Marketing and Competitive Environment in Australia

Question: Discuss about the Marketing and Competitive Environment in Australia. Answer: Introduction In the past few years, there has been an escalation in the competition between providers of higher education within one of the most attractive education market, Australia (Coaldrake Stedman, 1997). The forthcoming years are bound to see another steep escalation in the manner as well as intensity of this competition as globalization picks up even more pace. More than that, advancement in technologies is also leading a clear path for this competition to intensify, along with that the deregulation of the domestic sector has also continued, and the per capita funding has reduced further (Bradley, 2003; O?Keefe, 2005). As this market continues to become much more mature, we will see that even greater elements are added in the mix for better competition as well as contestability majorly for the interests of efficiency and productivity (Brett, 2000) Exacerbating this entire situation are the reports that there has been a slackening in the demand of overseas students in the traditional market. These are the students whose fees have kept many universities from sinking and these universities are still afloat (Illing, 2005d). We can say that there has been an increase in the local market as well as one can see that many international and foreign names have also popped up searching for newer and better opportunities in the Australian Market (Cohen, 2005). We also see a rise in the number of new providers who are offering training and education in many more non-traditional forms (Marginson Considine, 2000). As we see that various Australian public universities are maneuvering for a higher market position, one can doubt up on the capacity of the market to hold all and give enough opportunities to prosper and survive (Brown, 2005a). Marketing and competitive environment Now for this part of the paper, we went through a thesis report by Donald J. Bradman, The Quest of Australian Public Universities for Competitive Advantage in a Global Higher Education Environment where he had interviews with high end representatives of different universities in Australia and we have also gone through the official sites of this university. The university with which we are concerned with is The University of Queensland (sandstone). Some of the top assumptions and implications which we could make out from all these sources were that(Bradman, 2007) :- The level of intensification for the rise in level of competition has been different for different universities but the University of Queensland has been the in the group which is highly concerned with this intensification. A wide range of strategies have been applied by different universities and the University of Queensland is no different in response to this rapid intensification of competition. As we get to know from the prospectus of universities, strategy for 2014-17, university under the situation of competition, change and uncertainty will seek to develop and identify appropriate and new strategic priorities in both research nd teaching and also in development, diversification of resource base, management and in use of technology. Now for further understanding the planning and competiton strategy for the university, we need to go through this screenshot from the prospectus if university for the ongoing batches. Let us observe it:- So, if we go through it quickly, the salient features which one can understand are what cover up basically both the competitive as well as marketing environment(Queensland, 2014) . They are trying to nullify racism or discrimination based on the basis of ethnicity and they wish to attract and keep students from round the world with only qualification being based on educational level.The students will be selected specifically on the basis of merit and potentialImprove and increase participation of students from under represented cohorts for example the indigenous Australian students.Increasing the rate of students retention by better and interactive support systems They focus of the University is at providing an environment where in the main focus is on teaching and the students and all the other things are secondary. This ensures that the students and their parents feel secure while sending their children to university and they can be assured that the utmost importance would be given to the knowledge which the students can gain from their experienced faculty and facilities within the university.Support and adhere to innovative teaching methods which will deliver better outcomes to the studentsProvide students with high quality open resources and learning materialsProvide students with international experience with the help of international internships The university wants to lead the pack in the field of online education and be a role model for other universities and be the first priority for all the students locally and internationally. This will ensure students gain experience and also enhance the quality of teachers and teaching.Develop and publicise innovative online portals and materials which enrich the on-campus experience and also enhance their international profile.Utilise the information system or improving quality of students learning experience. Conclusion In the end, we can end our paper saying that the Australian market is seeing an increase in the number of educational providers but with that the quality might also got affected. Although, University of Queensland has embedded this fact in its prospectus for current session that education needs to be of top quality in order to lead the pack of top class universities. The following paper gives us a very good idea about the different marketing and competitive environment faced by the University of Queensland. References Cohen, D. (2005). U.S. giant casts large shadow. Australian, 17 August, p.44. Coaldrake, O. P. Steadman, L. (1997). On the Brink: Australia's Universities Confronting their Future. St. Lucia: University of Queensland Press. Bradley, D. (2003). University governance. (Speech at Business Higher Education Round Table Conference, 25 November.) www.unisa.edu.au, accessed 12 December 2006. Illing, D. (2005). Overseas numbers softening. Australian, 16 February Donald J. Bradman. (2007). The Quest of Australian Public Universities for Competitive Advantage in a Global Higher Education Environment University of Queensland. (2014). STRATEGY PLAN 2014-17)