Service marketing, financial support and performance of universities: conceptual, theoretical and empirical reviews

Abstract

Educational service marketing which covers programmes, people, price, premiums, prospectus, promotion, and prominence has become very competitive, time consuming and financially draining. This study adopted review approach, covering conceptual, theoretical, and empirical dimensions; and aimed at identifying salient missing gaps in literature in relation to education service marketing, education financial support, and performance of universities. Economic and attribution theories add relevance to the significance of the study. It was observed that financial support (the discounts offered by universities, flexibility of payment arrangements of tuition fees, educational loans, flexibility of campus payment, reducing costs on a competitive basis, increasing financial facilities and students’ loans, setting payment schedules for scholarships and welfare costs, and offering discount on fees and proving educational loans and facilities to outstanding students) is a strong catalyst for the selection of universities by students and parents. Finally, the performance of universities (number of programmemes, tertiary education institutions’ staffing, graduate output, student-staff ratio, among others) was zeroed down to student enrolment. This is because all key performance indicators of universities rest on available of students: no students, no universities.