The use of strategic long-range planning at Carnegie-Mellon University (CMU) is discussed. A structure for strategic planning analysis that integrates existing techniques is presented, and examples of planning activities at CMU are included. The key concept in strategic planning is competitive advantage: if a university has a competitive…

If marketing in higher education is oversold, it may be that it is not fully understood. Higher education can learn from marketing as practiced in the profit sector, but it needs to research and practice those aspects that are good for education and discard those that are incompatible with education's value structure. (JMD)

Colleges developing a unified marketing system embracing student recruitment, fund-raising, and public relations will encounter some classic bureaucratic problems. Some reorganization or realignment of responsibilities is imperative for a comprehensive marketing effort. Each system has strengths and weaknesses and emphasizes different goals. (MSE)

College buildings, interiors, furniture, spaces, landscaping, and equipment express what the college stands for, what it cares most about, and how it views the intellectual and aesthetic enterprise. Well-designed and well-built physical facilities, especially those that are distinctive, should be a more recognized force in any college's enrollment…

Describes how market concepts (e.g., product, promotion, pricing, and place distribution) can be applied to job training and education. Offers a step-by-step explanation of how to analyze markets and plan strategically. (AYC)

Many administrators are planning and implementing systematic marketing strategies designed to attract, matriculate, and graduate students. Most administrators prefer to shape a direction according to their institution's needs rather than to take a reactive position. A marketing action plan is provided. (MLW)

Steps taken by institutions to have a greater impact on their student enrollments are referred to as enrollment management. Organizational implications are defined and enrollment management is defined as a process that influences the size, shape, and characteristics of a student body. (MLW)

Demographic changes affecting college students, faculty, and patrons and responses to the changes are considered. For each of the three groups, attention is directed to factors influencing change within and outside the campus, options available to the campus, and strategies for responding to the demographic changes. To recruit new full-time…

Issues addressed at the conference are outlined in two introductory essays. It is suggested that marketing problems of colleges are not essentially admissions problems, but problems that involve both faculty and administrators. The marketing challenge for higher education is to define the quality and integrity of a college's educational services…

To market their institutions effectively, college advancement professionals need to understand that marketing encompasses several specific activities and begins with the customer's needs, not the institution's. The administrator must know the institution thoroughly before developing a marketing plan and be able to develop and adapt marketing…

Higher education institutions have increasingly adopted marketing principles to achieve institutional objectives. However, direct application of the traditional marketing mix as characterized by four P's (product, price, place, promotion) can be problematic. A reconceptualization of the marketing mix applies four C's: concept (mix of goods and…

A study compared enrollment patterns at 140 colleges and universities five years before and five years after they changed their names, predicting that the strategy of changing the institution's name would positively influence enrollment. Results indicate that on average, the strategic name change did not affect enrollment, and only 7% of…

Examines how research universities are responding to the complex challenge of revenue generation and budgeted expenditures in a market-driven age, and concludes that institutions adapt by incorporating market-like behavior into their business plans. The study found differences between institutions experiencing and not experiencing enrollment…

Attitudes about college marketing have hindered its progress. It is an informative process with strong feedback, including such elements as information gathering, travel, development of a marketing or public relations plan, organizational communication, institutional adaptation to the current market, and administrator input. (MSE)

A survey of 1,967 alumni of a college school of business was designed to enhance strategic institutional planning. It had four objectives: (1) to identify skills developed or enhanced by the program; (2) to identify program strengths and weaknesses; (3) to determine levels of expectation and student satisfaction; and (4) to identify issues for…