Chapter-5

Comparison of 7 P's of Higher Education

in

India and Abroad:

i

Chapter: 5

Comparison of 7 P’s of Higher Education in India and Abroad:

5.1 Promotion

5.1.1 Some other Promotional Scheme applied by Higher Education

Institutes is

5.1.2 Recent Trends in Student Mobility to and from the United

States Promoting U.S. Higher Education Abroad

5.1.3 Promotion of Higher Education in India

5.2 Physical Evidence

5.3 Process

5.4 People

5.4.1 Who are Teens and College Aged Adults?

5.4.2 The Main Dimensions of Students Expectations

5.5 Place

5.5.1 Social marketing challenge of place 1

5.5.2 Social marketing challenge of place 2

5.5.3 Place in Brief Discussion

5.6 Price

5.6.1 Indian Government’s Role About Finance

5.6.2 Graduate Contribution

5.6.3 Loans and maintenance grants

5.6.4 Part-time students

5.7 Product

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5.1 Promotion

One of the most important marketing components is promotion; promotion stimulates a prospective donor or student to respond in the desired way. Because people respond differently to different stimuli, institutions should rely on more than one promotional vehicle. Effective marketing plans in higher education increasingly incorporate a "promotion mix" including advertising, personal selling, general publicity, and special promotions. Virtually all colleges and universities distribute general publicity such as fact sheets and four-colour glossy brochures. Likewise, institutions often engage the services of articulate and attractive spokespersons that travel the country trying to convince high school students that a particular institution is the best one for them. Many colleges and universities have comprenensive programs that, in addition to brochures and recruiters, utilize promotional devices such as advertisements, videos, slide shows, personal letters, postcards, elaborate follow-up systems, and telemarketing. Computer technology enables institutions to employ a vast network of student, alumni, parent, and donor volunteers to help recruit undergraduates and raise money. In this apparent rush toward Madison Avenue glitz, promotions must be well planned,

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coordinated, and grounded in integrity. Because an institution engages a successful advertising firm to help develop student recruitment materials, the institution should not abdicate responsibility for what those materials say. Promotional packages should portray an accurate picture of the college or university. Nothing damages an institution more than an unhappy customer who believes he or she was cheated or misled

Promotion also means communication between tbs seller and buyer. It includes advertising, public relations, personal selling, publicity, and sales promotions. If one higher education institution wants to enroll more students than other, it will need to use corporate advertising or engage in activities that create a liaison between the students and the institutions. Publicity provides media coverage to the institutions and visibility can create confidence about an institutions reputation and quality perceptions. Students who attained higher scores than others in the university entrance exam are sent brochures and were invited to be the students of Institute. Today, there are number o f private universities with all universities routinely engaged in use of marketing communication to enroll new students. Marketing initiatives include print based products and internet-based advertisements, brochures, and word-of- mouth (WOM) communication. According to Buttle (1998: p. 242) WOM has been shown to influence a variety o f conditions: awareness, expectations, perceptions, attitudes, behavioral intentions and behaviour. Because o f these factors positive WOM may affect the awareness of the private university and this awareness can turn the behavioral intentions o f students. Fairs are also benefited to communicate with the students. Every year education fairs are organized and all universities are represented. In many countries it is also common for higher education institutions to routinely engage in advertising and promotion of particular universities by attending promotional events around the world, and by having a strong internet presence. Where the cost o f registration Is same between universities, the image of the university plays an important role in the process of selecting that university. The image consists of two criteria. One of it is tangible criteria like, academic staff, profile of the graduated, facility o f the university, curriculum, and opportunity for internship etc. Intangible criteria are good or bad experiences about university, negative or positive WOM.

5.1.1 Some other Promotional Seheme applied by Higher Education

Institutes is-

Whatever the quality o f a programme, it is of little value if people do not get to hear about it. Communications have to be designed to convey appropriate messages to prospective customers, to others in the external environment such as the press and government, to internal constituencies such as Board/Council members and to professional and other employees within. The tools available to do this have never been more varied, but cost-effectiveness will undoubtedly be a primary concern and makes choice of the medium of communication and of timing an important task. It is appropriate to emphasize the enormous opportunities of the Internet in this respect. For a business example of success, consider the on-line bookseller Amazon.com which was founded in 1994. Three years afterwards it was the USA’s 3rd biggest bookseller. Just as in other industries, Internet promotions in education provides a special opportunity for smaller players to compete more strongly with the big established organizations which, previously, were the only ones able to afford communication with a

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mass audience. As with other aspects of marketing, research is a key feature to ensure that necessary targeting of promotions is achieved and audience knowledge and behavior subsequently assessed. It is a good idea to visit a higher education fair or event to get information on the universities and higher education colleges you are interested in. At their exhibition stands you can pick up prospectuses and get answers to your questions - on everything from entry requirements to accommodation costs. You can also get careers guidance and information on student finance. Higher education events are held in cities across the country. Admission is free, but you may need to reserve a place in advance. Aside from exhibition stands, there may be seminars on topics such as the application process, gap years and student finance.

Promotion refers to all of the activities that communicate the benefits o f an educational service and that are intended to inform-, remind, or persuade relevant markets about the advantages of purchasing the institution’s educational offerings. One institution might use television advertising to develop name recognition and provide basic information to the marketplace. Another institution might rely on its sales force—more commonly referred to as admission counselors—to make the rounds of high schools across its target marketplace in order to educate potential students about the benefits of attending this particular university. An increasing number of institutions use the Internet to develop one on one, personal communications for prospective students as well as their parents and alumni. Many institutions use every available approach. The key, however, is to ensure that all forms of promotion are fully integrated and harmonized with one another, so they consistently communicate the same core images and core messages.

5.1.2 Recent Trends in Student Mobility to and from the United States

Promoting U.S. Higher Education Abroad:-Reflecting the decentralized system of higher education they represent, a variety of entities

are engaged in the global promotion of over 4,000 U.S. colleges and universities as well as the organization of international programming in U.S. higher education. There is a wide diversity of government agencies, intergovernmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and higher education associations which fund, manage, or cooperate in internationalization efforts to maintain U.S. competitiveness in the global marketplace. The U.S. Department of State sponsors the most extensive public diplomacy programming to promote U.S. higher education and increase international student mobility between the U.S. and other countries through the Fulbright Fellowships for students and scholars, the Gilman Scholarships for study abroad by U.S. undergraduates, and various other targeted programs to promote English language learning abroad as well as the study of foreign languages by U.S. students. For non-sponsored students, it also supports marketing, mobile advising and digital outreach to provide accurate, comprehensive, objective and timely information and guidance about the wide range of educational opportunities at accredited colleges and universities in the United States. The Education USA advising network is made up of over 400 advising centers in 170 countries, supported by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA). Education USA Advisers work in a variety of host institutions, such as Fulbright Commissions, U.S. and local nongovernmental organizations, U.S.

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embassies and consulates, bi-national centers, local universities, and public libraries. Regional Educational Advising Coordinators (REACs) develop and promote the Education USA network in their regions, providing assessment, direction, training and quality con:rol of advising centers. REACs act as a resource on educational systems and exchanges for ECA and the U.S. higher education community.

Education USA provides a variety of services to assist international students applying to U.S. universities and to U.S. colleges and universities interested in recruiting these students. These services include group advising, individual advising, mobile advising, virtual advising, marketing and promotion of the U.S. higher education system as well as individual institutions. Education USA partners with the U.S. higher education community to enhance international student enrollment, expand study broad opportunities for U.S. students and match country-specific needs with institutions' internationalization efforts. Services for the higher education community include advice on region and country-specific recruitment strategies, provided through newsletters, domestic and overseas conferences, webinars and individual consultations.

ECA also funds research and analysis on student mobility trends (Open Doors) and study abroad capacity that provide U.S. colleges and universities with helpful information to recruit more international students and develop new study abroad programs.

5.1.3 Promotion of Higher Education in IndiaThe thrust of the policy underlying the Eleventh Plan for Higher Education is on increasing access to quality higher education while ensuring equity.A new Scheme for Reduction in Regional Imbalances, Social Gaps and Promotion of Inclusiveness in Higher Education has been introduced by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in the XI Plan, which will serve the rural and tribal areas as well.Central Universities have been established in all the states in the North-Eastern Region including in states with predominately tribal population.In addition, during the XI Plan a Central University will be established in each of those states where there is no Central University. 374 new colleges are proposed to be established one in each district where the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) is lower than the national average.A scheme has also been drawn up to provide grants on a sharing basis to the universities and colleges which are not eligible for central assistance under the University Giants Commission (UGC) Act, 1956 including those located in tribal areas.There are also schemes for scholarships for Scheduled Tribe (ST) students and construction of girls' hostels in colleges and universities serving areas of low access to higher education.In addition, the Indira Gandhi National Tribal University (IGNTU) has been established, with its headquarters at Amar kantak in Madhva Pradesh, to provide avenues of higher ecucation and research facilities primarily for the tribal population of the country.The University is empowered to open such number of regional centres and campuses in tribal areas as the University may deem fit.In the XI Plan, a target has been set to increase the GER of students in the eligible age group of 18-24 years in higher education by 5 percentage points by the end of the Plan. Provision for infrastructural and other requirements for this purpose is required to be made by Central

and State Governments.Within the constraint of availability of resources an amount of Rs.84,943 crores has been provided by the Central Government in the XI Plan for various schemes for enhancing access to quality higher education, while ensuring equity.Various reforms measures such as introduction of semester system, credit transfer and rationalization o f admission procedure for PhD programmes have also been initiated.The Plan allocation during the years from 2005-06 to 2008-09 for the Department of Higher Education is - 2005-06 (Rs.l 817.00 crores); 2006-07 (Rs.2530.50 crores); 2007-08 (Rs.6483.00 crores); 2008-09 (Rs.7600.00 crores).My Preliminary Recommendations regarding Promotion of higher education here in India

Since the Higher Education has to compete and fulfill the needs o f quality education and economic sectors competitively, it is our considered opinion that the government facilitates or provides enabling provisions for the establishment o f Independent Accreditation Agencies which is expanded to have regional centers to sustain the demand and reach, which are also accepted by industry. Objective should not be to shut down or close down the non-performing institutions but to help them to upgrade standards and facilitate them.It shall be mandatory to publicize/ make public the accreditation report for the informed choice to the students and other stakeholders in education. Benefit: An Educational Accreditation and Grading/rating Agency for both non-professional and professional education would help the students and the employers in making informed choices about the quality o f education and its programmes in each institution.It will be beneficial for all universities and educational institutions (both public and private) to get them accredited by an Educational- Accrediting Agency. This will ensure that all fly-by-night operators will have no chance to cheat the public as well as the students and this will also put pressure on the public universities and force them to work towards all-round improvement. This will also help international universities to develop confidence in the Indian education system and also Indian universities going abroad.

5.2 Physical Evidence

A university or college prospectus gives information about a particular course and institution, covering facilities, tuition fees, scholarships, courses, accommodation, support services and more. Universities and colleges generally publish two prospectuses each year: an undergraduate prospectus for students taking a first higher education qualification, such as a bachelor’s degree or Foundation Degree. A postgraduate prospectus, for students who already have a degree and want to take a higher degree or other postgraduate course Get hold of prospectuses by contacting the universities and colleges you’re interested in. At some universities and colleges you can also get an 'alternative prospectus', written by students and giving an insider’s view on courses, facilities and student life.

Television, magazines, and the Internet are full of stories about how getting a college education is becoming harder and harder increasingly selective and competitive. Not only do the costs of higher education continue to rise, but acceptance for enrollment the most prestigious institutions, both public and private, is becoming increasingly selective and competitive. A lot of students are being turned away from their dream institutions and even from their top-tier “safeties." It is easy to conclude from media coverage that higher

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education has become very much a seller's market and that, therefore, little need exists for aggressively marketing colleges and universities.

Any administrator at practically any level knows this is hardly the case. True, a certain number of marquee institutions will always draw an ample pool of qualified applicants and will have little trouble retaining students through graduation, but even (perhaps especially) these institutions cannot afford to rest on their laurels and must continually work to ensure that they are meeting the needs and expectations of their students, the parents of their students, and other stakeholders, including faculty, alumni, and donors. As for the vast majority of colleges and universities that are not household names, the hard fact is that there are not enough students and money available to make all of them successful. Whether public or private, institutions of higher education exist in a competitive marketplace, and while the will to compete certainly varies from institution to institution, you can be certain that a true competitor will not sit idly by and allow your institution to grow and prosper at the expense of theirs. If the current trend is for students to become more competitive with one another for admission to the college or university of their choice, it is also true that the institutions are becoming increasingly competitive with one another. Your competitors continually endeavor to create educational offerings that exceed what you are providing, and, what is more, they take steps to communicate their offerings to the marketplace. The result is that students, parents, donors, and alumni are continually becoming more knowledgeable about the state of the art in higher education, and they are therefore becoming increasingly demanding in their expectations. If the bar for student admissions is rising, so is that which defines what “customers”—students, parents, donors, and alumni— demand of the institutions that enroll them.

Marketing services fundamentally differs from marketing physical goods. The failure to understand this key concept is less due to any blindness peculiar to academia than to the inadequacies of most general or introductory level marketing courses—the very courses many who are reading this book may well have taken at some point during their career. General marketing texts average twenty one chapters of content, of which only one—at most—treats marketing services, and, in many texts, the subject gets no more than half a chapter. The assumption of the authors is that maintaining the interest of the average college student requires concentrating on the marketing of the consumer goods with which they are most familiar, such as Nike gym shoes and Apple iPods. Using pop culture as the basis for textbook marketing examples may serve to hold a student's attention in the short term, but it does them and the profession of marketing a disservice in the long run. Today, the gross national product (GNP) of most of the economically advanced nations of the world flows overwhelmingly from the service sector rather than from manufacturing. In the United States, nearly 80 percent of the economy is based on services. This means that the vast majority of graduates will work in a service industry. The marketing professionals among them will be charged with marketing services, not consumer goods, a mission for whom their academic training probably prepared them inadequately. Even worse, those graduates who do not become marketing professionals—who become, say, university administrators—will enter their professions even less adequately prepared to understand the need for and the requirements of marketing the services their institution offers.

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5.3 Process

Many universities are called the Higher Education as a Second Life. (SL) They independently prepared a questionnaire and staff assists the person who inquires to give their response about the questionnaire, also the reporter interviewed several people associated with academic Second Life developments, within SL itself. However, these interviews did not reveal much information due to:

• the reporter’s inexperience, at the time, with interviewing in a virtual environment• the large amount of time required to type questions and responses• various in-world distractions and technical problems

Furthermore, some interviewees revealed a lack of usable information only after the reporter had spent significant time with them in-world. The target audience is 14-19 year olds so one should have to go to teen grid.

Some of the educational institutes may have developed following for the promotion of their institute.

• Many of the Higher Education constructs incorporated video screens.• XML and RSS feeds were installed by several academics, allowing users to access the

latest content from specific websites.• Visitor counters and sensors to log avatar presence.• Interactive message board or whiteboard.• Links to websites were present in most academic developments. This is often

presented as a card or mock laptop.• Direct links to academics, e.g. pressing a button sends an IM or email to a member of

staff.• Free view TV, usually surrounded by an auditorium in the same way as video-

streamed meetings, is available in a few locations.

A mixture of “off-the-shelf” media, and functionality scripted by academics and hired coders, can be found in the various islands and buildings under development. These include:

• e-books• a flickr browser• a synonym cloud generator• an ansaphone• interactive sculptures• Free view TV• a visitor survey in-world, where user feedback is then sent via e-mail to an individual

or project team

In an ongoing effort to explain the road to U.S. higher education in a more easily understood manner, we proudly announce the release o f "Your Five Steps to U.S. Study" on the "For International Students" section of our Education USA site. To help students navigate their way through the sometimes overwhelming college search, application, financial aid, visa, and pre-departure process, we recommend the following steps all students should take:Research Your Options Complete Your Application

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Finance Your Studies Apply for Your Student Visa Prepare for Your DepartureWhether seeking an undergraduate, graduate, English language, or short-term/exchange program, international students will traverse their way through these different steps. At Education USA our goal is to broaden the reach of what our advisers on the ground can do by providing these useful, interactive guides online to better prepare students for the road ahead and to propel them closer to achieving their dream of U.S. study.For the consumer friendly Process the institute must developed Customer Value Analysis (CVA) technique which will indicate how Forward Analytics' distinguished products and services can unlock your full market potential. CVA provides remarkable insight as to how your institution is positioned against competitors on the attributes that drive positive image and perceptions of universities and their programs. While similar in appearance to traditional image, awareness and student satisfaction studies, Customer Value Analysis provides far more accurate and useable information for brand evaluation, strategic planning, marketing and positioning purposes.Student needs assessments are designed to:

• Provide an independent assessment regarding how the institution is meeting the educational needs of current and potential students

• Determine if the local community has adequate access to affordable higher education services

Identify which higher education needs are being met or undermet within the study area.

As teenagers spend more time online and using smart mobile devices, education faces the challenges o f finding new ways to grab attention and build engagement. In recognition of this, British Council now offers an e-marketing workshop to help education marketers understand how students select education products online (next course in London in November 2010).

How can higher education brands increase engagement with their customers? How can colleges win the persuasion battle and convince students that there is the right blend of skills and support to help them excel? How can they tap into the lucrative overseas student market?

5.4 People

This P of the marketing mix is people. Develop the habit of thinking in terms of the people inside and outside of your business who are responsible for every element of your sales and marketing strategy and activities.

In the recruitment and promotion of academic staff, it has traditionally been the case that research and scholarship plays a dominant role and even teaching is relegated to a secondary status. In the new organizational environment o f higher education a whole new set of skills are now at a premium which were not previously part of the academic curriculum vita. They include, for example entrepreneurship, communications and information technology, financial management, contracts management, and of course, all aspects o f marketing. In addition, previous experience as a practitioner as well as teacher-researcher is increasingly

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being valued especially, one might note, by students. Programme complexity and the range of skills and experience that are now expected mean that staff comfortable and effective in a ‘team' environment are, overall, of much greater long-term value than the brilliant but eccentric loner, so often in the past a characterized part of campus life. The new qualities are becoming essential not just at the central institutional level but right down to the Faculty and even programme level. Administrations are also not free of the pressure of change. People, for so long attuned to working in highly controlled bureaucracies with roles and responsibilities closely defined, are now having to operate in the less certain waters of devolved authority and managerial discretion. How can our organizations ensure they are equipped with the necessary range of human resources to cope and compete effectively? Is the boundary between ‘academic' and ‘administrative' really so clear-cut in the modem, flexible institution? Gordon (1997) discussed the preparation and development of academics in tertiary education with respect to heir multiple roles and the special challenges they face.

5.4.1 Who are Teens and College Aged Adults?While today’s young people are not totally different from earlier generations, they truly are different in profound ways due to the technological innovations that influence communication and the pervasiveness of popular culture. Both forces in concert with one another dramatically influence social space and perceptions of self. Columnist George Will cites The Wilson Quarterly as noting the following observations about teens: their guidance staff s time was spent on academic testing, occupational choice and career planning, and other guidance activities. Schools were least likely to report that more than 20 percent of their guidance staff's time was spent on job placement and employability skill development (2 percent) and on non guidance activities such as hall or lunch duty, substitute teaching, and bus duty (5 percent).

George Will’s observations about today's young people distill themselves into the moniker of a “media-sawy” generation. College bound students and their high school graduated peers share a desire for unique personal authenticity in lifestyle choices as a means of creating self- actualization. As the Frontline documentary, “The Merchants of Cool" notes as thematic about this generation, they want to be different and not perceived as suckered in by mass media. They do not want to be “had", "played”, a “sellout" or even worse a “poser"—all of these adjectives are negative terms which denote a sense of losing control around defining the self and kowtowing to authority. These beliefs hold across race, social class, or issues of regionality. Yet, despite their collective indignation at assuming mono cultural corporate identity, they are profoundly influenced by mass media in both visible and nuanced ways— and perhaps this is both a great irony as well as a paradox. What students thought of their course, and what job they got after wards

5.4.2 The Main Dimensions of Students ExpectationsRegarding this some of the observations are:-

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• Teachers and their methods of giving classes; with the future jobs; with the facilities of the library and computers. We call this factor as oe learning and career;

• The reputation of the University; the localization; the buildings and additional activities. We call this factor as overall reputation and facilities;

• The way how the support services are delivered to the students. We call this factor as availability and sympathy of the staff.

So considering that appear which of the factors it is possible to state that the higher education students expectations are grouped into three dimensions: Learning and career, overall reputation of the University and the available and sympathy of the staff.Lastly, Hayes cites people as the crux of any service-based business. His example.Universities that tout personal attention, matches what is emerging as a strong brand characteristic of Rockhurst. This means that all faculty and staff at the university must accept the responsibility of ensuring this brand promise is kept, from the person who takes the tuition check to the chemistry professor teaching a difficult class to the person making lunch in the cafeteria.

Education is now a global product with institutions worldwide competing for students and finding ever more creative ways to satisfy student needs and preferences. With the continuing rise in the preference for flexible distance learning, educational institutions are finding that when students and faculty have significantly different cultural backgrounds and learning styles that the expectations of the learning experience can be unfulfilled. Student populations have moved from being homogenous and captive to domestic constraints and expectations, to being multi-cultural, dispersed and subject to a plethora of constraints and expectations.

5.5 PlaceOur nation's higher education must keep pace with the rapid globalization of society over recent decades, and the ever more rapid flows of ideas, technology, people, and information. Leading higher education institutions have recognized this by “going global" and internationalizing their campuses. Yet surprisingly few U.S. colleges and universities make “international" a central part of what it means to become educated. Now, more than ever before, higher education has a global mandate: Our greatest challenges today are global— climate change, epidemic diseases, cybercrime and violent extremism cannot be solved by or within a single country. Scholarly research to address these issues is also global and demands transnational collaboration. As business and culture transcend national borders, our future workforce—even at the local level—will need to think globally. Today's graduates must be prepared to work across cultures and countries to succeed. U.S. institutions will need to continue to attract globally mobile students and scholars to stay competitive — especially as global comparisons and rankings exert more influence. As important as growing the number of international students in the U.S. is increasing their diversity to enrich classrooms with multiple perspectives. U.S. institutions of higher education need “foreign policies" — their leaders need to formulate institution wide policies to assess their current global engagement and develop a strategic agenda for the future. It is essential to send more U.S. students

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abroad, preparing them to communicate effectively with people from different backgrounds and cultures. America's competitiveness also depends on continuing to attract the best and the brightest minds from all over the world. International students bring economic, academic, and cultural benefits to campuses and communities. Students are welcomed for their financial contribution, but even more for how much they enrich an institution's academic dialog, bringing their expertise and perspectives into the classrooms and labs. They provide international insight to U.S. students who may never have the opportunity to study abroad but whose careers will demand global competencies and the ability to work in multi-national teams. International education is critical not only to the future of U.S. higher education, but also to advancing our national strategic interests. It is the nation's best investment in public diplomacy and in promoting mutual understanding. Campus leaders and trustees should encourage their institutions to promote academic and intellectual exchange between individuals and nations, and participate actively in the Fulbright Program and other global initiatives. Such activities are fundamental to our country's economic well-being and national security, playing an important role in shaping America's global future.

Post-secondary institutions have external and internal markets for the product of higher education. The internal markets consist of the usual kinds of students who enroll in college and their parents as alumni. Internal markets are the easiest to reach. This demographic swath includes 90 percent of applications arriving in admissions offices every year. External markets are those potential students who are not so easy to reach because of past family experience and exposure to college. Universities are not accustomed to thinking about recruitment in terms of external markets because they are difficult to define and reach with traditional higher education marketing methods. External markets are more difficult to reach because they consist of people who traditionally are not served by post-secondary institutions. The points of interaction for external markets are also more difficult to quantify, because they encompass much more than the immediate interface of campus end the individual. The interface may be as distant as an advertisement on national television for college sports and other activities. It might be as simple as a hospital visit of a patient who receives treatment from a university hospital facility but does not have a college degree. The involvement with the university may be as simple and casual passing through the campus via a traffic route, or as involved as a phone call to a university law clinic or county extension office. It could be as wayward as seeing a group of college students working on a community project with a class. It is in these spaces where the university has to begin to think about it in extremely creative in how these points of interaction can create meaningful points of engagement with the public to communicate who they are to various communities. Additionally, it means that universities and colleges may have to think in expansive ways of how these spaces can be engaged to recruit students who are not a part of their pipe line. In thinking in this new way of social marketing being much more than glossy brochures, television ads, or formal campus visits, student affairs and the admissions offices play just a minor part instead of their traditionally larger role in these matters. Instead of just student affairs and or admissions offices convening students for specific events, other academic departments may have to step up to the plate to create meaningful outreach to the community to involve average citizens in some level of departmental programming.

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When considering social marketing as a means o f encouraging higher education participation among traditionally underrepresented groups, all college and universities regardless of institutional type must confront the issue of Place. Two central questions arise:

• Where are the places postsecondary institutions can reach populations that are underrepresented on campus?

• How can the campus environment or the location of instruction be a place where underrepresented students will come and can thrive academically and socially as students?

This issue of perception of place is extremely important because it demarcates the first harrier to entry that many students experience as they think about attending college. Although many post-secondary institutions do not perceive themselves as places that are rarified, they indeed are extremely so for underserved populations. Campus populations consist o f students, who by and large, felt comfortable about the idea of being on a college campus before they arrived. Their emotional ability to cope is augmented by generational knowledge, which is contrary to the experiences of first generation college students who encounter significant barriers to fitting in campus life. In fact only 24 percent of first generation college students complete college degrees

Additionally, professors and staff working on college campuses are comfortable with the environments that define their line of work. Campus life, like many other white collar professions, is a highly rarified and predictable atmosphere for those who are accustomed to working with students, but for those who are not used to dealing with the public on a regular basis, communicating ideas and issues to non-students, academics, or administrators can often be a daunting task How does the public usually interact with post-secondary education? There are several important ways:

5.5.1 Social marketing challenge of place 1

County extension offices:Many land grant universities sponsor county extension offices that serve their state’s rural agricultural communities and wildlife services as part of their institutional mission. The county extension offices offer advice to farmers and often provide classes that serve the immediate needs of their respective communities. For example, if there is a recent ladybird infestation in Waseca, Minnesota, the University of Minnesota county extension office is often called to provide advice for the public about how to handle the issue.

5.5.2 Social marketing challenge of place 2Many County Extension offices have been closed or their services severely limited due to decreased state investment in public universities. Unfortunately, as the important vehicle that delivered programming such as 4-H to rural communities, county extension has consistently experienced cut after cut resulting in limited involvement of universities in important social programs that potentially affect rural populations of underrepresented economically disadvantaged European Americans.

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5.5.3 Place in Brief Discussion

Unless universities and colleges address how difficult it is to engage external audiences with their space and reconceptualize their relationship with higher education, it will be very difficult to reach people who have limited understanding of college environments. Engagement is particularly acute for first generation students who have limited exposure to the casual knowledge that children of college educated parents have about higher education. College and universities must ask themselves the most important question:

• If the typical level of engagement with the public is limited, what are some more meaningful ways in which universities can create relationships of substance with the average citizen, so the average citizen sees a place for themselves on campus?The secondary question that must be asked is:

• How does this relationship build into a pipeline of participation in college on behalf of those most vulnerable?

Some academicians regard this question as one of civic engagement, citing that a myriad of programs under the guise of service learning or outreach that are sponsored by the university are powerful means in which citizens see a value in having a post-secondary institution. Editors of the Washington Monthly College Guide argue that universities should be engines of social mobility, produce the academic minds and scientific research that advance knowledge and drive economic growth, and they should inculcate and encourage an ethic of service and accordingly have established rankings that argue this civic argument as central to higher education. Another less obvious place that has to be addressed is the predominance of popular culture in the places and spaces of young people. Networks like BET, UPN and MTV actively target traditionally underrepresented populations to consume sneakers, drinks, food and phone services with a great degree of success. They are able to do this because they demographically segment their markets to such a fine degree that their messaging has laser accuracy.

They know where young people are and they know how to find them. Higher education on the other hand, believes that reaching young people means going to schools, which a!though provides a captive audience and seems to be the logical place to reach students, but may be equally limiting. Schools are not able to occupy the other spaces that take up volumes of young people's time. Places such as movie theatres, magazines, and even video games, which are highly consumed by traditionally underrepresented groups may be additional places where the message of higher education and its importance need to be placed. The idea of place extends into other nontraditional venues such as book genres like Street Life or shows like WWF Smack down, which both reach broad demographic swaths of African American and Hispanic American students, might need to be broached in new and creative ways to engage audiences in higher education. These are markets and places where many colleges and universities have not deigned to create an image for fear the frivolities of popular cult are will dull their serious edge. But in fact, if these places were approached with enough creative moxy, such venues could prove to be perfect for achieving a successful higher education social marketing campaign. Urban magazines such as Essence, Vibe, Source, and Dubs, which are some of the fastest growing titles in the industry, are places where higher education advertisements need to be placed to reach this age demographic. Interacting in these spaces can be done creatively at low cost if partnerships between higher education and these

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industries are formed correctly.

5.5.4 Campus Planning and Facility Needs Assessment

Forward Analytics has the research tools, techniques and experience required to provide higher education institutions with information needed to make strategic decisions regarding the development o f new campus facilities or deciding how to meet the changing needs of constituent groups (i.e., sports facilities, distance learning centers, and modem gathering and recreation areas.)To assure the success of any new campus development, our strategic planning company evaluates a full range o f factors, including:

• A basic demographic study• Barriers to higher education needs• Competing higher education institutions• How the market views your current and planned programs• Attributes that prospects use when selecting a provider of educational services• Capacity o f the current and emerging job market to meet the needs of graduating

students

We also conduct facility needs assessments, market feasibility studies, and economic impact projections for on and off-campus facilities such as student housing, student unions, student recreation centers, research and technology facilities. If you are interested in a planning study and need to reach your core constituents, you may be interested in our Feasibility Study or even a New Product Development report.

In order to serve the needs of today's diverse student body, a campus planning project needs a design team with experience in survey questionnaire design and interpretation, and intimate familiarity with the modem campus. Forward Analytics often teams with architects and planners to bring the combination o f experience and dedication that will make the planning process flow smoothly and produce accurate and meaningful results.

5.6 Price

Britain's universities are working hard to attract international students. With the government announcing British Universities are to expect a £950 million cut in funding over the next three years, higher education institutions need to look elsewhere for financial support.

The average non-EU student tuition fees for arts and science undergraduate degrees are around £10,000 per year, and with the potential to reach £20,000 depending on the course and establishment, the financial benefits for cash-strapped UK universities to recruit international students is obvious.

Having a strong online presence is vital. Statistics show that 31.7% of the 338m internet users in China are students. It is likely that students already look to the Internet as their primary source of information on UK universities.

Government funding on higher education has been diminishing on a year on year basis for102

more than one decade. In the view o f with drawl of government support to finance higher education private institutions has been allowed to take over the responsibility of imparting education to all. Further, in government aided universities the model of self financing and self sustaining institutions has been introduced. All these developments have added to the cost of education significantly. Though, the education loan has been made easy to facilitate higher education still the terms and conditions imposed by banks in terms of guarantee and criteria of minimum income of family restricts the talent coming from the poor families to go for higher education

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning - This three stage process involves analysing which distinct customer groups exist and which segment the product best suits before implementing the communications strategy tailored for the chosen target group.

Studying at university is an expensive investment. Tuition fees have a disincentive effect on the poor and middle-income students. There has been a general trend towards marked increases in tuition in recent years, even in countries where tuition fees have generally been much lower than average. For example, Canada has seen its tuition fees more than double in the last ten years.

Tuition fees can vary between courses, institutions, and whether the students are resident or international. This hub compares tuition costs of lull time undergraduate programmes in America (Canada, United States), Europe (UK, Ireland, France, Germany, the Netherlands), and Australia.

• Northern America• United States• The tuition cost in USA varies from S5000 to $30000 per year. About $9000 for

resident students and $20000 for international students.• Canadian• Canadian universities are cheapest among UK, USA, Australia. Average domestic

tuition is around $9,000, and international tuition around $25,500.« Europe• In recent years, the high-tax Europe has been considering reforming higher education

and moving towards a system that charges users. Austria is intensely debating university tuition in the parliament. Six German states call on the parliament to terminate the piece of legislation that exempts college students from paying tuition. In addition, universities in Belgium are beginning to charge an enrolment fee of 500 euros which is same for EU and non-EU students (non-EU students are charged additional 500 euros for social security), while Holland and Italy charge an enrolment fee of 1,000-1,500 euros. Dutch universities charge students of certain departments such as business departments tuition as much as 5,000 euros and students of graduate schools tuition as much as 8,000 euros.

. UK• In UK, the maximum tuition fee amount that can be charged to EU students is £3,145

a year (increasing yearly by no more than the rate of inflation). Average tuition for domestic students is around £3000, and for international students about £10,000 a year.

• Ireland103

• €12000 (Euro) per year for international students. EU students pay € 900 registration fee.

» France• France has 82. universities, teaching 1.5m students. All are public; none charges

tuition fees; undergraduate enrolment charges are a tiny €165. All lecturers are civil servants. Universities cannot select students, who can apply only to ones near them. The results speak for themselves. Not a single French university makes it into the world's top 40 universities.

• In France, there is no difference in tuition fees between European and Non-European students. Therefore, policies officially search to improve the quality of the foreign students they receive, making a selection based on excellence and discipline of study. They intend to avoid a "mass phenomenon" of unwantedstu&QvAs - in French universities who are not highly motivated and who mainly seek to obtain a visa and to stay in France. In Britain, there is a will to attract a large number of overseas students who pay high tuition fees and who supply important funding to British higher education.

® Germany» Germany universities now charge 1000 euro enrolment charge per year, regardless

whether the students are from EU or non-EU countries.« Australia• Australia had free education until 1988. Across the English-speaking world, Australia

imposes mid-range fees. Nowadays, most fell time degree and post graduate degree cost between AUD 10000 to 20000 per annum.

• US:- According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the difference between tuition and the net cost less financial aid at public two-year colleges is not that significant, relatively speaking: roughly a few thousand dollars. But looking at private nonprofit four-year schools, that figure jumps dramatically, to almost $20,000. The average annual tuition (plus expenses) at a private nonprofit four-year college is about $35,000. Click around below to see how the numbers stack up.

The key to their success is to embrace modem technological advances.

This refers to both the explicit and hidden prices the customers have to pay. How are price objectives set and what objectives are selected? Is maximization of profit, market size or cost recovery going to shape pricing decisions? These objectives are not always consistent. Some examples of levels of cost recovery are to be found in Bray (1997). The next stage is to select a pricing strategy. Should this be one based mainly on costs, or in demand, or alternatively on what the competition is doing?

The meaning associated with price changes is contextual. Institutions have different pricing policies and all institutions compete against each other to increase their application and enrollment rates. Pricing policies will impact student choice between institutions. As indicated in this paper the higher education systems of the two countries illustrated are not so similar. In Turkey, most o f the universities are state based and privates are non-profit foundation based. However, private universities charge much more than government universities.

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The fees vary according to the field of study and the prestige or popularity of the university. The two types o f universities compete with each other; however there is more competition between private universities. State based universities are more limited in their ability to engage in marketing activities because of budget constraints. For Turkey in particular, marketing in the area of distance education has significant implications for traditional universities’. Open Education Faculty has many more students than that of the traditional universities. The Open Education Faculty students pay small fees. The standard laws of supply and demand continue to infiltrate higher education institutions. Competition between institutions and countries together with the drive for profitability will promote innovation in education offerings. The proactive stratification o f education as a marketing tool recognizes that students are from multiple and often contradictory social locations which provide possibilities and constraints in the education process. To deliberately recognize some of these possibilities empowers the student learning process by providing more choice in a competitive higher education market. As the number of for profit private higher education institutions continues to increase so marketing niches will develop.

This concept embodies more than a value that someone will pay for it. The meaning associated with price changes is contextual. Institutions have different pricing policies and all institutions compete against each other to increase their application and enrollment rates. Pricing policies will impact student choice between institutions

Pricing policy that deals with setting the prices for the educational services has a number of peculiarities in the higher education sector. First of all until a decade ago, in many countries (mainly the European ones) higher education was totally state budgeted that meant from the student’s point of view that it was free of charge. Since tuition fees have been introduced, they encountered different forms in different countries (as full costs, as partial contribution to the educational costs) but the state still plays a major role in setting tuition fees. For instance, in UK partial tuition fees for undergraduates have established upper limits by government, with the consequence that most higher education institutions have the same tuition fees. This illustrates how the application of this marketing concept has limitations in higher education, as the sector does not have always the freedom to set its own prices. This does not mean that the importance o f price related aspects should be ignored. Price related information (tuition fees, cost o f living, scholarships) is given equal importance as the programme’s characteristics in the potential students’ choice, given the recent increased consumerism in higher education choice (Maringe, 2006).

This is perhaps one of the most problematical fields o f marketing strategy for evolving public institutions to address. Having previously been the providers of education, at low or even no direct cost to many of their students and operating on the basis of virtually 100% government funding, administrative traditions have to be adjusted dramatically. This adjustment is not always freely undertaken but can be conditioned strongly by the ‘not-so-hidden’ hand of governments which, for example, seek to control prices (e.g. Malaysia) or retain a measure of control over human and other resources (e.g. Brunei Darussalam).If prices are to be set as a function of demand, then the whole demand function must be analyzed in a coherent way and prices related to other variables such as income patterns, preferences and the availability of substitutes in the prevailing market. This is not an easy

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task even for a purely local analysis, but as institutions broaden their scope and catchments internationally, it becomes an even more complex task. Students everywhere are demanding more choice, better value for money, greater relevance to their lives and the world of employment and' higher quality, while at the same time remaining conscious o f issues of institutional status or prestige (Fender 1997). In smaller countries and institutions, programme choices are inevitably much more limited. Smaller populations mean there is not a critical mass of local students to support many kinds of course and the only opinion is to look overseas, if finances are available. We feel that, for some kind of course, this can lead to serious compromises in quality and relevance.Price in a social marketing context is the minimization of “Price/Costs” so that the target audience believes there is a nominal payment for engaging in behaviors.

5.6.1 Indian Government’s Role About Finance

The Government's plans for reforms to higher education and student finance will mean that universities continue to play a key role in promoting social mobility as well as economic growth. The new reforms will offer a more generous package of financial support for students from low income backgrounds to go to university.

Subject to Parliamentary approval, the new system will come into effect from September 2012; No eligible student will have to pay up front for their tuition. Students will not be expected to contribute until they are earning over. The Government will publish a Higher Education White Paper in the winter with detailed proposals on the wider, long-term issues that arise from Lord Browne’s review.

The new proposals are as follows:

5.6.2 Graduate contribution

• Any university or college will be able to charge a graduate contribution c f up to£6,000.

• In exceptional cases, universities will be able to charge higher contributions, up to a limit of £9,000, subject to meeting much tougher conditions on widening participation and fair access. It will be up to the university or college to decide what it charges, including whether it charges at different levels for different courses.

• Any university or college will be able to charge below £6,000. Universities and colleges wanting to charge above £6,000 a year will have to show how they will spend some of the additional income making progress in widening participation and fair access. The Office for Fair Access will be able to apply sanctions in cases where universities do not deliver on the commitments in their access agreements, up to and including withdrawing the right o f the university to charge more than £6,000.

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5.6.3 Loans and maintenance grants

• The Government will lend any eligible student the money to pay the university or college for tuition costs. For the first time, part-time students will be entitled to a loan and no longer forced to pay up-front costs, so long as they are studying for at least 25% of their time.

A new £150m National Scholarships Programme will be targeted at bright potential students from poor backgrounds. It will guarantee students benefits such as a free first year or foundation year.

• Students from families with incomes of up to £25,000 will be entitled to a more generous student maintenance grant of up to £3,250 and those from families with incomes up to £42,000 will be entitled to a partial grant.

. Maintenance loans will be available to all eligible full time students irrespective of income.

• Further details of loan rates for students living at home, those living away from home and studying in London, and loans for longer courses will be provided in due course.

• Students deferring from 2011/12 to 2012/13, will be able to apply for loans and grants at the 2012/13 rates. Tuition charges for 2012/13 will be determined by individual universities.

5.6.4 Part-time students

• All eligible part-time undergraduates who study for at least 25% of their time will now be able to apply for a loan to cover the costs of their tuition which means you no longer have to pay up front

• Part-time students will not however be eligible for maintenance support.

5.7 ProductWhile deciding on the education packages to be offered to a consumer population, the starting point obviously has to be the consumer. It is imperative at the very outset of deciding the service product; to outline the distinction between what an educational institution offers in terms of its service and what benefit does its larger population derive from it. Central to the idea of a service product are the consumer benefit concept, the service concept, the service offer and the service delivery system. While the consumer benefit concept defines what benefits do consumer derive from a particular educational package offered, the service concept is concerned with the definition of the general benefit the service organization offers on the basis of the consumer benefits sought. Thus at the very basic stage of the design of the education offer, marketing orientation suggests that the offer should be fashioned as a response to the identification of the consumer benefit sought.

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According to Groonroos, the service concept has to be defined at two levels. The general service concept refers to the essential utility being offered while at the core of the service offer are specific offers. Let us try to elaborate the concept of the service offer a little more as it has specific implications for marketing of educations. Developing the education product, according to the conceptualization developed by Groonroos; entitles:

• Developing the service concept• Developing a basic service package• Developing an augmented service offering, and• Managing image and communication

As already noted, the service concept defines the intensions of the organization in respect of offering certain benefit to the consumers. The 'basic service package' describes the bundle of service that are needed to fulfill the needs of the target market. Extending this to the education sector, the basic service package determines the entire package offer which is designed to fulfill the learning needs of a target population. For decision making purposes it is essential to recognize this basic package as consisting of three elements. These are:

• The core service• The facilitating service (and goods) and• The supporting service

The core service is the reason for being in the market. A management institute exists because it equips people with skill and abilities to manage organizations enterprises. Faculty expertise and the accumulated experience at the institute represent the core resource for supplying this benefit. However, in order to make it possible for students to avail of these services, additional services are required. A registration and admission service, class schedules, counseling service enabling students to make relevant specialization choices, and library facilities are required so that the students are facilitated in deriving the benefits of the core service i.e., the learning. These services are called the facilitating services. It is important for the planners to realize that if the facilitating services are not adequately provided, the core benefit cannot be consumed. Sometime tangible goods are also required to avail the benefit of the core service. Course material, in the form of books and prepared course note, instruction manuals, computers. Class rooms and class equipments are examples of facilitating goods that help reach the core benefit.

The third element of the service that goes to make the basic service package is the supporting services. Like facilitating services, they are also auxiliary to the core benefit, but their objective does not lie in facilitating the use of core service, rather they are used to enhance the value of the core product and to differentiate the service offer from other comparable offers. An efficient placement cell in the above mentioned example, high quality residential facilities, good network of exchange relationship with business organization, do not facilitate the learning process but add value to the service offer by adding to the utility derived from the total offer.

From a managerial viewpoint, it is important to make a distinction between facilitating and supporting services. In order to effectively access the core package, the facilitating services are necessary and the service package would collapse, if the facilitating services are not providing. The marketing strategy directive that can be developed here is that for highly intangible core service products like education, facilitating services should aspire to attain a

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quality level which enables them to become a competitive strength. Supporting services which are essentially designed as a means o f competition diminish the value of the package if they are lacking. The core benefit, learning, however, can still be derived if the supporting services are deficient or absent.

The basic service package, however, is not equal to the service perceived by the consumer. An excellent basic education package, along with its facilitating and support service elements may be destroyed by the way students are handled or students interaction are managed. How the whole service offer is perceived forms an integral part of the total products. The basic service package and the elements that go in to the service perception form what has been termed as the augmented service product. The augmented service product integrate the concept of service process with the services offer. Three distinct elements which along with the basic offer go into the creation of the augmented service product as components of the perceived service process are:

• Accessibility of the service;• Interaction under the service organization; and• Consumer participation.

Taking the example of a university, accessibility of the service would depend upon:1. The number and skill of the persons associated with providing the core,

facilitating, and supporting services;2. Office hours, class and seminar schedules, time used for other services;3. Exterior and interior of offices, class rooms, facilities;4. Tools, equipments, study materials etc.; and5. The number, quantity and aptitude levels of students involved in the learning

process.

The interaction between the service provider (the University) and its customer can be in terms of:

1. Interaction under resources facility (their expertise, skill, attention, attitudes),

2. Interaction with other services interfaces ( admission, evaluation, students enquiries, students welfare office, office staff, hostel warden and proctors, Reception-attitudes and willingness of response, accurate answers),

3. Interaction with the physical environment (space, cleanliness, maintenance, noise levels),

4. Interaction with accessory service system (waiting line for admission, result, enquiry, payment receipt etc.),

5. Interaction between students, and6. Interaction of the various sub systems with each other ( faculty, facilities,

office personnel; other service departments).

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Quality in higher education is inherently difficult to measure. Unlike the manufacturing sector, the production function in education is much more complex and results are often not readily discernible in a timely, objective or useful manner. The field of quality assurance in higher education is still in a state of adolescence, with varying and shifting approaches and confusion in both objectives and terminology. Incentive structures for improving (or not improving) quality also generally differ between public and private institutions.

Common approaches to quality assurance in higher education are generally classified as summative (that is, entail a judgment regarding whether an institution is meeting certain criteria) or formative (that is, encourage an institution to identify its own strengths and deficiencies and develop plans to address the latter). Approaches currently in use include: a) minimum standard accreditation; b) accreditation of excellence; c) supportive evaluation; d) audits of internal quality assurance processes; e) comparative evaluation of the state o f a discipline; 1) benchmarking between institutions; and g) rankings, such as those established by the Center for World-Class Universities and the Institute of Higher Education of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

While summative approaches such as accreditation are both common and popular, they are often tricky to apply well at reasonable cost. Decisions must be made whether to accredit an institution and/or a program, with differing criteria and levels o f expertise needed for each choice. Criteria chosen are often proxies for quality, and since accreditation implies either a reward or sanction, institutions are encouraged to "put on their best face," rather than be up front about weaknesses and plans to address them.

The traditional criticism of formative approaches is that they do not entail clear penalties and are only marginally based on objective criteria o f quality. This criticism is mitigated by the fact that it is difficult to identify objective criteria for both summative or formative evaluations and that in practice, penalties under summative approaches tend to be infrequently applied. Formative approaches are also clearly superior at promoting improvement. Considering the relative advantages and disadvantages of both approaches, it appears that no single or rigid approach is best. Rather, the methodology employed should be adapted to different types of institutions and situations. •

Overall, a good quality assurance system should do three things:

• Ensure that HEIs and programs satisfy at least a minimum level of quality in order to protect students.

• Contribute to the improvement o f all institutions and programs, whatever their level, and encourage HEIs to develop their own internal quality culture.

• Fulfill both of the objectives above at a reasonable cost, which should not exceed the estimated benefits of the quality improvements.

A further issue in designing quality assessment systems is the question of who does the assessments - the HEIs themselves, external agencies, or governments? It is widely agreed that quality assurance and quality improvement are a shared responsibility between HEIs and quality assurance agencies (and in many cases governments), although there are widely

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diverging views regarding who should have the leading role. The chosen solution depends on the degree of trust governments have in their HEIs to guarantee at least a minimum level of quality or to make permanent efforts to improve. The perceived independence of quality assurance agencies from influence, both from governments and HEIs, also affects their credibility.

In order to systematically analyze a range of country quality assurance systems, four criteria were drawn from the methodologies outlined above. They were:

• The object and nature (formative or summative) of evaluation.• The relative role of HEIs, agencies and governments.• The consequences and impact of decisions and/or recommendations.• The costs of HEI quality assurance systems in relation to the expected benefits.

A sample of HEI quality assurance systems from different countries was then selected. The systems described range from institution-centered and/or formative systems to others that are agency-driven and often require certification of some kind. This sample was chosen as representative of the possibilities - not all systems are necessarily good or even sustainable. A summary of findings for each of the systems examined is presented below.

The Swiss system is a hybrid. It requires a strict accreditation procedure for private institutions eligible for federal support, based on predefined criteria. The system is relatively flexible, however, in that it encourages public universities to develop their own rigorous internal quality improvement culture.

Historically, the German system has endeavored to accredit all programs of study - a gigantic task that is also questionable from a scientific and didactic perspective. Moreover, the system is very agency-centered and, therefore, does not sufficiently encourage HEIs to make improvements on their own. Recent reforms have moved the system toward a less agency-driven and more formative approach.

The French system is comprehensive - it looks at the governance, management and quality assurance systems of institutions; covers the performance of research units (departments, institutes, laboratories); and examines the quality of all teaching and learning programs. The institutional framework has a weakness, however, in that it is mainly agency-driven and does not sufficiently encourage quality improvement. Institutions and units are under pressure to receive good marks and, therefore, do not openly acknowledge weaknesses or take advantage of external support to work towards improvements.

The Irish system is probably the most comprehensive within the sample and is largely institution-driven. The law makes it compulsory for institutions to develop rigorous internal systems of evaluation and improvement of teaching and learning, research, outreach at the level of departments, as well as the efficacy of university services. The law, however, also requires evaluations of these internal quality assurance measures on a regular basis by an external agency. Overall, the Irish system presents an interesting and efficient division of responsibilities for quality assurance, making institutions responsible for the quality of all their services but also making sure that they take their responsibilities seriously.

The Scottish system is based on the same principles as the Irish system, where the objective is to make institutions responsible for promoting improvements. The primary difference is that in Scotland, the main system is focused on teaching and learning, research being evaluated through other channels. The system is quite well developed, and for those interested mainly in improving teaching and learning at the Bachelors and Masters levels in public and private institutions, it is worth examining closely.

The Austrian system has in place a partial system of accreditation of universities. It contributes to creating more transparency in the private sector by determining which universities should be allowed to call themselves 'private universities.' The system is therefore clearly summative and agency-led. It contributes indirectly to improving quality by fixing the minimum quality standards for accreditation; however, the internal quality processes imposed as criteria for accreditation remain very superficial.

TheEUA institutional evaluation program was set up to serve European University Association (EUA) members and help HEIs, on a voluntary basis, to measure where they are regarding governance, capacity for change and quality assurance. Universities write self- evaluation reports, including SWOT analyses. Visiting panels of five experts (including a student) then judge the self-evaluation reports and make recommendations. The impact of EUA evaluations nevertheless depends very much on the institutions, which are free to ignore the reports or actively follow-up on the experts' recommendations. The best aspect o f the EUA system is that it is quite good in promoting a dynamic, of change and quality improvement.

The Hong Kong system reflects influences from Australia, New Zealand and the United States, and emphasizes the responsibility of institutions in promoting quality in teaching and learning. It also emphasizes the supportive role of national agencies which, in the case of Hong Kong, is the Quality Assurance Council of the University Grants Committee. The approach to quality stems from the recognition that HEIs in Hong Kong have distinct and varied missions. Therefore, the system does not attempt to straitjacket institutions through a single set o f quality standards or objectives, but recognizes that each institution has its own objectives appropriate to its mission.

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