Bringing the Concept of Marketing to Higher Education

Colleges and universities today are embarked on what has been called by some a management revolution. After decades of maintaining an administrative status quo, current societal needs and circumstances are such that better modes of operation and administration are mandatory. In the process of attempting to take some giant steps forward, higher education is wisely borrowing many management and operating techniques from other institutions, especially business and government. This borrowing is taking place on two fronts. In the general administrative area, universities are adopting sound planning concepts, developing more sophisticated budgeting systems, initiating institutional research programs, and tying these all together in meaningful, often computerized, management information systems. On a second front, many universities are developing higher levels of competence in specific operational areas such as finance, personnel administration, and purchasing. A major operational activity that still remains largely unappreciated by higher education, however, is marketing. The term to most people connotes an activity peculiar to the business world alone. To many it is synonymous with selling or advertising. Even to those who accept marketing in its broader context,