Arts said:
diddly-squat said:
Arts said:
lol.. true true… I could tell some marketing stories as well, but I still work here and some people know where ‘here’ is, so I’ll play nice.
I get a bit of glimpse into executive level the fish bowl and while it seems to me a lot of the teaching and learning and research staff don’t really get the need for functions like marketing and the like, it’s easy to forget that universities are also very large businesses.
that’s funny.. and also incorrect that academics ‘forget’ the business side. From a perspective of ‘in business’ it’s very clear that a marketing department is needed… what’s laughable are their methods and complete disregard for the nuts and bolts of what the university focus should be – education. Money is needed – sure.. but at what cost? the marketing department sees only the beginning.. the part where the numbers look good and the payments are made – but they do this at the cost to the educational output. Not everyone should go to university – there I said it.
As you know, marketing is not (just) student recruitment, in fact most Go8 universities have separate marketing and recruitment (both domestic and international) functions.
The frustration I sense (either correctly or incorrectly) from your post is that there could be an argument that too much money is allocated to functions that are not purely focused on teaching and learning outcomes, and look maybe that’s true, but from what I’ve seen a lot marketing effort also goes into things like supporting promotion of research outcomes, promotion and support of high performing or otherwise noteworthy individuals within the organisation, promotion and support of programs to assist disadvantaged students, and general brand recognition/promotion in what is a very competitive domestic and international market. They also provide a means for universities to invest back into the student body through employment of roles like student ambassadors.
Not sure which uni you are at, but I’d be interested to understand what “disregard of the nuts and bolts” means to you and what you’d do different if you were VC.
I also completely agree with you that not everyone should, or even needs to, go to university, but I do also believe that no one should be denied that opportunity if it’s something they want to try and if they can meet the minimum entry requirements.