Strategic marketing in a changing environment ‐ are the new UK universities in danger of being “stuck in the middle”?

Abstract

With the recent publication of the UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) results, the issue of an institution’s scholarly reputation looks set to play an increasingly important role in the fortunes of many higher education institutions. While the conditions of the early 1990s benefited many of the former polytechnics, the future environment would seem less favourable. Inter alia there is the issue of the concomitant increase/decrease in research funding following the RAE. Many of the new UK universities have performed less well on the RAE which has a number of financial implications. This paper presents some exploratory work into sixth‐formers’ perceptions regarding the former polytechnics’ change in status. Although more able students are still opting for traditional universities, young people generally support the practice of a unitary system and are ignorant of the research differences. The paper concludes by presenting some ideas as to how the new universities might seek to position themselves in order to attract successive generations of students.

Citation

Julia Bakewell, C. and Gibson‐Sweet, M.F. (1998), "Strategic marketing in a changing environment ‐ are the new UK universities in danger of being “stuck in the middle”?", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 108-113. https://doi.org/10.1108/09513549810209095