Seeing that the culture and governance of competition determines relations among social actors, we turn to the concept of referentiality to investigate the institutional order of competition in higher education. Defining referentiality as the description of a model standard for comparison, this study explores how higher education organizations…

The extant literature on the use of social media marketing for recruiting higher education students has an unstructured nature. To address this gap, this paper introduces a novel method called 'algorithmic document sequencing' (ADS) that links the key findings of 43 relevant articles procured from all databases to one another on the use of social…

Veterans are a growing student population in institutions of higher education in the U.S., and universities adopt a variety of marketing efforts to recruit them. With a focus on university marketing messages as a targeted and public way for universities to attract student veterans, the current study examines how student veterans are framed and…

Competition today has become a central policy imperative in higher education. Connected to resource efficiency and scarcity, it remains closely attached to the idea of the market but reaches beyond when related to positional or status orders. In the higher education literature such varieties of competition -- as distinct social processes -- are…

This paper presents the first systematic investigation into the search engine optimization practices of major contract cheating websites in the United States. From a business perspective, visibility in organic search engine results is considered one of the top client recruitment tools. The current understanding of student recruitment strategies by…

This paper presents the results of qualitative research on academic inbreeding in Czech higher education, the first of its kind. Its focus is on exploring the significance of academic inbreeding, its types, practices, and possible solutions. The research for this paper was done among academic staff at eight institutions of higher education in the…

We analyze the role of institutional founding conditions and institutional legacy for universities' self-representation in terms of diversity. Based on 374 universities located in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Poland, we can differentiate between a more idealistic understanding (logic of inclusion and equality) and a…

New marketing strategies, new perspectives, and new trends have emerged significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many higher education institutions are challenged to adapt to these rapid changes as well as to choose the right marketing approaches. The purpose of this paper is twofold: to explore the COVID-19 impact on marketing for Higher…

India, traditionally one of the largest exporters of mobile students, has adopted wide-ranging policies to attract more international students. This research draws on a secondary analysis of published international student mobility (ISM) statistics for the 2012 to 2021 timeline and a text-based examination of Indian higher education (HE) policy…

The purpose of this study is to understand the reasons why Japanese higher education institutions show a lack of digital marketing activities. Specifically, we focused on the challenges faced by institutions with management and business faculties when implementing digital marketing. To achieve this purpose, the research invited 167 Japanese higher…

Football teams draw the largest crowds of any American collegiate sport, and with them, both positive and negative attention for colleges and universities. Nearly 50 colleges have added the sport recently, but little research has examined the institutional effects of adding a team. Some of these institutions are regional research universities…

California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) continues its two-year NSF grant, "Organizational Change for Gender Equity in STEM Academic Professions Catalyst Track," that began in the Fall of 2022 to support the advancement of female faculty careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Treating the improvement…

Student academic representation is a staple feature in UK and international higher education. It provides a vital quality function whereby students, who are elected representatives of their programme, canvas the opinions of peers to inform quality assurance processes. In the UK, there is increasing regulatory pressure for universities and student…

This study explored the concept of phygital within enrollment management, examining its transformative impact on the student journey. Phygital, a blend of physical and digital experiences, serves as a focal point of this research in addressing a notable gap in existing literature. This research involved a two-phase exploratory qualitative study…

Social media has revolutionized communication and changed how society accesses and receives information. As social media has become more prevalent, companies' advertising and marketing strategies worldwide have changed. In order to reach their target audience, organizations, including universities, have shifted their marketing plans to include…