Purpose
In response to global competitive challenges, universities recently started developing better strategies for branding. Branding has been used as a differentiation strategy for higher ...education institutions. As the number of universities (public and private) has increased, so has the competition for students, the universities in Turkey have faced similar challenges. The main objective of this study is to investigate, from the students' perspective, the role of interactions of brand equity dimensions in creating a strong university brand.
Design/methodology/approach
Compiling from the literature, the study used a survey instrument to collect data at a comprehensive public university in Turkey. To assure representation of students across the campus, the sample included students at freshmen, sophomore, junior, senior and graduate levels from all major colleges.
Findings
Based on 1,300 usable surveys from students across all colleges of a major state university, the PLS-SEM model revealed significant relationships among the brand equity dimensions of brand awareness, perceived quality, brand association, learning environment, emotional environment, brand trust, brand loyalty and university reputation. These brand dimensions collectively and/or individually influence the students' university learning experiences that may result in creating strong university brand equity.
Research limitations/implications
The study was conducted at a government-owned university in Turkey capturing only students' perceptions. Future research could benefit from perceptions of other stakeholders like faculty, staff, alumni, and parents and testing the relationships for different types of universities. This study discusses the implications for developing university branding strategies.
Originality/value
The study empirically tests the validity and effects of the university brand equity dimensions with Turkish university students using structural equation modeling (SEM). It confirms that the measures of brand equity dimensions are also applicable in a different country.
It has long been assumed that college admission should be a simple matter of sorting students according to merit, with the best heading off to the Ivy League and highly ranked liberal arts colleges ...and the rest falling naturally into their rightful places. Admission to selective institutions, where extremely fine distinctions are made, is characterized by heated public debates about whether standardized exams, high school transcripts, essays, recommendation letters, or interviews best indicate which prospective students are "worthy."
And then there is college for everyone else. But what goes into less-selective college admissions in an era when everyone feels compelled to go, regardless of preparation or life goals? "Ravenwood College," where Alex Posecznick spent a year doing ethnographic research, was a small, private, nonprofit institution dedicated to social justice and serving traditionally underprepared students from underrepresented minority groups. To survive in the higher education marketplace, the college had to operate like a business and negotiate complex categories of merit while painting a hopeful picture of the future for its applicants.Selling Hope and Collegeis a snapshot of a particular type of institution as it goes about the business of producing itself and justifying its place in the market. Admissions staff members were burdened by low enrollments and worked tirelessly to fill empty seats, even as they held on to the institution's special spirit. Posecznick documents what it takes to keep a "mediocre" institution open and running, and the struggles, tensions, and battles that members of the community tangle with daily as they carefully walk the line between empowering marginalized students and exploiting them.
Mistrust in science and scientists may adversely influence the rate of COVID-19 vaccination and undermine public health initiatives to reduce virus transmission.
Students, staff and faculty responded ...to an email invitation to complete an electronic survey. Surveys included 21-items from the Trust in Science and Scientists Inventory questionnaire. Responses were coded so higher scores indicated a higher trust in science and scientists, A linear regression model including sex, age group, division, race and ethnicity, political affiliation, and history of COVID-19, was used to determine variables significantly associated with trust in science and scientists scores at the p < 0.05 level.
Participants were mostly female (62.1%), Asian (34.7%) and White (39.5%) and students (70.6%). More than half identified their political affiliation as Democrat (65%). In the final regression model, all races and ethnicities had significantly lower mean trust in science and scientists scores than White participants Black (Formula: see text= -0.42, 95% CI: -0.55, -0.43, p < 0.001); Asian (Formula: see text= -0.20, 95% CI: -0.24, -0.17, p < 0.001); Latinx (Formula: see text= -0.22, 95% CI: -0.27, -0.18, p < 0.001); Other (Formula: see text= -0.19, 95% CI: -0.26, -0.11, p < 0.001). Compared to those identifying as Democrat, all other political affiliations had significantly lower mean scores. Republican (Formula: see text =-0.49, 95% CI: -0.55, -0.43, p < 0.0001); Independent (Formula: see text =-0.29, 95% CI: -0.33, -0.25, p < 0.0001); something else (Formula: see text =-0.19, 95% CI: -0.25, -0.12, p < 0.0001). Having had COVID-19 (Formula: see text= -0.10, 95% CI: -0.15, -0.06, p < 0.001) had significantly lower scores compared to those who did not have COVID-19.
Despite the setting of a major research University, trust in science is highly variable. This study identifies characteristics that could be used to target and curate educational campaigns and university policies to address the COVID19 and future pandemics.
Establishing deeper engagement with industry and society has recently become a key concern of universities. To pursue this goal, universities—as well as other public research organizations—have ...started to reorganize internal resources, to redefine their activities and policies, and to redesign their overall knowledge transfer (KT) business models. As a consequence, in several countries a wide heterogeneity exists in the types of KT models adopted and in the outcomes arising from KT activities. By performing a cluster analysis and a multinomial logit regression on an extensive dataset that almost covers the entire population of Italian universities, in this study we analyze (1) whether models of KT characterized by a broader engagement with society are gradually substituting models more focused on technology commercialization, and (2) which factors related to the availability of resources and universities’ strategic intention better explain existing differences. Insights from the study might help university managers to define the most appropriate actions to fully undertake the implementation of the university third mission.
Emerging studies on university stratification have often attributed the developmental gaps between universities to the popularization of new public management in contexts where market mechanisms ...prevail in higher education governance. However, less attention has been paid to how state powers continue to mediate university stratification alongside market influence. Embracing the competitive emphasis of new public management, the Chinese state has launched a new world-class university scheme, the Double World-class (DWC) Project, replacing the past one, Project 985/211. Tracing the continuities and changes from Project 985/211 to the DWC Project, this study examines the mechanisms and outcomes of China’s university stratification at two levels. Firstly, the DWC Project has reproduced and reinforced the overall stratified landscape of China’s universities. The state-designated hierarchy of elite and non-elite universities is reproduced in a more complex form of market-based stratification through what we propose as a “lock-in cycle” mechanism. Secondly, the DWC Project is nonetheless reshuffling the internal stratification of elite universities in three aspects: privileged identities are becoming volatile, which catalyzes inter-university competition financed by local governments; the distinction between central and local universities is collapsing when stratification becomes increasingly discipline-based; and the rising market-based stratification is challenging the state-designated hierarchy and the lock-in cycle.
Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) are the main institutions responsible for the establishment of university–industry partnerships. R&D contracts exemplify the indirect mechanisms through which ...enterprises and universities collaborate on a win–win basis. This study addresses organizational and institutional aspects that act as drivers for the establishment of successful university–industry partnerships. First, a series of regression models explain the determinants of R&D contracts. These models include two main dimensions: the university and the technology transfer office. Second, further analysis empirically explores whether universities in regions with a favorable environment enjoy greater active involvement in this particular knowledge transfer mechanism. The empirical study analyzes 2010 data for Spanish public universities. Results indicate that successful R&D contracts depend on university and TTO characteristics, and the university's location. The paper also presents a set of managerial implications for improving the establishment of university–industry partnerships.
There is a growing impetus, from university students and administrations, to decolonise the curriculum and develop diverse reading lists. Yet, there is limited theoretical or empirical analysis of ...the authorship of current reading lists to justify this imperative. The present study developed and applied a method for auditing the authorship on reading lists of two modules, one from science and one from social science, in a research-intensive British university. The paper explores whether these reading lists can be considered descriptively representative of the student body or scholarly community. The analysis of reading lists found empirical basis for concerns that university curricula are dominated by white, male and Eurocentric authors, with some exceptions. The reading lists did not represent the diverse local student body but came closer to representing the demographic profile of academic staff. To interpret these findings, the paper argues that reading lists have a role to play in decolonising our universities, and offer opportunities to critique and deconstruct disciplinary boundaries. Further research is required to explore student and staff views of reading lists and the meaning of diversity, to evaluate existing tools, and address barriers to decolonising our curricula on a global scale.
This paper investigates historical and current developments regarding governmental policies aimed at enhancing spatial equity (access) or decentralisation of higher education provision in three ...countries—Australia, Canada and Norway. We then shed light on the links or interrelations between policy objectives and initiatives and institutional diversity and regional development more broadly. We found evidence of convergence trends in Norway and Canada resulting in the rise of hybrid organisational forms, as well as the critical importance of policy frameworks in either maintaining or eroding the traditional binary divide. The cross-country data suggest a rather mixed or nuanced picture when it comes to regional development. Finally, the paper identifies a number of key challenges facing the systems, suggests possible ways of tackling them and sheds light on avenues for future research.
This paper documents a large scale, long-term autonomy dataset for robotics research collected on the University of Michigan’s North Campus. The dataset consists of omnidirectional imagery, 3D lidar, ...planar lidar, GPS, and proprioceptive sensors for odometry collected using a Segway robot. The dataset was collected to facilitate research focusing on long-term autonomous operation in changing environments. The dataset is composed of 27 sessions spaced approximately biweekly over the course of 15 months. The sessions repeatedly explore the campus, both indoors and outdoors, on varying trajectories, and at different times of the day across all four seasons. This allows the dataset to capture many challenging elements including: moving obstacles (e.g. pedestrians, bicyclists and cars), changing lighting, varying viewpoint, seasonal and weather changes (e.g. falling leaves and snow), and long-term structural changes caused by construction projects. To further facilitate research, we also provide ground-truth pose for all sessions in a single frame of reference.
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