Higher Education Marketing Strategies Based on Factors Impacting the Enrollees' Choice of a University and an Academic Program

The relevance of studying the stated problem is due to the fact that for increasing the efficiency of higher education marketing it is necessary to take into account several factors, namely, factors that impact the choice of a university and an academic program by enrollees, as well as socio-psychological characteristics of the latter, while systematic research of this problem has not been done by now. The goal of this paper is to give recommendations for the implementation of higher education marketing strategies aimed at potential enrollees. The main method used by us for studying the stated problem was the questioning of 1515 enrollees of Kazan (Volga region) Federal University (KFU) with subsequent statistical data processing. Namely, by using techniques of cluster, factor, and correlation analysis we have succeeded in determining certain characteristic features of enrollees and main factors that impact the choice of a university and an academic program by enrollees; we have also ranked these factors. We refine factors that impact the choice of a university and an academic program by enrollees, rank their motives for entering a university, reveal factors that influence the total number of enrollees in a university, and determine new academic programs demanded by enrollees. Basing on the obtained results, we propose a model of an enrollee of one of Russian universities and prove that the implementation of an education marketing strategy should take into account the factors that impact the choice of a university and an academic program by enrollees, as well as socio-psychological characteristics of the latter. The practical value of obtained results consists in their applicability to the implementation of higher education marketing strategies. The recommendations proposed by us can contribute to increasing the competitiveness of universities among enrollees.