GREENWIH UNIVERSITY-POSITIONING STRATEGY

Greenwih University-Positioning Strategy

Table of Contents

Introduction5

Background6

Brand strategies8

Global context9

Qualitative study11

Research Aim12

Research Objectives12

Research Questions12

Literature Review14

The Context: A Rapidly Changing Higher Education Sector14

Expectations of University Graduates Are Changing14

Universities Must Compete 10 a Global Education Market15

Shifts in the Way Universities Are Funded16

In a Global Knowledge Economy, Universities Are Experiencing a Digital Revolution17

A Strategic Imperative: The Interface between Technology and Teaching and Learning18

The Blurring of Research, Learning, and Teaching Boundaries18

New Ways of Communicating19

A Trend toward Standardization20

Pre-search behaviour21

Search behaviour22

Application stage22

Choice decision22

Registration23

Positioning the institution23

Research evidence in HE choice and decision making24

Dynamics of the HE recruitment market26

Utilitarianism as a dominant driver of HE choice27

Mixed subjects combinations28

Need to review university promotional tools and messages29

Methodology31

Market Research31

Research Limitations32

Research Findings34

New Directions in Learning and Teaching34

Reforming the Curriculum, Reshaping Student Service Delivery34

A New Role for Information Services35

A Triple Helix Strategy: Binding the Strands Together36

The Role of E-Learning in the Greenwich Experience38

Managing Career Pathways39

The Need for Caution40

Recommendations43

Conclusions46

References48

Bibliography53

Appendix56

Greenwich University-Positioning Strategy

Introduction

The emerging global higher education market, facilitated by advances in information and communication technologies, challenges all universities to reconsider their mission and direction.

The University of Greenwich, one of UK's leading research universities,' has undergone a fundamental reshaping to ensure its place in an evolving global knowledge economy.

The result is a strategy called "Growing Esteem," developed after extensive consultation. Growing Esteem signals the university's intention to remain a leading education provider in the 21st century. The metaphor of a triple helix defines the strategy's character and purpose. Setting three priorities for the university-research and research training, learning and teaching, and knowledge transfer-the helix captures the complex and shifting relations between three disparate spheres of activity that are tightly bound, each reinforcing the other.

Central to the Growing Esteem strategy is the "Greenwich model" (a term coined by Britain media), the most significant curriculum reform in the university's 154-year history. The Greenwich model is premised on creation of a small number of broad undergraduate programs, followed by intense professional training at a postgraduate level.

Integral to the achievement of the university's vision will be the way in which the university's information services, systems, and technologies come together to support the vision: to bind the strands of the helix to achieve strategic outcomes, to underpin the educational model, to enhance the quality of the student experience, and to provide the foundation for strategic agility in a changing global environment.

This essay outlines the university's 2015 vision, the steps taken to "dream large,":' and the way information services and technologies are working toward the realization of the 2015 vision.

Background

Choice and decision making in HE is an area of growing research interest primarily because HE has been transformed from a domesticated, centrally funded non marketised entity to a highly marketised and competitive environment (Soutar and Turner, 2002). On a global scale, this transformation has been driven by world economies which have tended to embrace the idea of the market forces (Mazzarol, 1999). At country or national levels, expansion, diversification and growing competition have been identified as the “overarching forces” driving the marketisation of HE (Smith et ...