Evaluating Marketing Strategies: Mauritius International Institution

This report meticulously evaluates marketing strategies for the Mauritius International Institution, which offers degree courses. The study examines the importance of factors like qualified faculty, international exposure, and placement facilities in attracting students. It delves into the challenges of marketing new educational institutions, including budget constraints and the competitive digital landscape. The research methodology includes a literature review, research philosophy, design, approach, and data collection methods, including questionnaires for students and parents. The findings analyze demographic profiles and responses to questions regarding factors influencing university choice. The discussion section includes a feasibility study and vision statement for the institution. The report concludes with recommendations for effective marketing strategies to ensure the institution's success in a competitive educational market. The report also includes the questionnaires used in the study.

Running head: THE EVALUATION OF THE STRATEGIES USED TO MARKET
MAURITIUS INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION (OFFERING DEGREE COURSES)
The evaluation of the strategies used to market Mauritius International Institution (offering
degree courses)
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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THE EVALUATION OF THE STRATEGIES USED TO MARKET MAURITIUS
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION (OFFERING DEGREE COURSES)
Executive Summary
The main purpose of the assignment is to evaluate specific strategies that should be used to
market Mauritius International Institution that offers degree courses. The current segment
explain how far recruiting qualified faculty members can help in marketing new educational
institution named as Mauritius International Institution. Mauritius International Institution will
be opened in Mauritius to teach students that has access to international exposure and will be
getting access to proper placement facilities. In this context, to design the marketing strategies
for the institutions in the education industry, especially the universities, providing degree
courses, it becomes important to be aware of the factors, which influence the decision of the
students to choose a particular university over all others. The factors that need to be taken into
consideration are cost of tuition fees, international exposure, placement facilities, location, and
recognized faculty members.
Table of Content

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THE EVALUATION OF THE STRATEGIES USED TO MARKET MAURITIUS
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION (OFFERING DEGREE COURSES)
s
Research Topic................................................................................................................................3
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Background of the study..............................................................................................................3
Aims and objectives of the study.................................................................................................4
Aim of the study......................................................................................................................4
Objectives of the study................................................................................................................5
Research Question...........................................................................................................................5
Significance of the study.................................................................................................................5
Chapter 2..........................................................................................................................................7
Literature Review............................................................................................................................7
Marketing strategies: Changes and Dynamics.............................................................................8
Dimensions of differentiations:...................................................................................................9
Factors influencing choice of the students:...............................................................................11
Marketing Strategies for the universities:..................................................................................14
Higher education in Mauritius:..................................................................................................15
Chapter 3........................................................................................................................................17
Research Methodology..................................................................................................................17

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THE EVALUATION OF THE STRATEGIES USED TO MARKET MAURITIUS
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION (OFFERING DEGREE COURSES)
Introduction................................................................................................................................17
Research Onion..........................................................................................................................17
Research Philosophy..................................................................................................................18
Research Design........................................................................................................................20
Research Approach....................................................................................................................21
Sampling Technique..................................................................................................................21
Sample Size...............................................................................................................................22
Data collection method..............................................................................................................22
Ethical Considerations...............................................................................................................23
Chapter 4........................................................................................................................................24
Findings.........................................................................................................................................24
Questions asked to students...........................................................................................................24
Section 1........................................................................................................................................24
Demographic profile......................................................................................................................24
Section 2........................................................................................................................................27
Questions asked to parents.............................................................................................................39
Section 1........................................................................................................................................39
Chapter 5........................................................................................................................................51
Discussion......................................................................................................................................51

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THE EVALUATION OF THE STRATEGIES USED TO MARKET MAURITIUS
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION (OFFERING DEGREE COURSES)
Feasibility study of Mauritius International Institution.................................................................51
Vision statement of Mauritius International Institution.................................................................53
Chapter 6........................................................................................................................................55
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................55
Reference List................................................................................................................................57
Appendix........................................................................................................................................66
Questionnaire.................................................................................................................................66
To students.....................................................................................................................................66
Section 1........................................................................................................................................66
Demographic Profile......................................................................................................................66
Section 2........................................................................................................................................66
To parents......................................................................................................................................69
Section 1........................................................................................................................................69
Questions asked to parents.............................................................................................................72
Section 1........................................................................................................................................72
Questions asked to students...........................................................................................................79
Section 1........................................................................................................................................79
Demographic profile......................................................................................................................79
Section 2........................................................................................................................................83

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THE EVALUATION OF THE STRATEGIES USED TO MARKET MAURITIUS
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION (OFFERING DEGREE COURSES)
Research Topic
The evaluation of the strategies used to market Mauritius International Institution (offering
degree courses)
Introduction
Background of the study
Education sector marketing had become extremely challenging sector in recent times
(Zheng 2014). There are well-known hurdles present at the time of marketing new educational
institutions such as budget limitations as well as having to appeal to a completely new audience
every year. With the rise of digital marketing, it is noted that channels for marketing new
education institution effectively had become more competitive and complex by nature. Students
along with their parents now expect online entry forms as well as presence of social media.
There are more than 20,000 Universities in and across the world that means competition between
higher education institutions is intense every year for recruiting big number of students (Wilkins,
Shams and Huisman 2013).
Students and parents are aware of the fact that the cost of education has been on the rise
irrespective of tremendous growth of educational institution (Wilkins 2016). In addition, there is
cutthroat competition among different education institutions at Mauritius. The competition is
becoming aggressive by nature when it is found that students and parents are searching for
institutions outside own country. High quality of education and employability are two major

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THE EVALUATION OF THE STRATEGIES USED TO MARKET MAURITIUS
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION (OFFERING DEGREE COURSES)
concern of responsible and well-known Universities that mainly aims at high rate of return and
divert the minds of the parents and students through attractive advertisements and word of mouth
communication. Hence, the success of the institutions is only possible by concentrating on short-
term plans (Warren and Burns 2017).
Aims and objectives of the study
Aim of the study
When it comes to building marketing strategies, it is important for the Universities to
answer several questions on: what to communicate, to whom, and how. Here, Universities are
able to deliver clear, consistent as well as authentic messages to their prospective students after
proper analysis and evaluation of their potential (Wallace and Dunn 2013).

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THE EVALUATION OF THE STRATEGIES USED TO MARKET MAURITIUS
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION (OFFERING DEGREE COURSES)
Objectives of the study
To explain strategies that are used to market Mauritius International Institution
To find out how important it is to recruit qualified teachers or faculty members for
marketing purpose
To highlight how important it is to develop international exposure to get access to more
students (Venkataraman and Kanwar 2015)
Research Question
1. What are the strategies used to market Mauritius International Institution that offer degree
courses to the students?
2. How far recruitment of internationally qualified teachers can give more admission to
Mauritius International Institution?
3. How far placement facilities attract students who are looking for admission in a
University?
Significance of the study
The significance of the research study is to understand how important it is to market any
new educational institution in any place (Venart and Reuter 2014). In this given study, main
emphasis has been given on implementing strategies to market Mauritius International
Institution in Mauritius that will be offering degree courses to the students. Education in its
broadest sense is any of the act or experience that has formative effect on the mind, character or
physical ability of particular individual. In addition, Education is the process where the society

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THE EVALUATION OF THE STRATEGIES USED TO MARKET MAURITIUS
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION (OFFERING DEGREE COURSES)
deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills as well as values from one generation to
other through the medium of institutions. With the increase in the level of competition, there are
large number of institutions that are set up in recent years to meet the needs and expectations of
present market trends (Urbanovič, Wilkins and Huisman 2016).

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THE EVALUATION OF THE STRATEGIES USED TO MARKET MAURITIUS
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION (OFFERING DEGREE COURSES)
Chapter 2
Literature Review
Educational institutions though are mostly commercial in nature (barring the non-
profitable institutions established solely for welfare maximization and equity in distribution of
merit goods like education), their nature, by the inherent nature of the service provided by the
industry, differs from those of the strictly commercial goods and services. As argued by Natale
and Doran (2012), in their working paper, in the operations of any educational institution, ethics
work as a predominant factor. Education and knowledge being merit goods, to which people are
automatically entitled, the authors put forward the problem of ethical dilemma, which the
education industry, all over the world face, when it comes to marketing and commercialization of
the services which they propose to provide (Urbanovič and Wilkins 2013).
However, with the passage of time and globalization in the international scenario and
with advent of competition and commercialization of almost all the sectors of an economy, the
educational institutions are also not left out as exceptions anymore. Bass (2012), discusses about
the course of development and transitions, which the educational institutions have undergone in a
global framework, overtime. According to the author, in the earlier times, the relation between
the providers and the receivers of the educational services were much more informal and merit-
based. The author rightly argues that earlier, the Universities, across the globe, only used to
recruit students based on their reputation as well as word of mouth communication. Competitions
were significantly low both in the sides of the students as well as the universities. In the previous

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THE EVALUATION OF THE STRATEGIES USED TO MARKET MAURITIUS
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION (OFFERING DEGREE COURSES)
generations, only a handful of students had the facility to avail or availed higher education, as
higher education, during those times, were more of a luxury than a necessity. The supply side
dynamics were also low, with very few providers in the education industry (Stimac and Simic
2012). Natalie and Doran (2012), also argue that higher education, was highly specific to the
developed and high developing countries, as not many of the remaining countries (most of them
being under-developed) had the facilities to provide this merit good to the citizens (Timol and
Kinser 2017).
Marketing strategies: Changes and Dynamics
The marketing strategies of the educational institutions (Those providing higher
education) were also not robustly designed and commercially crafted. The institutes, facing very
less competition, did not feel the need to design marketing strategies as such. Nowadays,
however, this notion needs to be changed. With the world moving at a significantly fast pace,
this concerned field, along with other fields, also has started facing significant competitions, with
more and more supply and demand side players coming in the international education industry
scenario. Therefore, to stay in the industry and to move on a path of sustainable prosperity, the
educational institutions too, like other commercial institutions, need to design their marketing
strategies, as only good will may not alone suffice for them, unlike the earlier times (Škrinjarić
2014). The arguments, as has been put forward by Škrinjarić (2014), has been robustly
augmented by Judson (2014), in his article, where he advocates the change which universities
need to implement in the recent times, including the remodeling of their marketing strategies and
techniques. These, according to the author, along with proper training and redesigning of their
faculty structure as well as improvisations and innovations in the education services they offer,

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THE EVALUATION OF THE STRATEGIES USED TO MARKET MAURITIUS
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION (OFFERING DEGREE COURSES)
may help to make the services they offer more attractive to the students, thereby increasing their
demand in the education industry (Thomson et al. 2014).
According to Wilkins and Huisman (2012), with more competitions and new entrants,
especially in the supply side of the education industry, it has become a matter of immense
significance for the educational institutions, especially those providing higher education and
degrees, to stay ahead of their competitors, to attract greater share of students, both domestic and
international, to themselves. The authors put forward several dimensions regarding this, which
may be considered by these educational institutions, to gain a competitive edge in the industry.
The dimensions, as argue by the article, if taken into consideration by the institutes, mat help
them to differentiate the services they provide, in the eyes of the demand side participants, which
primarily constitutes the students from all over the world (Teeroovengadum, Kamalanabhan and
Seebaluck 2016).
Dimensions of differentiations:
There are four key dimensions, according to Wilkins and Huisman (2012), which tend to
define as well as discern a university from others that are discussed below with proper
justification:
Selection- Firstly, the University should gather and attract students and faculties that will
help in strengthening as well as reinforcing the idea and purpose of school (Stevenson
2017). This indirectly implies that the selection procedure of the universities, for students
as well as for their faculties should be relevant to the goals and long term objectives of
these universities, thereby creating a distinction for their services, when compared to the