Interrogating the crisis in higher education marketing: the CORD model

Purpose – Higher education (HE) marketing the world over is in a state of crisis that manifests itselfon three fronts. First, there continues to be sizeable resistance towards the marketing idea in theacademy of many universities across the world. Second, HE itself has failed to identify its corebusiness without which the sector can not have a firm marketing foundation. Third, HE marketing hasnot adequately domesticated itself and continues to rely on imported wisdom from the business sector.The purpose of this paper is to explore these problems using evidence from international research andpropose a curriculum focused marketing model which should help refocus HE marketing, domesticateit appropriately and reduce the internal resistance with which it is frequently associated.Design/methodology/approach – The paper begins by examining the imperatives formarketisation in HE. It then reviews the extent of the three obstacles using evidence from researchin different parts of the world. It concludes by offering a curriculum focused marketing model (CORD)which could serve the basis for future HE marketisation.Findings – Based on wide ranging data from the developed and less developed countries, obtainedthrough national and regional surveys and a review of secondary findings, the paper suggests that away out of this crisis is for universities to identify their core business as the development of theircurricula and to base their marketing on a proposed curriculum centred marketing model.Originality/value – The CORD model represents an attempt at addressing the crisis that HEmarketing faces today.Keywords Higher education, Marketing strategy, Curriculum developmentPaper type Research paper