The marketing landscape of universities in Zimbabwe: Perspectives, practices and prospects

Abstract

The paper synthesizes findings based on a wide ranging research on university marketing in Zimbabwe. The research was primarily aimed at determining university Vice Chancellors' and internal marketers' perceptions of marketing, how the marketing function was organized and how specific university customer groups perceived the effectiveness of current university marketing. Data was collected through interviews with Vice Chancellors and then ten head teachers of schools with sixth form and through questionnaires for marketing staff and sixth form pupils in the ten schools. Findings were triangulated with data from university marketing documents. Overall it was found that marketing was narrowly conceived and lay on a frail organisational foundation often buried under traditional university structures. Generally lacking a strategic focus, university marketing tended to be determined by the product philosophy of many institutions. The findings suggest that in a higher education environment characterised by growing competition, increasing expansion and diversity and greater choice for university customers, institutions will need to determine a new focus for marketing based on the curriculum which is the core business of these institutions.

Zimbabwe Journal of Educational Research Vol. 16(3) November 2006: pp. 196-214