University Branding

Conclusion and Discussion

Globalization affects the overall business sector and society. Sustainable growth of a country is reliant on the innovative system which is necessary to renew the higher education sector while addressing economic, social and environmental challenges simultaneously. Within the knowledge society, the person empowered with suitable education, skills, and mindset is a key to economic accomplishment, growth and social prosperity.

This study was conducted to find out the influence of university's image on the university selection process. The respondents in the study were asked to rank their preferences to select a university. The result of the study shows that in the university selection decision, image of the university is the key determinant. The result also shows that the image of the university has four key constructing factors which are quality, prestige, financial incentives, and acceptance.

Quality is found to be the strongest construct followed by prestige, acceptance and incentives. The similar results were obtained during the previous studies conducted by Chen, Litten and Hall, Mazzarol and Soutar and Bone. However, Chen and Mazzarol and Soutar also gave equal importance to financial incentive with quality. Chen is of the view that financial incentives like scholarships, tuition fee exemptions etc. play a significant role in the image development.

According to the respondents' ratings, perceived quality is the most important attribute. It plays an important role in the university selection process. As identified by Carman, Parasuraman et al perceived quality positively affected the brand choice of the customer. In view of Boulding et al, perceived quality is a factor that directly affects the purchase intention, whereas, Cronin and Taylor found that the quality creates satisfaction which develops purchase intention. Taylor and Baker also reached the same conclusion as Cronin and Taylor. The results obtained during our study also support the findings of Cronin and Taylor that quality in education and other related services provided by the university develop satisfaction which resultantly enhance the image of the university.

The result of this research also has support from the previous studies done by Srikatanyoo and Gnoth and Binsardi and Ekwulugo, who were of the view that quality of education is the most important factor especially when universities are moving towards internationalization.

The results obtained during the study also shows that while making a university selection decision, students consider different factors into account. Although we consider four different factors and check their impact on image separately, it is observed that all four factors have been given near equal importance by the respondents. This confirms that university selection is a complex decision making process, as was discussed by Bone.