My Research Focus

In my last post, I mentioned that I am interested in perceptions of higher education marketing. This stemmed from having worked in higher education marketing and recruitment for many years and I experienced the good and the bad of how universities market themselves.  One of my frustrations when working in university marketing and student recruitment was that marketing campaigns and activities were being decided for international markets, by people who had never been to those markets and who had little to no cultural awareness and understanding of what would work or not work in those markets. I often gave feedback on ideas that would not work and this often fell on deaf ears. The investment in recruitment and marketing in UK universities has increased tenfold since the 21st century started and universities are operating more and more like a business than they ever did.

Over the last ten years or so the UK higher education sector has gone through dramatic marketization and there have been significant changes in how universities are funded. Universities are more competitive between themselves than ever before. Governments no longer fund higher education and universities have begun charging tuition fees to students, resulting in students altering their approach to their studies. With UK fees sitting only at around £9,000 per year for undergraduate courses, the UK higher education market has been referred to as a quasi-market. The UK market is still a way behind the USA market and many academics have researched this and are giving clear warnings to the UK not to go down the USA route. Fees in the UK aren't capped and some of the top Ivy League schools charge six-figure fees per year.

The UK government implemented compulsory methods whereby universities must provide data and statistics that can be used to rank universities in league tables and this data can be used by prospective students and allow them to judge a university before making an application to study there.

University charters were also introduced by the government as a compulsory measure that created something similar to a service level agreement between the university and the student. This charter was masked as a communication tool that would allow a clear understanding of how universities should perform and also how students should behave whilst at university. It could also be seen as a tool that gave students the power to monitor whether a university was living up to its charter details and if not, the students could then complain and create waves.

2015 saw the introduction of the higher education consumer protection act which has effectively given students the same rights as they have when purchasing a product and that product does not live up to its advertised status. These days, if students aren't happy with their university course then they have several methods that they can employ to complain and have changes made.

More recently, with annual tuition fees for undergraduate courses at an average of £9,000 per year,  there is a trend of referring to students as consumers of education and this has opened several fresh ideas, thoughts, and issues. It has changed how many students approach their studies and rather then basking in the lessons of a subject area for three years, soaking up information, learning from academic experts, reading in-depth and really enjoying the experience of being a student, many students are seeing their degree as a transactional experience. These students want to know the exact steps that they should take to gain a 1st class or 2:1 degree. this is referred to as passive learning in the literature. Students calculate how much each class costs them and they expect value for money and a good pass, as they have paid for it.  There are numerous surveys, feedback forms and methods for students to feedback on their experience and this has led to many academics feeling under the spotlight.

Some studies have been carried that show that many academics have actively changed how they teach as they want to please students and avoid negative feedback. Some academics have changed their assignments and assessment methods as students have been open and honest that they will not take part in particular assessments. Back just ten plus years ago, academics were seen as experts in their field, respected for the knowledge they hold and placed in a position of prestige within society.

The increase in data, statistics, ranking, surveys, and views on universities has also created a change amongst senior managers at universities who feel pressured into doing well in these rankings. I've read articles that clearly highlight that there are senior managers out there who have manipulated data so that their university maintains its reputation.

These are clear facts and views of what has happened to the UK higher education sector over ten or so years and I haven't touched on any theorists or schools of thought that I could and have used to look at these points. Applying theory to these points is like looking at them through a particular lens. That lens could be sharp in focus, brightly coloured and vivid or it could be a view that appears more complex and confusing. I will talk about theories and theorists in another post at some point.

In my last post, I mentioned that a sociology hat fits me well in terms of my research interests. Over the past two years of study, I am still interested in higher education marketing but I am also interested in different groups within society and how they perceive universities. With students changing their approach to how they study I am also really interested in identities in higher education. Identities adopted by students, identities adopted by faculty and also by management. Do these identities have an impact on how each group experiences higher education and could a change in perceived identity cause a change in the experience?

I have to submit my proposal for my research project by October this year and I have been toying with ideas of what I want to research in-depth and how I want to conduct my research. That thinking process is ongoing and I am hoping that writing here will help me to consolidate ideas and become more focused.

If you have taken the time to read this far then I would love it if you had any thoughts or comments that you wanted to share, as other people's ideas are useful in shaping my own.