The role of HEI brands as key drivers for students and recruiters' choices in a competitive marketplace.

In recent years there has been a sharp increase of competition in the higher education sector, particularly from the private sector. Given the budgetary constraints of families but also of HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) one of the main challenges faced by this competitive market is to combat the decline in student numbers.

At the same time, unemployment rates of newly qualified graduates is critical at a time where the labor market has undergone profound challenges and cannot absorb most of the new graduates. Students now deal with a career perspective marked by uncertainty. In this context, knowledge of the labor market coupled with the existence of a strong and recognized HEI brand can make a difference on the students’ choices of courses and institutions, but also, and more importantly on the recruitment choices made by companies.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the attributes of a HEI brand as perceived by three different stakeholders: institution (top management, teaching and non-teaching staff), students and recruiters. Specifically, it seeks to understand which characteristics of the HEI dictate students’ choices and which brand attributes are most valued by the labor market when recruiting.

Regarding methodological decisions, this research unfolded a case study of a private HEI teaching marketing courses, whereby seven dimensions analyzed: changes in education, sustainability, attractiveness, importance of using marketing strategies, brand attributes, elements of students’ choices, relationships with the labor market. Data collection was based on two techniques: eight interviews to internal and external stakeholders and one focus groups with students. Two different interview guides were designed: one adjusted to interview internal stakeholders (lecturers, staff and top management) and one adjusted to interview recruiters from companies that had previously hired graduate students from this HEI. The focus group included nine graduate students from different academic years, and encompassed projective techniques that allowed us to explore students’ feelings and associations with the HEI brand, including word associations, imagery associations, and personifications.

This study contributes to deepen our knowledge regarding IES’s relationships with different stakeholders, particularly with entities from the labor market. By exploring, understanding and interpreting perceptions and brand associations of different groups of stakeholders regarding the HEI brand, institutions are better equipped to create positive, lasting and well planned relationships with their students but also with companies that ultimately play an utterly important role in deciding to hire students graduated from a particular brand of HEI.