higher than other top universities of Australia. However, cost of living in some of the major cities of Australia is comparatively lower than most parts of world (Shimp & Andrews, 2012).

Promotion – The University is engaged in several kinds of promotional stunts such as their brand logo, logo on the university uniforms, online promotion of courses, social media platforms and varied range of course offerings with flexibility for the dual courses together (Simons, 2013).

Political – The political condition of Australia is very stable. It is not like some other countries such as India where political agenda does also interferer illegally in education (Czinkota & Ronkainen, 2013).

Economy – The economy of Australia is one of the strongest in the world. At present, it is even ahead of UK, Germany and France in terms of economy. This one factor makes Australia a suitable destination for educational purposes. Most international students do part time jobs alongside their education to give them a financial support and reduce the burden from family. The high-level of economy in the country is a good sign for those students, as they would easily get some part time jobs (Wilson & Gilligan, 2012).

Analysis of CQ University's product, distribution, price, and promotion

Social – The social condition of the country is not that stable. This is because of the fact that in Australia, racism is at peak height. The Australians hate many Asian people such as those who are from India and Pakistan. The one instance of racism with the Srilanka legendary bowler Muttaiah Murlidharan can never be forgotten. It becomes little difficult in those situations to cope up with such environment (Foxall, 2014).

Technological – The country is very advance in technological perspectives. This is because of the fact that the country is cheaper than those countries that has big stature in the world of economy.

The political, technological and economy of the country is very favourable for the international students to afford the processing their degree courses in this country. However, the racism is a concern especially to the students those who have come only for the sake of study (Lee & Carter, 2012).

The CQ University is behind to many universities in Australia; however, the closest fight if the University is with Deakin University. The Deakin University has more number of students than the CQ University. The numbers of students are equal to approximately 50,644. It is one of the fastest growing research universities in Australia (Lee & Carter, 2012).

Strengths – One of the strengths of the CQ University is their reputation of having Dual sectors in most of the places, which offers both the education and the vocational training. Apart from that, the flexibility program of the University that enables its students for having dual mode of education within the same duration. It is also helpful in saving the time, as students are no longer required to wait for the completion of the University studies for the enrolment into the desired courses (Foxall, 2014).

Weaknesses – The management of the University is not up to the standard level as it has faced some criticism for this in the past. Due to incapable management system and the irresponsive grading system, the University became responsible for the failure of majority of students in the post Graduate Courses (Simons, 2013).

Opportunities – The growing economy of the country and the lesser expensive cost of living in Australia are two most important factors, which are giving enough of spaces to irrespective kinds of universities for having their full fledge growth in the market. However, CQ University needs to capitalize on the chances created, which it lacked in past to some amount (Simons, 2013).

Threats – The University has no such potential threats from other universities. It would rather be fare enough to say that the Company is in competition with its closest competitors to move up the ladder of top universities in Australia. The competition is only for becoming the top aspiring universities for the students of both the domestic and the international world.

The CQ University has numerous opportunities to grab on the chances created by a healthy economy growth in Australia. However, the University is challenged for acquiring the top 10 position in the list of top universities in Australia (Foxall, 2014).

They position their branding by using a logo, which is very well developed. In addition to this, the logo is also stamped on the uniforms for the students. For branding the image of the University, it take use of the merger process that it does with some other universities to acquire a new recognition (Simons, 2013).

Conclusion

The CQ University is well versed with numerous kinds of courses. Apart from all the courses, it also provides a chance to the students for their enrolment into some other partner university.  Those Partners University offers some short-term courses for which students are need to wait for the completion of heir University studies. The University is a good choice for both the domestic and the international students.

References

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

Cqu.edu.au. 2017. About CQUniversity - CQU. [online] Available at: https://www.cqu.edu.au/about-us/about-cquniversity [Accessed 12 Apr. 2017].

Crouch, S., & Housden, M. (2012). Marketing research for managers. Routledge.

Czinkota, M. R., & Ronkainen, I. A. (2013). International marketing. Cengage Learning.

De Mooij, M. (2013). Global marketing and advertising: Understanding cultural paradoxes. Sage Publications.

Foxall, G. (2014). Strategic Marketing Management (RLE Marketing) (Vol. 3). Routledge.

Lantos, G. P. (2015). Consumer behavior in action: Real-life applications for marketing managers. Routledge.

Lee, K., & Carter, S. (2012). Global marketing management. Oxford University Press.

Shimp, T. A., & Andrews, J. C. (2012). Advertising promotion and other aspects of integrated marketing communications. Cengage Learning.

Simons, R. (2013). Levers of control: How managers use innovative control systems to drive strategic renewal. Harvard Business Press.

Simons, R. (2013). Levers of organization design: How managers use accountability systems for greater performance and commitment. Harvard Business Press.

Wilson, R. M., & Gilligan, C. (2012). Strategic marketing management. Routledge.