Sydney University: Education System And Market Segmentation

Diverse and Sustainable Education System

Question:

Discuss about the Marketing Management for Tertiary Education Standards Agency.

Sydney University is one of the oldest universities in Australia that provide enhanced learning experiences to the domestic and international students. The Sydney University has been established in 1850 and the total endowment of the university is A$1.8 billion as of 2013. The Sydney University in Australia provided enhanced learning opportunities to the students. The higher education system in Australia is made up of different universities and other higher educational institutions. Universities in Australia facilitate to enhance the qualification framework in an effective manner. The national regulator for the higher education sector is the Tertiary Education Standards Agency (TESA) (Devlin 2013). Sydney University accumulates their majority of the public funding from the Australian government (The University of Sydney 2016). The Australian government facilitates to enhance the education system in Universities by providing adequate funds. It is under the Higher Education Support Act 2003(Norton 2012). Sydney University in Australia provides nationally recognized qualifications including Diplomas, Associate Degrees, Advanced Diplomas, Bachelor Honors Degrees, Bachelor Degrees, Graduate Certificates, Graduate Diplomas Doctoral Degrees, and Masters Degrees (Amaral, Jones and Karseth 2013).

Sydney University provides an essential contribution creating adiverse andsustainable economy with opportunities for better jobs. It can be identified that the Australian universities are internationally recognized for their superior quality research and teaching process. Moreover, the Australian universities have a diverse international character in both their outlook and student profile. It has been published in a recent report that Sydney University possesses around 33,505 undergraduates and 19,284 post-graduate (Bennett et al. 2012). There are some competitors of Sydney university including the Australian national university, Australian catholic university,  Bond university, Central Queensland university. The Sydney University engages a huge number of domestic and international students in the society. A wide range of the 

The Sydney University Australia is the world’s third most significant destination for the international tertiary students. In this particular segment, Australia has left the United States and the United Kingdom. The huge engagement of the international students has influenced the Australian government to contribute adequate funds to universities. Moreover, the enhanced and modernized education system in Australian Universities attracts a huge number of international students for obtaining such higher educational course. The education industry generates around $15 billion annually (Arnove, Torres and Franz 2012). Although the government has been providing adequate funds for upholding the higher education system, Sydney University recommends some steps to the government in order to improve the entire system in an effective manner. As per the recommendation, the Australian government should maintain the income-contingent HELP loans for lower-middle class students. Proper equity programs would facilitate them in enhancing the higher education system in Universities. The enhancement of the stock of affordable student housing would contribute students selecting Australian universities. In this context, the researcher provides a brief overview on education system of Sydney University. Moreover, the researcher focuses on the overall education industry in order to investigate the research topic in an effective manner.

Engagement of Domestic and International Students

A market segment is an important aspect of the higher education as the industry has been growing in an effective manner. For segmenting the higher educational market, the industry needs to evaluate the factors influencing educational organizations such as University, college, and another institute. Although the Australian universities have segmented their market according to the social cultures, they may segment the market based on the student’s division. The market segmentation includes geographic, demographic and psychographic, etc. The market segmentation may be conducted based on the six major students segments including aspiring academics, coming of age, career starter, career accelerator, industry switcher, and academic wanderer(Stromquist and Monkman 2014).

Figure 4: Student segment

(Source: Gikas and Grant 2013)

In this context, the sydney university implements several strategies in order to engage a huge number of students in the university. Sydney university has been targeting the domestic and international students through its wide range of courses. On the other hand,  sydney university targets the traditional and non-traditional students. In the Australian market, students are often influenced by the demographic factors. On the other hand, the social culture facilitates students to engage with the university for acquiring a higher degree. However, the Sydney university can segment their higher educational market as follows:

• Investigating Students prospective
• The location of students
• Analyze the culture engaging students
• The future objective of the students and,
• The requirement of students

The Sydney University mainly targets the international students as they provide a huge donation to the university as a course fees. On the other hand, the Sydney University has been focusing on the international students market, as they collect a huge amount of revenue from students from China, India, South Korea and Vietnam. The government support in higher education segment is remarkable. Others organizations also provide adequate support to the Higher Education sector. The following diagram shows the revenue proportion in higher education. In recent years, the Sydney University has been focusing on the mature students group as mature group has been increasing in the university.

Career accelerator and industry switcher are two most important segments of the students. It engages most of the non-traditional students. In these days, more mature people come to the University for achieving higher degrees (Gikas and Grant 2013). Hence, the mature student group is one of the major sets of students that enhance the growth of the industry in an effective manner. It has been seen that mature student group has been expanding in the market in recent years. The Sydney University needs to improvise the higher educational framework in order to engage a huge number of students in the industry (Stromquist and Monkman 2014).

Figure 5: Higher education revenue proportion by source

(Source: Gikas and Grant 2013)

Sydney University segments the market depending on some factors including social, cultural, political, economical and demographical factors. Although the political structure of the country influences the education industry in an efficient manner, they need to restructure or improvise the system in order experience the profitable outcome in the business (Seale 2013). Moreover, the government and other industry have determined to provide all sorts of facilities to the local universities for strengthening the higher educational framework in an appropriate manner.

Market Segmentation Strategies

Sydney University considers the demograhic factors for identifying students behaviour in an effective manner.  Demographic factors include age, culture, sex, etc. the mix Australian culture facilitates the organization to engage adequate students in the society (Chambers and Burkhardt 2015). Therefore, Sydney University considers the demographic factors to enhance its business profitability in an effective manner. In the demographic segment, the university experiences a huge engagement of mature students in the industry. The mature students group is growing in the industry in an effective manner. Consequently, the organization has been focusing on developing the infrastructure of the business in order to facilitate mature students group acquiring a higher educational degree (Cowen 2012).

Sydney University considers the geographic location as the major factor for defining student’s behaviour. The geographic location of the organization influences the students for acquiring the higher educational degrees. In the different geographical arena, the culture of the students differs. There are total 37 public universities in Australia. Most of them are placed in the urban areas (Gikas and Grant 2013). Consequently, student’s engagement is enhanced in the particular universities. Hence, it can be assessed that the geographical location is a major aspect for Sydney University’s business, as it attracts most of the domestic and international students in the society.

As per the management of Sydney University, Students of urban areas in Australia have been focusing on the postgraduates and graduates degree. Moreover, these students often depend on the advanced educational system. For example, the importance of the web-based learning has been increasing its popularity in the society, as it is a time-saving process (Norton 2012). On the other hand, the technological advancement has been enhancing the educational system in an effective manner.

The international students try to identify the cost-effective education system in order to obtain a higher degree. Although the Australian government has announced several policies for the international students regarding the course study and course fees, they need to develop the legislations and policies to restructure the educational framework for the international students (Trede, Macklin and Bridges 2012). Hence, the government needs to implement the improvised course fees for engaging a huge number of international students in the business.

By analyzing the education market, it can be assessed that the Australian universities differ in size, as the enrollments range is from 2000 to more than 40000 students(Gibb Haskins and Robertson 2012). Maximum numbers of universities are located in the major cities. However, others are located in the smaller regional centers. Hence, these distinct geographical locations allow students to behave in a separate way. The urban students are more of an educational oriented, whereas rural Australian students do not show adequate interest for achieving higher educational degrees from the universities.

Product:

As per the management of the Sydney University, the higher educational systems are intangible, variable and perishable. Consequently, it faces several challenges in the business. The majority of the education services are the combination of tangible and intangible elements. Nowadays, Australian education market focuses on enhancing the business opportunity by implementing several educational policies. In this context, the student’s characteristics indicate the individual components are facilitating the business in an effective manner.

Major Student Segments

Price:

The Sydney University engages several scholarship programs including undergraduate scholarships, postgraduate scholarship, research scholarships, and honors scholarship. Different scholarship program facilitates the Sydney University to engage a huge number of domestic and international students. In the Sydney university, the course fees for full-timeundergraduates is around AU$3,300 and the living expenses for the urban campuses are approximately AU$10,000 to AU$12,000. On the other hand, the international students have to pay AU$10,000 to AU$12,500 per year for general graduation course (Amaral, Jones and Karseth 2013). However, universities in Australia provide adequate opportunity to domestic and international students for achieving a higher educational degree. Moreover, they have engaged the scholarship system in order to facilitate brilliant students in the society.

Figure 6: Pricing Outcome

(Source: Devlin 2013)

Sydney University has been promoting their business in the international market through several advertising platforms including printing media, digital media and social media Promotion is another major instrument of marketing mix strategy. Sydney University would engage Australian television media for promoting services in the domestic market. On the other hand, the social media will allow them to advertise across the world. Through the involvement of several promotional activities, the educational industry in Australia can enhance its effectiveness in the global platform. Universities have already focused on the advertisement of their educational framework in order to enhance it a business opportunity in the global market (Nightingale and O’Neil 2012). The educational sector involves several promotional medium including social media, printing media, and digital media.

Place:

The domestic and international students select the Sydney university due to its wide range of study courses. Moreover, the university has several policies for students depending on their social and economical background.  Most of the universities are located in the cities in Australia. Therefore, it targets both domestic and international students. On the other hand, the Australian government focuses on developing universities in rural areas in order to engage a huge number of domestic students or the citizen of Australia. Most of the time, the international student targets to be admitted in the urban universities, as students easily obtain facilities including accommodation, foods and enhanced communication services in cities. It has been seen that the government collects a huge amount of revenue from universities located in the urban areas.

Figure 7: Marketing Mix (4Ps)

(Source:Gibb, Haskins and Robertson 2012)

Sydney University is a public university established in 1850. The chancellor of the university is Belinda Hutchinson and the vice chancellor is Michael Spence. The university consists to 5350 administrative staffs. Sydney University includes 52,789 students as of 2014. Undergraduate and graduate students are 33,505 and 19,284 respectively (The University of Sydney 2016). By analyzing the educational report, it can be assessed that nationality mix of Australia facilitates to enhance the market of the Sydney University. Most of the international students belong to China, India, Vietnam, and South Korea. These are the four major exporters in the Sydney University’s educational market (Nightingale and O’Neil 2012). Many business analysts have agreed with the fact that the international students have facilitated the Sydney University’s higher educational system to enhance its framework in an appropriate manner. Through the involvement of placing the international students in Sydney University, the Australian government earns a huge amount of revenue from the Sydney University. As discussed previously, the higher education market of Australia is placed in the fourth place. At present, there are 40 universities in Australia. Among 40 universities, 37 are public, and 3 are the private. The oldest university in Australia is Sydney University, started in 1850(Gibb, Haskins and Robertson 2012). As per the preliminary report, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows that international education has exported a record high of AUS$18.1 billion (US$13.14 billion) for the 2014-15 fiscal years(Krause et al. 2012). Hence, the particular data indicates an increment of 14.2% on the AUS$ 15.9 billion recorded on 2013. There were 198,347 commencements in higher education. It indicates that the students begin studies in Australia as of YTD June 2015. It indicates a growth of 7.2 % over the same period of 2014(Jones et al. 2012).

Growing Mature Students Group

Figure 1: International Student Commencement by Sector, 2012-2015

(Source:Trede, Macklin and Bridges 2012)

By analyzing the government data, it can be assessed that the country surpassed its previous record of 2010. The students related revenue have been calculatedas AUS$17 billion, which indicates the solid gain over the previous high of AUS$16.1 billion from 2010(Tight 2012).

Figure 2: Export income from education services, 2010-2014

(Source:Hazelkorn 2015)

The latest figures facilitate Australia to hold the position of third largest education exporter in the world after UK and US (Norton 2012). The government and other industries have shown clear determination strengthening its position as the major international study destination across the world.

By analyzing the market environment of the higher education sector, it can be assessed that the micro and macro environmental factors influence the education system in an effective manner. These environmental factors influence the decisions taken when creating a strategic marketing strategy. The microenvironmental factors indicate suppliers, public, distributors, and dealers, customers and competitors (Kahu 2013). On the other hand, the macro environmental factors suggest economy, demography, cultural forces, social factors, political structures, technology and the legal structures.

Micro Environment
Suppliers	The suppliers indicate the Universities in Australia. There are 40 universities in Australia including 3 private universities (Altbach2015).  Sydney University possesses around 33,505 undergraduates and 19,284 post-graduate The government has been focusing on the enhancement process of universities in Australia. The university has 5350 number of administrative staffs. The university got $35 million donation form Susan and Isaac Wakil foundation. The government and industries have determined to strengthen its structure by providing adequate resources to the existing universities. The Australian educational sector has been placed as the third largest education industry in the world after UK and US.
Public	‘Public’ indicates the overall student’s community in Australia. Australian educational sector has been growing in an effective manner.  the Sydney university enhances the public interest through its wide range of courses. Moreover, the enhanced learning process facilitates them in engaging a huge number of students in the business. The engagement of international students has facilitated to expand the industry. However, a particular section of the students is engaged with the private institution for achieving a higher educational degree. Sometimes, innovative systems and cost effective courses of private institution attract a huge number of students in the business (Sultan and Yin Wong 2012).
Customers	The customer of the business suggests domestic and international students in the Australian society. The mix Australian culture allows students to participate in the higher educational framework in the Sydney University (Bhandari and Blumenthal2013). Although the domestic students are high in numbers, Sydney university has been experiencing the expansion of international student’s market.
Competitors	Competitors of universities are the private institutions, which provide almost all educational degrees to the students. However, both domestic and international students prefer public universities in Australia, as they obtain a better educational framework in universities. Out of 40 universities, 37 are public. Hence, it indicates huge engagement of domestics and overseas students (Coxet al. 2014).

	Macro Environment:
Economy	In recent years, the Sydney University has been grown in an appropriate manner as the particular industry successfully accumulates the funding from the government (Cowen2012). By analyzing the macro-environment of higher education system in Universities, it can be assessed that the economy plays a major role in strengthening the entire educational framework in an effective manner. The cost of resources is accumulated from other industries also. Hence, the infrastructure of the industry has been enhancing in an effective manner through obtaining several supports from local government. Moreover, the collected revenue from the international students has facilitated the industry to enhance its economic condition.
Demography	Sydney university considers the demographic factors including age, social culture and economical background of the family. The demographic factors have also influenced the industry in enhancing the infrastructure. For example, there are 37 public universities located in Australia. Sydney University is one of the oldest universities in Australia and maximum international and domestic student desires to engage with the particular institution (Wilkinsand Huisman2012). Hence, it can be assessed that the locations of the Universities play a major role to engage a huge number of students in the system.
Cultural forces	The mix Australian culture facilitates the Sydney University to enhance its business opportunity in the global market. The Sydney university consists students from several cultural background of different countries including  China, India, Vietnam, South Korea In Australia, there are several cultural associated in the society. Most of the international students belong to India, China, South Korea and Vietnam. Hence, the mix cultural forces have facilitated the students to enhance their knowledge in an effective manner.
Social factors	Socio-economic condition of the domestic and international students has encouraged the Sydney university to review their scholarship process.Demographic changes can affect students to change the university frequently. Social factors often indicate the inability for the industry attracting qualified staffs in the system. Sometimes, students select different university due to the family pressures. However, the Australian culture allows students to select their favorite university for obtaining higher education.
Political structures	The political influences have facilitated to enhance the industry by contributing adequate funds and other resources. The political impacts on the higher education system often influence to modify the process in an effective manner. On the other hand, the government accumulates a huge amount of revenue from higher education industry (Rennieand Morrison2013). Hence, it contributes to strengthening country’s economic structure.
Technology	Although the Sydney University has been implementing several technologies in order to enhance the education system, they need to include innovative systems for the industry. For example, web-based learning has been increasing its popularity in recent years.
Legal structures	The legal structure indicates several policy and legislations implemented in the higher education department in Sydney university. As per the government policy, Australian universities need to reserve a certain amount of seats for the international students. The legal structure is responsible for executing the higher educational framework in an effective manner (Chambersand Burkhardt2015). The legal structures facilitate the Sydney University to uphold the work design in an effective manner.

Figure 3: Market Environment analysis

(Source: Hazelkorn 2015)

Sydney University needs to respond to the student’s demand and national and regional demand in an effective manner. Moreover, universities need to identify and adjust the partnership programs, which support access to the university for students belonging to the low-socio economic background. Sydney University needs to expand the flexible offerings for both domestic and international students. The government needs to take strong initiatives for expanding adequate opportunities for regional students to attend university. Local universities should adopt a whole-of-institution approach attracting a retaining Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and staffs. On the other hand, Sydney University would take some initiatives for developing the university sector. These initiatives are such as follows:

• Sydney University should improve the international student’s welfare and university experiences
• Sydney University must focus on the English language proficiency and opportunity for the cultural exchange.
• Sydney University needs to extend the student housing services along with the along with expansion of provision offshore
• They need to strengthen the international research links in order to globalize their curriculum activities.
• Universities should uphold successful equity programs so that students obtain equal facilities in the higher educational framework
• They should expand the sub-bachelor places in the universities for engaging a huge number of domestic and international students
• There should be adequate stock of affordable student housing

References:

Altbach, P., 2015. Higher education and the WTO: Globalization run amok.International Higher Education, (23).

Amaral, A., Jones, G.A. and Karseth, B. eds., 2013. Governing higher education: National perspectives on institutional governance (Vol. 2). Springer Science & Business Media.

Arnove, R.F., Torres, C.A. and Franz, S. eds., 2012. Comparative education: The dialectic of the global and the local. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

Bennett, S., Bishop, A., Dalgarno, B., Waycott, J. and Kennedy, G., 2012. Implementing Web 2.0 technologies in higher education: A collective case study. Computers & Education, 59(2), pp.524-534.

Bhandari, R. and Blumenthal, P., 2013. International students and global mobility in higher education: National trends and new directions. International Studies, 1(11), pp.316-317.

Chambers, A.C. and Burkhardt, J.C. eds., 2015. Higher education for the public good: Emerging voices from a national movement. John Wiley & Sons.

Cowen, R. ed., 2012. The World Yearbook of Education 1996: The Evaluation of Higher Education Systems. Routledge.

Cox, K., Imrie, B.W., Miller, A. and Miller, A., 2014. Student assessment in higher education: a handbook for assessing performance. Routledge.

Devlin, M., 2013. Bridging socio-cultural incongruity: Conceptualising the success of students from low socio-economic status backgrounds in Australian higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 38(6), pp.939-949.

Gibb, A., Haskins, G. and Robertson, I., 2012. Leading the entrepreneurial university: Meeting the entrepreneurial development needs of higher education institutions. In Universities in change (pp. 9-45). Springer New York.

Gikas, J. and Grant, M.M., 2013. Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones & social media. The Internet and Higher Education, 19, pp.18-26.

Gikas, J. and Grant, M.M., 2013. Mobile computing devices in higher education: Student perspectives on learning with cellphones, smartphones & social media. The Internet and Higher Education, 19, pp.18-26.

Hazelkorn, E., 2015. Rankings and the reshaping of higher education: The battle for world-class excellence. Palgrave Macmillan.

Jones, S., Lefoe, G., Harvey, M. and Ryland, K., 2012. Distributed leadership: A collaborative framework for academics, executives and professionals in higher education. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 34(1), pp.67-78.

Kahu, E.R., 2013. Framing student engagement in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 38(5), pp.758-773.

Kaiser, F., Maassen, P., Meek, L., van Vught, F., de Weert, E. and Goedegebuure, L. eds., 2014. Higher education policy: An international comparative perspective. Elsevier.

Krause, K.L., Barrie, S., Scott, G., Sachs, J. and Probert, B., 2012. Mapping learning and teaching standards in Australian higher education: An issues and options paper. Higher Education Evaluation Roundtable.

Nightingale, P. and O’Neil, M. eds., 2012. Achieving quality learning in higher education. Routledge.

Norton, A., 2012. Mapping Australian higher education. Carlton, Victoria, Australia: Grattan Institute. Retrieved June, 12, p.2012.

Norton, A., 2012. Graduate Winners: Assessing the public and private benefits of higher education. Melbourne, VIC: Grattan Institute.

Rennie, F. and Morrison, T., 2013. E-learning and social networking handbook: Resources for higher education. Routledge.

Seale, J., 2013. E-learning and disability in higher education: accessibility research and practice. Routledge.

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

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

Sultan, P. and Yin Wong, H., 2012. Service quality in a higher education context: An integrated model. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 24(5), pp.755-784.

The University of Sydney. (2016). . [online] Available at: https://sydney.edu.au/about-us/governance-and-structure/organisational-structure.html [Accessed 31 May 2016].

Tight, M., 2012. Researching higher education. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).

Trede, F., Macklin, R. and Bridges, D., 2012. Professional identity development: a review of the higher education literature. Studies in Higher Education, 37(3), pp.365-384.

Wilkins, S. and Huisman, J., 2012. The international branch campus as transnational strategy in higher education. Higher Education, 64(5), pp.627-645.