Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/40662

Title

Taking the brand offshore: the challenge of marketing transnational programs: a three country perspective

Author(s)

Smart, Jeffrey;  Goold, Louise;  Ho, James

Abstract

Transnational education opportunities have transformed international education. Students can choose to study a foreign program overseas, a foreign program in their own country, or a foreign program offered in another country. Marketing a branch campus or offshore program is not the same as traditional international education marketing. Taking an institutional brand to another country presents its own marketing challenges: ‘Is the overseas campus the same quality as the Australian campus?’, ‘If I wanted an Australian degree I’d go study in Australia’. Where the offshore and home campus are promoting themselves in the same market, the opportunities for brand and channel conflict are significant. Managing a brand offshore and onshore can present ongoing difficulties for marketing departments. Swinburne University of Technology has a branch campus in Kuching, in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. The campus has its own marketing and communications team and resources, but collaborates very closely with Swinburne International in Melbourne to ensure that international marketing brings maximum benefit. In 2006, Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne and Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, signed a landmark agreement to offer joint degrees at Swinburne in Australia. The program is marketed internationally by Swinburne International, under both institutional brands. This paper will present some of the lessons learned by Swinburne in marketing two major transnational programs. How are issues of ‘quality’ resolved in a marketing context? What role do an institution’s home and host nation play in marketing transnational programs? How do institutional brands work when taken out of their original setting? Do branch campuses threaten the masterbrand, or compete with it for students? Can marketing departments resolve the tensions inherent in promoting main and branch campuses? How are issues of channel management resolved? Should one brand dominate or is it possible to find a happy medium? Bridging the cultural divide – the challenges of working with 2 separate institutions, with different cultures and approaches to marketing, in 2 countries The paper will reflect on the challenges faced in promoting an Australian university in Malaysia, and a US program in Australia, and will reveal the different approaches taken in both. The paper will also consider the ways in which these transnational programs have positively impacted the reputation of Swinburne University of Technology.

Publication type

Conference paper

Research centre

Swinburne University of Technology. Swinburne International

Research centre

Swinburne University of Technology. Sarawak Campus

Source

Paper presented to Quality and Outcomes: Fulfilling the Promise: the 21st Australian International Education Conference, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 09-12 October 2007

Publication year

2007

Keyword(s)

Australia;  Branding;  Case studies;  Colleges;  Higher education;  International students;  Malaysia;  Marketing;  Offshore campuses;  Student recruitment;  Swinburne University of Technology;  United States;  Universities

Publisher

IDP Education Australia

ISSN

2002-0509 (series ISSN)

Publisher URL

http://www.aiec.idp.com/past_papers/2007.aspx

Copyright

Copyright © 2007 IDP Education Australia Limited.