SWOT Analysis Of DMU And Strategies For Competitive Advantage

Part 1

Strengths

• University Reputation and Recognition: The De Montfort University in Leicester has achieved the recognition as one of the top youth universities across the world. The university has achieved immense recognition as a university graded Gold under the facility of Teaching and Excellence Framework (TEF) (Dmu.ac.uk 2018). This Gold award has been regarded as a appreciation of its consistence teaching excellence as well as learning on recommendation at the University along with the astonishing and unexpected impact that it has on the students.
• Renowned Teaching Faculty and larger community- TheUniversity comprises of eminent teaching faculty with effective teaching techniques that has facilitated the students to comprehend the areas of their course in an improved manner.  
• Diversity- DMU acknowledges a unique amalgamation of varied cultural backgrounds(Dmu.ac.uk 2018). This concept of diversity has consistently facilitated the university to drive innovation and promote creativity.
• Numerous courses currently offered by DMU – 24*7 online assistance and format- DMU has an active online support and format available for the international students round the clock to gather detailed information about the courses (Fleisher and Bensoussan 2015). DMU further offers several courses namely, undergraduate, postgraduate courses, full time, part-time and Foundation courses comprising subjects of humanities, science, technology, fashion designing and accountancy.

Weaknesses

• Lack of Economic Resources- DMU is being unable to provide sufficient economic resources and funding to its foreign students
• High tuition fee structure- Being one of the most renowned universities, DMU has an exclusive tuition fee structure proposed for its students. The UG course vary from £12,750- 13,250 and Post Graduate course ranging from £13,100 to around £14,000 (Ashcroft and Foreman-Peck 2013).

Opportunities

• Expansion of Worldwide Focus- DMU has been preparing its student for international labor market (Radice 2013). The University has been concentrating on students and its research aid needs in order to establish innovation.
• Increasing accessibility and cultural mixture – DMU has enabled to reach to a wider range of learners’ demands and requirements by the adaptation conventional teaching techniques as well as providing interpersonal and online learning opportunities (Guerrero, Cunningham  and Urbano 2015).
• Long-term education for intellectual and academic enrichment- DMU wants the students to achieve all possible opportunities to pursue respective academic careers at any level.

Threats

• Intensive competitiveness from other reputed universities- DMU in recent times has been experiencing a tight competition from some renowned institutes such as the University of East London and Central Lancashire University (Fleisher and Bensoussan 2015). These academic institutes are providing a vast range of courses to gather both national and global students for its distance learning.

The immense popularity and recognition of DMU along with its renowned faculty-teaching faculty can be sited as major areas of strengths for the university. Another major area of potency is the 24 hours online assistance for the global clients. However, high tuition fee structure can be positioned as a major opportunity for the university. DMU has further provided expansion of global concentration and enduring academic aid for intellectual and academic enrichment. However, the recent intensive competitiveness from other academic institutes have been posed as major threat to the university.

Porter’s Five Forces Analysis of De Monte University

Threat of New Entrants- Higher education in UK has been recognized as a concentrated market structure that is attracting a wide range of students from across the globe. The UK education market being extremely attractive is showing significant developments where the country is holding the second position after UK and earns over 25 billion pounds from this sector (de Haan 2015). However, a measured and complex procedure of acquiring university entitlement can be sited as one of the chief obstacles for potential entrants.

Threat from existing competitors- Higher education market in UK has faced extreme intensification worldwide. The Higher Education Funding Council of England has been directly aiding more than 100 institutes in UK (Lumby and Foskett 2016).

Threat from Substitute- The level of threat from its substitute is reasonable as DMU offers a wide range of courses for online and distance education in comparison to its competitors.

Power the Suppliers- The power of suppliers majorly caters the governmental policies and regulation in order to offer an improved approachable education domain in UK.

Power of Buyers- This level of power of suppliers is relatively high because of the increasing rate of online and distance education across the world (Radice 2013). Thus, there is a plethora of options for students to select in the domain of distance learning.

Recommendations for DMU to address cultural and trust issues through its website

In order to curtail various cultural and trust issues of students performing distance education, DMU must endorse its explicit cultural policies related to diversification and ethnic multiplicity. Further the university should establish an effective communication platform with the students, guardians as well as the educators and take immediate action on the issues.  

Methods of Online Communication Tools to Achieve Target Base

With the enormously intensifying higher education market in UK, DMU must implement social networking as an effective tool to reach its potential target base. Major section of students belong to the youth population, thus, DMU must endorse its services and recognition on social media to attract an increased rate of youth population for distance learning such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube (Stromquist and Monkman 2014). Furthermore, DMU can also launch its official application, which would contain all relevant and useful information about the university and its services.

References

Ashcroft, K. and Foreman-Peck, L., 2013. Managing teaching and learning in further and higher education. Routledge.

de Haan, H.H., 2015. Competitive advantage, what does it really mean in the context of public higher education institutions?. International Journal of Educational Management, 29(1), pp.44-61.

Dmu.ac.uk. 2018. About DMU. [online] Available at: https://www.dmu.ac.uk/About-DMU/about-dmu.aspx [Accessed 8 Apr. 2018].

Dmu.ac.uk.2018. International Home. [online] Available at: https://www.dmu.ac.uk/international/en/international.aspx [Accessed 8 Apr. 2018].

Fleisher, C.S. and Bensoussan, B.E., 2015. Business and competitive analysis: effective application of new and classic methods. FT Press.

Guerrero, M., Cunningham, J.A. and Urbano, D., 2015. Economic impact of entrepreneurial universities’ activities: An exploratory study of the United Kingdom. Research Policy, 44(3), pp.748-764.

Lumby, J. and Foskett, N., 2016. Internationalization and culture in higher education. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 44(1), pp.95-111.

Radice, H., 2013. How we got here: UK higher education under neoliberalism. ACME: An International Journal for Critical Geographies, 12(2), pp.407-418.

Stromquist, N.P. and Monkman, K. eds., 2014. Globalization and education: Integration and contestation across cultures. R&L Education.