BUS602: Marketing Management

Considering the results obtained during this study, the universities in Malaysia can take advantage of this through developing an understanding of the factors which play a key role in university selection. According to Harvey and Busher, like other industries, the education industry should also recognize the needs and preferences of potential customers if they want to influence their university choice. This is especially pertinent to international students who are planning to study abroad. The result of this study shows that the institutions should develop better understanding of what a prospective student is looking for, and also make sure that those strategies should be formulated which enhance the image of the university on a long term basis. It has also been confirmed from the results that for universities brand is not a logo, crest, motto, or slogan. It is the image developed in the minds of the people when they hear or see a name or symbol of some university or institute.

The general finding of our study confirms our original assumptions that all four dimensions of customer based brand equity will have influence on consumer's perception of brand.

In view of the research findings, it has also been recommended that universities should also focus on advertisement to increase awareness, especially at the international level, so that the potential students consider their name as an alternative when selecting a university. 

The study also confirmed that top of mind awareness is an important strategy to encourage potential customer in making their purchasing preference based on advertisement. Even though in the production industry promotional activities using media are very popular, in the education industry, more creative techniques to reach the potential customer should be adopted. These may include encouraging students to participate in educational activities like educational conferences, seminars and workshops by providing financial incentives, etc.

Another result obtained from this research is that the universities with high image are expected to have high quality in all fields. Along with good quality in education, other services like cleanliness, allied services, non-academic services, convenient operating hours, etc should also be given top priority. As these are also considered to be factors that enhance the image of the university, this will give the university a competitive advantage and standardization.

Another recommendation is that the university should also provide financial incentive to local as well as international students. This strategy will help universities in getting high quality international and local students who would not normally enroll due to unaffordability. According to Kotler et al, image is a trust of the consumers for a certain product. This means that the consumer may recommend the university to others, based on their satisfaction which is built over time from experience.

Conclusively, the outcome of this study shows that university image has a great influence on student's/customer's perception. Therefore, universities are required to work continuously to develop their brand. University management should keep in mind that many famous old names are no longer around due to poor management of image.