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UNIVERSITY AND PLACE BRANDING: THE CASE OF UNIVERSITIES LOCATED IN ECC (EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE)
Abstract and Figures
In the globalising landscape of higher education more and more universities are going international. These
universities are facing growing competition, especially in enrolling international students. International
competition forces them to use marketing and especially branding activity. University branding requires
that the higher education institutions clearly define their differentiating features. One of the most important
differentiating features is the place where the institution is located. University and place branding
should work together to help the potential students in their decisions to choose the place of their study.
The ECC (European Capital of Culture) program which started in 1985 has helped many cities to identify
their values and to develop their place branding activities. The study examines how the European Capital
of Culture designation of the city helped the marketing activities of the universities located in these cities.
The study attempts to explore to what extent universities located in ECCs used this special feature of their
cities in their international marketing communication. The paper also attempts to analyse the effects the
European Capital of Culture title could have on the international student enrolment activity of the concerned
universities.
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... Many universities today use integrated branding and collaborate with the city in order to promote themselves. While studying the role of the city in the choice of foreign students to study at University of Pecs, Rekettye and Pozsgai, found that among the factors that influenced their decision was the attractiveness of the city, and concluded that it essential for the university and the city to communicate, to promote each other, and to work together more efficiently, that cities who want to be seen as educational centers must meet the needs of prospective foreign students, and that such collaboration may positively affect the recruitment process [23]. Even more, the researchers also pointed that a relationship between higher education institutions and cities can be seen in the case of universities that integrate into their name, the name of the city they are part of: University of Cambridge, University of Chicago, Princeton University [23]. ...
... While studying the role of the city in the choice of foreign students to study at University of Pecs, Rekettye and Pozsgai, found that among the factors that influenced their decision was the attractiveness of the city, and concluded that it essential for the university and the city to communicate, to promote each other, and to work together more efficiently, that cities who want to be seen as educational centers must meet the needs of prospective foreign students, and that such collaboration may positively affect the recruitment process [23]. Even more, the researchers also pointed that a relationship between higher education institutions and cities can be seen in the case of universities that integrate into their name, the name of the city they are part of: University of Cambridge, University of Chicago, Princeton University [23]. ...
Nowadays the process of branding has extended and it can be applied to cities and universities. In this regard, a university, along with other cultural institutions, such as museums, can contribute to building the city brand. The purpose of this paper is to promote Transilvania University of Brasov in correlation with the History Museum, integrating into the city brand this institutions, that will become in this regard, brand ambassadors of Brasov. In this way, considering theoretical aspects about cultural, city and university branding, firstly the paper presents an analysis of the current way of communication between Transilvania University of Brasov and the History Museum. Further, taking into consideration the results we propose a model of an integrated promotion campaign in which we emphasize and provide examples of tactics and strategies that the university and the museum should use, in order to send a unitary message about the city, and become brand ambassadors of the city.
... The image of the institutional region extends to other aspects of image perception as well. Rekettye and Pozsgai (2015) found that region and its associated culture are potentially mediating factors for student enrollment, specifically when considering its impact on the perceived student degree attainment and experiences. Building from local levels, national culture plays an essential role in international students' decision-making process, which institutions need to digitally represent to foster awareness (Bamberger et al., 2020). ...
Guided by The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), the primary objective of this study was to gain insight into higher education online branding. An integrated mixed-method synthesis was used to summarize 76 qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method, peer-reviewed empirical studies from 2011 to 2021. The Vision-Culture-Image Alignment Model and Twelve Categories of Determinants of Selective Reporting were recruited to limit and outline potential bias and conflicts. The results reflect insights from over 100 countries, 2,400 institutions, 13,000 participants, 800 websites, and seven social media platforms. This review indicated that institutional brands often align with history, geography, and employment industries. While institutions have scaffolded digital technologies to extend their ability to connect, they often rely on low-engagement activities rooted in broadcasting information. Students, in turn, seek out institutionally-mediated technology to gain personalized insights into technological capability and culture. They also connect online to form subcultures more readily, and enhance their educational experience.
... The author considers the congruence between city branding and higher education branding influenced by internationalized pressures. Again, Rekettye and Pozsgai (2015) define one of the critical differentiating features of ECC (European Capital of Culture) universities is the place which is the antecedent of their cooperation with the host city in branding. The authors mention the fact that the name of places contained in some best universities name (Massachusetts, Cambridge, London, Oxford, Chicago, and Princeton, California) as co-branding or cross-marketing. ...
With the internationalization of the knowledge-based economy, universities in Vietnam confront the pressure of stronger cooperation with their host localities. At the same time, cities also need resources from universities to develop sustainably and attract critical stakeholders. Many Vietnam cities have been branding themselves as destinations for investment, tourism, living, but not for education yet. Hence, this study approaches Vietnam universities as the prospect agents for place branding in the context that localities have been struggling with defining proper images to promote. By analyzing secondary data from the top twenty Vietnam universities qualitatively, the research considers the role of universities in Vietnam in city branding at three levels. Although cooperations between universities and cities still are limited, the findings show similar characteristics to the world trend. Notably, Celebrity that comes from universities appears as a new element of city identity. Being the first one in city branding concerning universities' role in Vietnam, this research contributes not only in literature but also in practice in place branding. Additionally, it gives some implications for management and further research.
... University branding requires that the higher education institutions clearly define their differentiating features." (Rekettye & Pozsgai, 2014) Those differentiating features make marketing activities important, because one thing is to define and stand competitive sides and features of the university out, and another, to deliver this information to the potential customers, i.e. future or existing students. However, Srinivas states, that the importance of branding emanates from the fact that exactly brand recognition is valuable factor in the process of choosing service (Srinivas, 2012). ...
One form of city marketing that is currently developing is the provision of city image or city branding. Brands can have 6 levels of understanding namely attributes, benefits, cultural values, personality, and users. Cultural values are very different, especially around socially embedded issues such as status, gender, family, ethics, and customs. City branding helps influence "transfer of value" by establishing a relationship between what culture sees as a desired city and a particular product. This research is a study of the city branding of Padang city or a brand that is considered to belong to Padang City, namely "Padang Your Motherland", "Serenity of Minangkabau", and "Padang Taste". To what extent does three brand of padang city influence consumer awareness of the values of Minangkabau culture that is dominantly adopted by the people of Padang City? Semiotic analysis and personal interviews were used to answer this research question. Some consumers are less aware of the commercial objectives of these three city branding. They don't seem to know much about the intentions of city branding makers "to play with their consciousness".
Researchers and educators have argued that successful intercultural communication requires individuals to possess intercultural communicative competence (ICC). These individuals have the mindset, flexibility and cognitive skills to construct meaning for understanding other and self. However, a popular question is how can foreign language educators effectively develop the ICC of students within the classroom? To answer this question, this paper will introduce the Ideal Intercultural Self (IIS), a unique concept and framework developed by the authors of this paper. This framework was created from ICC research and recent developments in L2 motivation. It approaches intercultural development as an individual endeavor that requires learners to create and set their own intercultural aims and hopes. Achievement relies on the learner’s ability to close the gap between their present self and future IIS. To test this theory, the framework was used to develop and teach an intercultural training program at a Japanese university. This paper will present the theories, findings and limitations of using the IIS framework as a practical way for educators to develop the ICC of university students
This chapter discusses the driving forces of international students in pursuing higher education (HE) in Hungary, where enrolling degree-seeking international students has a 30-year-long tradition and internationalization has become one of the most crucial aspects of the institutional strategies. . Like many other European countries, Hungary is facing a significant decline in domestic student enrollment across universities. To cope with funding pressures in HE, Hungary has decided to increase its international student enrollment to offset the domestic decline. In order to ascertain key determinants of international student choice of Hungarian HE, three separate surveys were conducted with respect to international student recruitment agencies, international students and exchange students. For most international students, the determining factors for choosing a host country and university are the value of the earned degree, academic quality and university reputation .
This bibliography includes a list of articles, books, and reports published on international students/cross cultural studies. There are more than a 72-page worth of references on this particular student population published in a variety of journals, newsletters, and books.
This article examines the development of university identity within and between the language of higher education policy and the marketing activities of universities. Empirical material gathered from a three and a half-year ethnographic study illustrates how the language of marketing activity appeals to diverse audiences and how this activity connects to higher education policy. Drawing upon analytical concepts derived from Laclau and Mouffe (Laclau E. Mouffe C. Hegemony and socialist strategy: towards a radical democratic politics. London: Verso, 1985.) and Laclau (Laclau E. Emancipation(s). London: Verso, 1996., Laclau E. Constructing universality. In: Butler J. Laclau E. Žižek S., editors. Contingency, hegemony, universality: contemporary dialogues on the left. London: Verso, 2000., Laclau E. On populist reason. London: Verso; 2005.), this article explores how brand identity arises in moments of articulation. With the increasing weight given to vocational relevance in higher education, discourses of policy and university marketing activity give rise to the undecidable university identity.
Purpose
– The purpose of this systematic review was to explore the nature of the marketing of higher education (HE) and universities in an international context. The objectives of the review were to: systematically collect, document, scrutinise and critically analyse the current research literature on supply‐side higher education marketing; establish the scope of higher education marketing; identify gaps in the research literature; and make recommendations for further research in this field.
Design/methodology/approach
– The approach for this study entailed extensive searches of relevant business management and education databases. The intention was to ensure that, as far as possible, all literature in the field was identified – while keeping the focus on literature of greatest pertinence to the research questions.
Findings
– The paper finds that potential benefits of applying marketing theories and concepts that have been effective in the business world are gradually being recognised by researchers in the field of HE marketing. However, the literature on HE marketing is incoherent, even inchoate, and lacks theoretical models that reflect upon the particular context of HE and the nature of their services.
Research limitations/implications
– The research field of HE marketing is still at a relatively pioneer stage with much research still to be carried out both from a problem identification and strategic perspective.
Originality/value
– Despite the substantial literature on the marketisation of HE and consumer behaviour, scholarship to provide evidence of the marketing strategies that have been implemented by HE institutions on the supply‐side remains limited, and this is relatively uncharted territory. This paper reviews the literature in the field, focusing on marketing strategies in the rapidly developing HE international market.
Place branding brings together a range of existing specialisms, in particular those of brand management and development policy, to create a new discipline with equal emphasis on visionary strategy and hands-on implementation.1 Furthermore, Place branding ensures that the place gets due credit for its real strengths and positive behaviour, and that the place brand gains appropriate equity from the recognition, which that behaviour deserves.
Previous research has found that the country and institution choices of international students are greatly influenced by recommendations they receive from others who have experience of undertaking higher education overseas. For Western universities, it is of utmost importance to satisfy their international students, who can then encourage the next generation of international students to attend those same institutions. However, student satisfaction is not the only factor at play. Using a framework of ‘push and pull’ factors, rooted in the international student choice literature, this exploratory study investigates the determinants of destination choice of international students who decided to study at a university in the UK and examines their attitudes toward international branch campuses. The survey results and analyses suggest that overseas campuses could pose a considerable threat to home campuses in the competition for international students in the future.
This paper will explore the politics of waterfront development as it emerged around Cork’s preparation and tenure of the 2005 European Capital of Culture. Many cities in recent decades have encouraged the cultural sectors and the arts as a pathway for urban regeneration. As this strategy unfolded in Cork, the festival enabled new modes of urban entrepreneurial governance to be practiced and new visions of the city projected. Informed by current debates on neo-liberal urban strategies in North American and European cities, the paper explores how these urban strategies were articulated by elite actors, who attempted to appropriate the European Capital of Culture event to support their growth plans for the city, and the docklands in particular. The paper then considers how this pro-growth urban imaginary was contested as it clashed with the experience and expectations of the local arts scene. We argue that an exploration of the strategies for the dockland and the 2005 European Capital of Culture event offers us a way into understanding how economy and culture are inscribed upon the Irish urban landscape.
“Create an image for your company or your competitors will do it for you.” In the higher education sector this statement by Keever is equally true; as competition for students increases and funding decreases universities and technikons need to create and maintain a distinctive image in the market place. Higher education institutions are becoming increasingly aggressive in their marketing activities to convey an image that is favourable to their public, be they prospective students, employers, funders etc. Investigates how marketing is used to convey higher education institution type image in the UK and South Africa. Using correspondence analysis, shows the unique positionings that have been created by the old UK universities, the new UK universities, South African universities and technikons. Also identifies which marketing tools these institution types use in conveying their institutional image.
The artistic and cultural activities have not only a key cultural and social value, but also an undeniable economic impact. Indeed, it is a fact that the cultural sector represents a productive branch which is growing in importance. The cultural factor is frequently used as a key element for regional and/or economic development. In this vein, this article aims to estimate the economic impact of Salamanca 2002 as the European Capital of Culture, using the methodology provided by the impact studies in two stages: first, through estimating private spending generated by the event's cultural tourism; and second, through calculating the overall economic impact, including the private spending on cultural consumption, public spending directly related to the cultural programme, investment in new equipment and facilities, along with the estimate of the multiplying effects on the overall regional and national economies.
International education has been compared with other globally marketed goods and services such as soft drinks and hamburgers: a reliable product conforming to consistent quality standards throughout the world. This article explores the issues of international education, globalization and product branding, and examines the extent to which it may be claimed that international schools constitute a network of independent franchised distributors of globally branded international education products and services. The concept of branding and the implications of global branding are also discussed.
Purpose
– This paper analyses the strategic intent behind the University of Warwick's corporate identity (CI) programme by using the four components of the corporate identity model developed by Melewar and Jenkins.
Design/methodology/approach
– Information gathered from the interview with Ian Rowley, Director of Communication at the University of Warwick, is presented in support of the arguments. In addition, the paper refers to two further documents: “University of Warwick: Reputation Audit” and “The Corporate Identity Guide”.
Findings
– Warwick's new CI is the reflection of the new management strategy which is the move from a decentralised towards a more centralised management style. In this respect the changes at Warwick represent not a one‐dimensional perspective to CI but rather the first step of an evolving CI programme.
Originality/value
– Application of the Melewar and Jenkins identity model in the context of a higher education sector.