What does this quote by Walter Benjamin mean?
'There is no document of culture that is not at the same time a document of barbarism.'
by GPB
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
I'm not sure what he meant by it - I don't even know who he is.
Friday, 30 April 2010
From Yahoo Answers
People ask Yahoo Answers about Benjamin:-
I do not understand what Walter Benjamin really contributed to anything!! Can anyone give me a little clarity?
by miss kitty
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who is Walter Benjamin?
I do not understand what Walter Benjamin really contributed to anything!! Can anyone give me a little clarity?
by miss kitty
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who is Walter Benjamin?
From Yahoo Answers
People ask Yahoo about Benjamin:
Why do very intelligent people commit suicide?
I mean great intellectuals like Walter Benjamin, writers like Hemmingway, poets like Plath, gifted musicians like Cobain. I mean why is it that the intellectually gifted kill themselves?
by Ryan
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They realize how ****** up this world is...
Why do very intelligent people commit suicide?
I mean great intellectuals like Walter Benjamin, writers like Hemmingway, poets like Plath, gifted musicians like Cobain. I mean why is it that the intellectually gifted kill themselves?
by Ryan
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
They realize how ****** up this world is...
Fragments
Benjamin's writings bear obvious, as well as concealed, signs of the times and the circumstances in which he worked. A good deal of his writing was of an occasional nature - reviews, journal articles, talks, proposals - as Benjamin struggled to support himself and his writing following the failure of his attempt to win academic respectability. Benjamin proved himself adept at expressing concerns which were his own in a manner which suited the occasion and, to a degree, the audience. This was allied with his preference for exploring his own ideas through the analysis of the works of others. Benjamin's preference for shorter prose forms - aphorisms, letters, reviews, fragments, essays - best suited to his own literary-philosophical style had as its complement the intimation of a larger whole, a context never achieved. Today the most immediate context for Benjamin's beautifully-crafted fragmentary writings is that of his own life, and fate. But we should be wary of pre-judging (ironically because we are committed to the perspective of hindsight) the possibilities as they presented themselves to Benjamin. A radical incompleteness was both an article of faith for Benjamin and a guiding principle of the open and experimental way in which he conducted his thinking. It obscures, because it so exactly complements, the effects of 'unfavourable' circumstances - 'Dark Times': exile, poverty, isolation, personal misunderstandings and animosities, war - on the overall shape of his work.
A life of writing
Benjamin's life was almost wholly given over to writing, his own and that of others. Benjamin's absorption in writings - like those of Baudelaire or of the seventeenth century German dramatists - with whom his identification was intense but oblique and, to an extent, channelled, was another factor which encouraged the incompleteness of so much of his work. The 'completion' of his study of Baroque Trauerspiel - the only book-length study to have achieved 'final' form - may only have been possible because of the combination of external pressure (parents and university) and the fact that its guiding principles, its governing paradigm had already been superseded by the historical materialism to which Benjamin had been introduced. After the predictable rejection of the Trauerspiel-book by the university, Benjamin turned to what he thought would be an essay on the Paris arcades and the culture of the nineteenth century. Instead Benjamin fell under the spell which it was the aim of that study to diagnose and to break. From this original impulse (provoked in part by the Surrealists) grew the monumental 'Arcades' project, on which Benjamin worked for more than thirteen years without bringing it nearer to completion. At the centre of the project stood the brooding figure of Baudelaire, but Benjamin's attempt to extract a manageable study of the poet remained likewise incomplete. The monumental enterprise took shape as something intrinsically incomplete, rather like the Romantic architectural convention of the artificial ruin. Instead of a life's work, Benjamin left a life of work, a life's commitment to writing, to intellectual productivity, criticism and experiment.
The image of Benjamin
An appointment with the past: Much has changed and Benjamin's life and work has taken on an exemplary character. In regard to the areas of literature and history which he opened up we may regard him rather as he regarded the Romantics: as the last bearer of a living 'tradition'. His search for authentic relations with the past has itself become an object of meditation in the course of our own searches for a truer image of the past. The question of the past and our relation to it poses itself more urgently, yet more amorphously, in our own day than it did even in Benjamin's. The study of Benjamin's life and work may act as a prism through which such questions are drawn into focus.
Benjamin's own texts are by no means the only source through which his ideas have come down to us. Already the picture of Benjamin's reception is a massive, dense and confusing one.
During his life-time Benjamin witnessed, not without alarm, several of his acquaintances produce and publish books on themes, and utilising insights, which belonged to the complex of his unfinished major work, the Arcades: Siegfried Kracauer's study of Offenbach and the Second Empire (and his work on film), Adorno's application of the concept of interiority in his Kierkegaard-study, Ernst Bloch's treatment of the motifs of hieroglyph, montage, allegory, phantasmagoria in his Heritage of Our Times, and the journalistic study of the nineteenth century panorama, its 'highlights' and 'twilights' by Dolf Sternberger. All of these theorists survived.
Adorno incorporated many of Benjamin's insights into his own unfinished magnum opus, the Aesthetic Theory. The use of Benjamin's illuminations in studies of large scope, or different emphasis by George Steiner (for instance in his book on translation, After Babel), John Berger (e.g. Ways of Seeing), Susan Sontag (On Photography) complements on the theoretical side the extension of Benjamin's researches by more empirical historians in studies of areas where Benjamin had left his mark: such as Geist's study of Arcades as building type and Schivelbusch's Railway Journey which is the study of the development and impact of railways on the social fabric (also to an extent his study of lighting).
As Benjamin's legacy is built upon and diversifies, it is also necessarily transformed. The general currency of motifs and preoccupations which we share with Benjamin are one source of the difficulty we are presented with in approaching Benjamin's writings. Benjamin's unique, often idiosyncratic, principles of interpretation and understanding are another. They instruct and mislead, but more importantly they are simply not available, at least not in pure and integral form. Attempts to utilise Benjamin's own principles in understanding Benjamin historically are always in danger of lapsing into the bathos of empathy, and empathy, even with a mind as acute, subtle and historically self-aware as Benjamin's, is simply not enough. Meanwhile there are a host of 'rival' critical and hermeneutical approaches allied or indebted to that of Benjamin's claiming efficacy in disclosing the significance of Benjamin's example in the late twentieth century: the radical metaphysics of Jacques Derrida, the textual subtleties of the Yale 'de-constructionists', the hermeneutics of Peter Szondi, the critical approach of Peter Burger or the Marxist Terry Eagleton. The scope of Benjamin's influence, the variety of contexts into which he can be, and is being, translated, make the task of re-constructing Benjamin's own text one fraught with the dangers of misplaced emphasis, and misleading enthusiasm. It is impossible to ignore the fate, the after-life (which is after all the real life) of Benjamin's ideas and to focus simply on the man, or the writing, itself. But even if present needs and exigencies are the starting-point, and the myriad paths of Benjamin's 'influence' provide a grid of approaches to Benjamin's writings, there is much to be said for making an understanding of Benjamin's writings themselves, in their difficult and often frustrating production, the aim of our efforts.
Benjamin's own texts are by no means the only source through which his ideas have come down to us. Already the picture of Benjamin's reception is a massive, dense and confusing one.
During his life-time Benjamin witnessed, not without alarm, several of his acquaintances produce and publish books on themes, and utilising insights, which belonged to the complex of his unfinished major work, the Arcades: Siegfried Kracauer's study of Offenbach and the Second Empire (and his work on film), Adorno's application of the concept of interiority in his Kierkegaard-study, Ernst Bloch's treatment of the motifs of hieroglyph, montage, allegory, phantasmagoria in his Heritage of Our Times, and the journalistic study of the nineteenth century panorama, its 'highlights' and 'twilights' by Dolf Sternberger. All of these theorists survived.
Adorno incorporated many of Benjamin's insights into his own unfinished magnum opus, the Aesthetic Theory. The use of Benjamin's illuminations in studies of large scope, or different emphasis by George Steiner (for instance in his book on translation, After Babel), John Berger (e.g. Ways of Seeing), Susan Sontag (On Photography) complements on the theoretical side the extension of Benjamin's researches by more empirical historians in studies of areas where Benjamin had left his mark: such as Geist's study of Arcades as building type and Schivelbusch's Railway Journey which is the study of the development and impact of railways on the social fabric (also to an extent his study of lighting).
As Benjamin's legacy is built upon and diversifies, it is also necessarily transformed. The general currency of motifs and preoccupations which we share with Benjamin are one source of the difficulty we are presented with in approaching Benjamin's writings. Benjamin's unique, often idiosyncratic, principles of interpretation and understanding are another. They instruct and mislead, but more importantly they are simply not available, at least not in pure and integral form. Attempts to utilise Benjamin's own principles in understanding Benjamin historically are always in danger of lapsing into the bathos of empathy, and empathy, even with a mind as acute, subtle and historically self-aware as Benjamin's, is simply not enough. Meanwhile there are a host of 'rival' critical and hermeneutical approaches allied or indebted to that of Benjamin's claiming efficacy in disclosing the significance of Benjamin's example in the late twentieth century: the radical metaphysics of Jacques Derrida, the textual subtleties of the Yale 'de-constructionists', the hermeneutics of Peter Szondi, the critical approach of Peter Burger or the Marxist Terry Eagleton. The scope of Benjamin's influence, the variety of contexts into which he can be, and is being, translated, make the task of re-constructing Benjamin's own text one fraught with the dangers of misplaced emphasis, and misleading enthusiasm. It is impossible to ignore the fate, the after-life (which is after all the real life) of Benjamin's ideas and to focus simply on the man, or the writing, itself. But even if present needs and exigencies are the starting-point, and the myriad paths of Benjamin's 'influence' provide a grid of approaches to Benjamin's writings, there is much to be said for making an understanding of Benjamin's writings themselves, in their difficult and often frustrating production, the aim of our efforts.
Child Benjamin
Benjamin's own characterisations of his methods and inspiration are so lucid as to make more difficult the necessary task of critical detachment. His own autobiographical writings are precious and revealing about the places and the things with which he grew up. But the child Benjamin was a discovery (perhaps a projection) of Benjamin, the adult. A good deal is disclosed about childhood in general but even obviously significant facts about Benjamin's own childhood remain hidden. It is as if Benjamin needed a certain indirectness, a detour via the intellect and experience of others, of the literary figures he analyses, in order even to face or to uncover his closest concerns. Protected by the assumption that all understanding might be a form of - historical, not psychological -self-understanding, Benjamin pursued his self-image in the densest thickets of history.
Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Marketing Pan, ULC
One of the questions the LeedsArcadesProjects is often asked is 'What would be a good marketing plan for the ULC at Bradord University?' Well, your wait is over:-
The objectives of this report are to provide a marketing audit and marketing plan for the University Language Centre (ULC) at the University of Bradford (UoB). The report will comprise a current marketing audit, some recommendations for future market and product development, and a reflexive account.
The ULC was founded in 2007 and is responsible for all language provision, particularly English support, at the UoB. The ULC is part of the School of Lifelong Education and Development (SLED).
The ULC provides English language support to students at the UoB, as well as providing a diverse range of English, and other language courses. The ULC currently operates in international and internal markets.
2. Executive Summary
This report comprises a marketing audit for the ULC and a reflexive account. The ULC’s business can currently be divided into two market segments:
• International Market
• Internal Market
This report proposes a third segment:
• Local Market
The report suggests that the ULC could open up their foreign language provision to the local community, which would turn it into a profit making product.
ESOL for local Bradford people is seen as a new opportunity for the ULC, taking advantage of the huge demand in the city, and government funding.
Internationally, the report envisions the ULC marketed as an English Language School, developing new products and looking into new markets. Currently, the ULC is effectively a service provided by the UoB, providing progression onto other UoB courses, and is not marketed separately.
It is also recommended that the MA TESOL, should be promoted internationally (and indeed, nationally) with much more vigour.
It is suggested that the internal provision of English support could improve on take-up by a restructuring, so that it is more focused on students’ subject areas.
3. Business Mission
The ULC provides English support to students at the UoB (both home and international), teaches foreign languages, teaches various English courses (IELTS, IFP, the pre-sessional and co-sessional courses) which act as routes into the UoB for international students, and also teaches an MA in TESOL, which is a taught PG course. Further details of the ULC’s business mission as part of SLED can be found in the SLED 5 year plan which is reproduced in Appendix 1.
4. External Marketing Audit
4.1 Macro Environment – PEST Analysis
In order to properly examine the external macro-environment of the ULC this report will employ a PEST analysis. Since the vast proportion of the ULC’s business is to provide courses for international students to progress onto other UoB courses, this PEST analysis will outline the factors which affect international student recruitment. These factors will inform the analysis of the ULC’s future development.
Political/Legal
Overall, political/legal stability has a huge impact on ULC recruitment activities, especially in the non-EU student recruitment market. An example of this could be recent UK Border Agency regulation changes which could drive students away from the UK.
Recent government undergraduate funding cutbacks have made international recruitment a more significant growth area for the UoB (see Appendix 2 for more details).
Economic
The recruitment cycle of international students is bound to the economic cycle; as the global market suffers from recession, there is an associated concern over recruitment.
Social
Birth rate is the main engine of growth for students studying in HE. The UoB is focussing on ‘Glocal’ (Global and Local) markets, which is healthy, as local Bradford student, and international student markets are growing, where national markets are not.
International students currently regard western education as highly desirable.
Technological
Access to the internet and language software, no matter where students are, provides potential new teaching methods. For example, teaching English via Skype messenger and a webcam is a new trend.
Figure 1. PEST Analysis for ULC. From own design.
This macro-environment analysis demonstrates that there are factors which could seriously impact on the ULC’s current market segments. UK government visa changes, in particular can seriously affect whether students come to the UK to study.
4.2 The Market
The micro-environment of the HE language market in the UK can best be modelled using Porter’s 5 Forces (Porter, 1998). The following analysis relates to the issues for English language teaching at HE level, but since the ULC teaches mainly courses which allow progression to other courses, the analysis looks at broader factors affecting the international student market. This analysis will inform the recommendations for the ULC’s future marketing activities.
Figure 2. Porter’s Five Forces for HE English language market (Adapted from Porter, 1998)
The market for the ULC should potentially be booming, with high numbers of international students looking to come to UK institutions, as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Percentage growth of enrolments in UK HE by domicile from 1998 – 2008. (Ramsden, 2009)
So, it is clear that whilst the international student market is increasing, it is a very competitive market, and likely to become even more competitive in years to come. The market currently has a lot of new entrants, and the way the market functions is changing all the time. HE English language providers are also very dependent on political factors in the macro-environment, which makes their position uncertain.
Most of the students who come to the UoB to study the pre-sessional, or co-sessional English courses are coming for master level study. Ranking of their master’s course in the league table is very important to these students, and most of them come to the UoB to study its more prestigious courses. The UoB manages to attract a high number of international students; international students form 20% of UoB students, giving it the fourth highest proportion of international students in the UK. This means that currently the ULC is well positioned to provide English courses providing progression onto other UoB courses.
Internally, the ULC has a growing market, as students with lower IELTS scores are being admitted. The need for good English support, to ensure completion, is therefore high.
4.3 Competition
The 5 forces analysis demonstrates that industry competition is strong, and it is getting stronger. As well as other universities, private colleges and companies are competitive threats. Many charge fees well below those levied by accrediting institutions and are recruiting increasing numbers of foreign students. These institutions provide many of the same functions as the ULC, allowing routes of progression onto HE courses. Figure 4 looks at them in more detail.
University owned language centres VS private institutions
University owned Private institutions
Strategies Students pass internal test after the class and then move onto the master level course/study directly, which is a recruitment incentive. Into, Kaplan, etc, are national companies who can appear at recruitment fairs and recruit for all their institutions.
Standard product nationally
Strengths The possibility to provide continuous language support throughout students’ whole academic life.
Infrastructure which allows us to invite guest lectures from different schools onto the course. Course design can be tailored for more detailed and specific topics, as more students attend the course.
Recruitment not dependant on reputation of the university.
One product nationally
Weakness The numbers of students can vary every year.
Difficulties in recruiting short-term teachers as a result the quality of teaching might vary year by year.
Dependent on reputation of university. Operates more on a profits-pursuit, business level, so larger classes, not such good facilities.
Lack of the continuous link or relationship after students move on to their master’s study.
Market Size
Tends to depend on the university recruitment of international students. Possibly bigger; easy to achieve economies of scale.
Profitability Cost based financial strategy. Public sector so 3Es: Economy; Efficiency; and Effectiveness. Profits pursuit
Figure 4. University owned language centres Vs private institutions. From own design.
The ability to recruit internationally for all institutions is a huge benefit for these private institutions and they will be an increasing force in UK HE English provision. Many universities already use their services and they represent a serious threat for the ULC.
5. Internal Marketing Audit
5.1 Operating Results
Operating results for the ULC can be measured in terms of income and benefit to the UoB in the wider sense. With 95% (Frost, 2010) of IELTS students progressing to UoB courses, and 100% of IFP students doing likewise, clearly ULC courses are extremely beneficial to the UoB beyond their own profitability.
5.2. Strategic Issues Analysis
5.2.1 Marketing Objectives
Marketing objectives for the ULC currently, appear to be to continue providing routes into UoB courses, and to provide English support, ensuring completion. The SLED 5 year plan in Appendix 1 gives more details.
5.2.2 Market Segmentation
The ULC can currently be divided into the following market segments:
Figure 5. Current ULC Market Segments. From own design.
INTERNATIONAL
• IELTS preparation course (15 weeks and 30 weeks)
Students are often coming to Bradford anyway, but with a lower IELTS level. They are specifically attracted to certain courses such as Management, Economics or Computer security. The reputations of these courses are the main criteria of choice for the students.
• IFP
As above.
• Pre-degree programmes (summer pre-sessional courses and co-sessional course)
Students already coming to Bradford to study. Some students do these courses for the extra English practice.
• MA TESOL course - Mostly recruits from international students but also recruits some home students.
INTERNAL
• English Language Support Classes – For existing students.
• LFA – Foreign language modules, appealing to a mixture of international and home students, already at Bradford.
5.2.3 Competitive Advantages
The ULC not only provides high quality English language support for the university but also provides cross-cultural, language based, social events in C101, its language resources centre. C101 has become one of the main places where cool events take place on campus and where home students and international students actually meet and integrate. Increasingly C101 is seen as an extra benefit for the ULC and a key player in enhancing the student learning experience at the UoB.
So, we can say that the ULC’s competitive advantages are:
• The resources centre; C101
• The UoB’s prestigious courses
• High quality teaching
• Bradford City; Bradford is seen as a cheap and culturally accepting city with a high immigrant population.
5.2.4 Core Competences
The quality of teaching, the UoB infrastructure surrounding the ULC, and the learning support services in C101 are the ULC’s core competences.
5.2.5 Competitive Positioning
Bearing in mind the ULC’s competences and competitive advantages; they are positioned well in some respects. As a progression service they have a guaranteed income in an institution which has a high proportion of international students, and courses which are desirable to this group.
5.3 Marketing Mix Effectiveness
Products & Services
ULC provides language products and services: its products being language courses and its services being language support.
Another product where the ULC makes money is in joint ventures with institutions in other countries. For example, the ULC has a relationship with a HE institute in Singapore – MDIS, whereby ULC endorsed modules are taught by MDIS staff and the ULC is paid for this. This relationship could be considered a cash cow for the ULC as it is highly profitable.
Promotion
Marketing and promoting is currently through the International Office and the Marketing Department, with ULC courses promoted as a stepping stone for students who are interested in doing other courses.
Promoting ULC internally within the university has been taken up seriously by staff in C101 but much more needs to be done.
Price
ULC course fees are agreed by the Finance Officer, the Dean of School, and the Fees and Bursaries committee. Fees are almost totally based on the cost of running the course, with some consideration of competitive pricing. So, the pricing strategy of the ULC is a combination of cost-orientated pricing, with some consideration of going-rate pricing (Malish, 2010).
Place
The location of the ULC and Room C101; on the ground floor of Richmond Building, which is the main university building is advantageous.
People
The ULC, for the most part, has experienced, highly competent staff. In recent months a number of the most experienced staff have left the UoB and hourly paid staff have replaced them. Whilst this has meant a loss of expertise, it has in some senses been compensated for by youthful enthusiasm, and financial savings which make the teaching more cost effective.
5.4 Marketing Structures and Systems
Currently, responsibility for marketing is spread amongst the International Office, the Marketing Department, and senior management. None of these groups have any language expertise. This means that there is no one with sufficient expertise planning and developing appropriate marketing structures and systems which meet the ULC’s core competencies and capabilities.
6. SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis for the ULC will help pull together what we have covered so far, and potentially provide some future strategies.
Strengths
• Good quality of teaching
• Progression to desirable courses
• Great learning support services and level of vertical integration
• Approachable and available staff
• Good connections internationally and with joint-ventures
• C101, a popular social and cross-cultural centre Weaknesses
• No visionary force planning ahead
• Lack of publicity within the university
• Lack of branding
• Small class sizes making running costs high.
• Dependent on the reputation of others
Opportunities
• Growing international recruitment market
• New markets and institutional links
• Government funding for local ESOL, etc
• High immigrant population locally
• Bradford seen as cheap and culturally diverse. Threats
• Increased competition from private language schools,
• Changing technology
• Visa rule changes
• Bradford seen as undesirable
• The overlapping of learning support
Figure 6. SWOT analysis for ULC. From own design.
There are some great opportunities, particularly in the local market, which would be a new market for the ULC. Being in SLED, which has a lot of contacts with the local community could really help the ULC to break into that market.
The international student market is turbulent and very competitive, and the ULC is in many ways dependent on the competitive advantages of other courses (if they should lose their competitive edge then the ULC would suffer also), this is all the more reason to spread the risk and try to break into other markets. Indeed, the ULC is in many ways so well polished in its operation that it could try to break into the pre-UG English course summer school market, developing short summer courses for international school leavers.
7. Marketing Objectives
7.1 Strategic Thrust
Bearing in mind the opportunities identified an Ansoff Matrix can be used to outline the potential market and product mix:
Figure 7. Ansoff Matrix for ULC. Adapted from Strategic Management lecture notes, Rawal, 2010).
Market penetration or expansion
• The ULC should be able to improve market penetration by focusing on promoting the ULC internally across the university, and building relationships with foreign institutions, sponsors and agents.
Product development
• The ULC could run supplementary courses with extra fee charges for students who are preparing for IELTS tests. The courses can be run out of normal teaching hours and would be for improving specific areas, e.g. writing practice.
• English support could be more tailored to the student’s degree or PG course. Each staff member could be assigned a school to focus on, and develop English support to suit that school. When this was tried in the University of Newcastle, student take-up increased five fold (Saunders, 2010).
• ULC foreign language provision could be expanded to provide new languages such as Chinese, Japanese or Urdu.
Market development
• Promoting foreign language classes, e.g. Chinese or Spanish classes to members of the public with a small charge could potentially bring in a lot of profit for something the ULC is already teaching.
• New international markets for students to come to the UoB through greater connections internationally. More joint-ventures, similar to the ULC’s relationship with MDIS in Singapore, should be developed.
Diversification
• The ULC could run English courses for staff who are not native English speakers (e.g. a funded English class for UoB cleaners is currently taught by Bradford College).
• Locally, there is a strong immigrant market. Bradford Council has recently announced its new ESOL strategy document which lists the many groups within Bradford potentially looking for English support (see Appendix 3). With such a potentially large market on the doorstep, the ULC could certainly make inroads into these markets, previously dominated by Bradford College.
• The ULC could also look to develop new English courses internationally, for example English Summer Courses in the Heart of Yorkshire, for school-leavers who want to learn English in England. By offering cross-cultural events and trips (something C101 has worked hard on over the last few years) the ULC could develop a very attractive package, with clear competitive advantages, which could perhaps be taught in June, a quiet time for the ULC, or in August alongside pre-sessional courses.
• Post-study English courses for PG graduates could be designed focusing on career development, including interview English, etc. This could be developed with the UoB Careers Centre.
7.2 Strategic Objectives
The ULC’s strategic objectives should be to develop new products and markets both internationally and locally. In this way they can spread their risk and be less dependent on the reputations of other courses, which are out of their control, or other political factors, such as visa issues. By branching out into the highly advantageous local market, the ULC also ensure that they are not entirely dependent on international students for survival.
The ULC also need to harvest their advantages by improving profit margins. For example, by maximizing class sizes, promoting LFA locally, more joint-ventures, and developing more computer and software based learning materials, they could increase profit margins.
8. Core Strategy
Figure 5 has been updated to show the proposed new market segments and products for the ULC. These products and markets reflect the core strategy of maximising competitive advantages and competencies to spread risk and make the ULC less dependent on factors beyond its control.
Figure 8. Proposed ULC Market Segments; new courses/markets are in black lined boxes. From own design.
8.1. Target Markets
ULC target customers can be identified as international students, internal customers, and people who live locally, as shown in Figure 7. If the ULC decides to run English courses for international school leavers then these are also a new target market.
8.2. Competitor Targets
The Language Centre at the University of Leeds (UoL) can be seen as a successful competitor. The tuition fees of the language centre go directly to the centre. As it is run independently the Centre has its own identity and manages to attract international pre-degree students to its language courses. The ULC should aim for this business model.
8.3 Competitive Advantage
The quality of teaching and C101, with the good support set-up are the ULC’s competitive advantages. They have a good support space which can be utilised innovatively.
As stated, currently many of the ULC’s main competitive advantages are actually the competitive advantages of other departments. With this proposed new focus the ULC would not be as dependent on these other departments.
9. Marketing Mix Decisions
9.1 Products & Services
As outlined in the Marketing Objectives section of this report the ULC’s potential new products are– language courses:
• Develop new courses to meet international students’ interests, such as TOEIC, which is currently one of the UK Border Agency’s requirements for visa purposes (See Appendix 4).
• Short English courses for school leavers.
• ESOL for the local market.
• Short-term supplementary IELTS courses.
Potential services – language support:
• Social events should be organised all year round, not just for summer Pre-degree courses. Enhancing the student experience and ensuring integration are high priorities according to the Vice Chancellor, and will differentiate the UoB from competitors.
• The ULC need to improve English support provision to increase attendance at courses and to help with retention and student success rates at UoB. This could also contribute to the UoB’s diversification strategy, allowing them to advertise subject tailored English support provision, something most UK HE institutes do not provide.
9.2 Promotion
• Launch ULC as a brand within the university, similar to the LDU which has been very successful at marketing itself internally. They have a number of aggressive champions.
• Flyers of ULC should be more accessible for students and staff. Flyers should be segmented; one for English support, one for LFA, one for English courses, etc. Currently there is one brochure for all the ULC’s mixed portfolio.
• Internationally the ULC brand needs to be better promoted.
• As a unit within SLED, and SLED having good links with the local community, the ULC should be able to promote ESOL provision widely in the community.
• C101 could be further promoted as part of a UoB diversification strategy.
9.3 Price
The pricing strategies for new courses (e.g. ESOL, Summer courses, IELTS supplementary courses) should start with a promotional, cost-orientated pricing strategy to get the course going during the trial period.
LFA classes could charge the public £135 (Green, 2010), this is a cost based and going rate based figure which would cover costs but is competitive with other local providers (Bradford College). Since the course is running anyway, any money is profit.
9.4 Place
Room C101 should be looking into expanding its area and replacing old equipment. This facility is one of the ULC’s dynamic competitive advantages and provides an opportunity for the ULC, and UoB to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
9.5 People
Recruiting hourly contracted teaching staff might bring in different aspects and dynamics into ULC’s teaching portfolio. The recruitment of a new, permanent Head of the ULC, due to start in July 2010, should help focus the department, and move it forward.
10. Budget
Any marketing budget should be divided up accordingly:
R&D; developing new courses (e.g. ESOL, Summer English course, TESOL) 30%
Marketing and promoting activities (internally and externally) 40%
Updating physical resources in C101 (Books, computers, software) 30%
Figure 9. Marketing Budget for ULC by percentage. From own design.
11. Organization and Implementation
In terms of implementation this marketing plan should be applied over 3 years to gradually develop and introduce new courses according to the following timeline:
Date New course/Project Launch
September 2010 ESOL Course
November 2010 Short-Term IELTS Supplementary Course - Writing
May 2011 Hold an IELTS Test on campus
September 2011 Post-Study English Course
February 2012 TOEIC Course
July 2012 General Summer School Course
Figure 10. Brief marketing plan implementation calendar for ULC. From own design. (more details in Appendix 5)
The ULC should begin to develop ESOL courses for the community over the 2010 spring and summer. There is a sense of urgency about developing this course as government money must be applied for within a given timeframe and competition might be fierce.
Courses building on existing markets, like the IELTS supplementary courses, should be launched at the beginning of the 2010/11 academic year, as they are easy to develop.
Holding an IELTS Test in Bradford might take a long time to co-ordinate with the test centre, therefore the test is scheduled in May 2011.
The next big project is to launch the Post-Study English Course at the end of September 2011, when PG students finish dissertation submission.
Summer courses for international school leavers will take a little longer to develop and so will not come online until summer of 2011.
A detailed breakdown of this implementation plan can be found in Appendix 5.
12. Control
In terms of control, measurement should depend on market segment:
• There will hopefully be an easily measured profit increase from the existing international market (pre-sessional, co-sessional, IELTS supplementary courses). New profit should be measured against the development and running costs of any new international business which is developed. Any new profit from the local market (ESOL, LFA, TESOL, and additional LFA income) is also easily measured.
• For the measurement of the internal market, we can look at how many extra students are joining the English support classes. Being able to advertise subject based English support provision may even increase recruitment for the UoB.
REFLEXIVE ACCOUNT
In preparing for this assignment I read about the HE market much more avidly, coming across John Saunders’ article in THES, which caused me to reflect on how our English support classes could be restructured.
Examining the ULC’s strengths and weaknesses prompted me to talk to ULC colleagues. As a result of my enquiries the lack of future planning within the ULC became apparent. All new business coming into the ULC has been from initiatives by senior management. I realised that the fact that these new initiatives do not feel owned by the team have meant that they have often resisted them.
Looking for practical ideas for my 5 P’s I talked to colleagues in the LDU. I discovered that they have a marketing calendar. Inspired by this I drew up a similar marketing calendar for the ULC which can be seen in Appendix 6. I used 5 P’s rather than the more traditional 4 P’s because of the huge importance of people in the services the ULC provides. I believe that in the teaching of languages, nothing is more important than the people providing the service.
Thinking about my department as if I were responsible for marketing it led me to prepare an annual report for C101, my own particular area of responsibility. This report has appeared on the university’s Homepage, been widely circulated amongst senior management, and has raised the profile of the ULC. The realisation of the importance of C101 and my own role in providing one of the ULC’s competitive advantages has being very encouraging for me.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (2010). Local Area ESOL Action Plan Template for 2010/11. 14/01/10. Bradford, Bradford Council.
ETS. (2010). TOEIC for Visa Purposes. ETS website. Accessed on 2.2.10, From:
http://www.uk.toeic.eu/toeic/uk/about-the-toeic-test/toeic-for-visa-purposes/
Frost, P. (2010). ULC Administrator. Personal Interview. (PG Cert. Bus. Man. Marketing Assignment). Bradford, with M. Allhouse. 15.2.10
Ghauri, P. and Gronhaug, K. (2005). Research Methods in Business Studies: A Practical Guide. Harlow: Prentice Hall.
Green, T. (2010). Head of LFA. Personal Interview. (PG Cert. Bus. Man. Marketing Assignment). Bradford, with M. Allhouse. 20.2.10
Jobber, D. (2010). Principles and Practice of Marketing. 6th Edition. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.
Johnson, G. Scholes, K. and Whittington, R. (2008). Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases. Eighth Edition. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Layer, G. (2010) Senate notes on student numbers. Unpublished internal strategy document. Office of the Vice Chancellor: University of Bradford.
Malish, C. (2010) Finance Officer, SLED. Personal Interview. (PG Cert. Bus. Man. Marketing Assignment). Bradford, with M. Allhouse. 24.3.10
Mirza, N. (2010) Dean of SLED. Personal Interview. (PG Cert. Bus. Man. Marketing Assignment). Bradford, with M. Allhouse. 23.2.10
Porter, M.E. (1998). Competitive Strategy. New York: Free Press.
Ramsden, B. (2009). Patterns of Higher Education Institutions in the UK. Ninth Report. Universities UK. Accessed on 5th March 2010, from:
http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Documents/Patterns9.pdf
Rawal, J. (2010). Strategic Management module, lecture notes. 2010. University of Bradford, School of Management.
Saunders, J. (2010). Foreigners flock to academic-literacy lessons. 18 February 2010 THES Online. Accessed on 18th February 2010, from:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=410427
SLED (2009) SLED 5 year plan. Unpublished internal strategy document. SLED: University of Bradford.
The objectives of this report are to provide a marketing audit and marketing plan for the University Language Centre (ULC) at the University of Bradford (UoB). The report will comprise a current marketing audit, some recommendations for future market and product development, and a reflexive account.
The ULC was founded in 2007 and is responsible for all language provision, particularly English support, at the UoB. The ULC is part of the School of Lifelong Education and Development (SLED).
The ULC provides English language support to students at the UoB, as well as providing a diverse range of English, and other language courses. The ULC currently operates in international and internal markets.
2. Executive Summary
This report comprises a marketing audit for the ULC and a reflexive account. The ULC’s business can currently be divided into two market segments:
• International Market
• Internal Market
This report proposes a third segment:
• Local Market
The report suggests that the ULC could open up their foreign language provision to the local community, which would turn it into a profit making product.
ESOL for local Bradford people is seen as a new opportunity for the ULC, taking advantage of the huge demand in the city, and government funding.
Internationally, the report envisions the ULC marketed as an English Language School, developing new products and looking into new markets. Currently, the ULC is effectively a service provided by the UoB, providing progression onto other UoB courses, and is not marketed separately.
It is also recommended that the MA TESOL, should be promoted internationally (and indeed, nationally) with much more vigour.
It is suggested that the internal provision of English support could improve on take-up by a restructuring, so that it is more focused on students’ subject areas.
3. Business Mission
The ULC provides English support to students at the UoB (both home and international), teaches foreign languages, teaches various English courses (IELTS, IFP, the pre-sessional and co-sessional courses) which act as routes into the UoB for international students, and also teaches an MA in TESOL, which is a taught PG course. Further details of the ULC’s business mission as part of SLED can be found in the SLED 5 year plan which is reproduced in Appendix 1.
4. External Marketing Audit
4.1 Macro Environment – PEST Analysis
In order to properly examine the external macro-environment of the ULC this report will employ a PEST analysis. Since the vast proportion of the ULC’s business is to provide courses for international students to progress onto other UoB courses, this PEST analysis will outline the factors which affect international student recruitment. These factors will inform the analysis of the ULC’s future development.
Political/Legal
Overall, political/legal stability has a huge impact on ULC recruitment activities, especially in the non-EU student recruitment market. An example of this could be recent UK Border Agency regulation changes which could drive students away from the UK.
Recent government undergraduate funding cutbacks have made international recruitment a more significant growth area for the UoB (see Appendix 2 for more details).
Economic
The recruitment cycle of international students is bound to the economic cycle; as the global market suffers from recession, there is an associated concern over recruitment.
Social
Birth rate is the main engine of growth for students studying in HE. The UoB is focussing on ‘Glocal’ (Global and Local) markets, which is healthy, as local Bradford student, and international student markets are growing, where national markets are not.
International students currently regard western education as highly desirable.
Technological
Access to the internet and language software, no matter where students are, provides potential new teaching methods. For example, teaching English via Skype messenger and a webcam is a new trend.
Figure 1. PEST Analysis for ULC. From own design.
This macro-environment analysis demonstrates that there are factors which could seriously impact on the ULC’s current market segments. UK government visa changes, in particular can seriously affect whether students come to the UK to study.
4.2 The Market
The micro-environment of the HE language market in the UK can best be modelled using Porter’s 5 Forces (Porter, 1998). The following analysis relates to the issues for English language teaching at HE level, but since the ULC teaches mainly courses which allow progression to other courses, the analysis looks at broader factors affecting the international student market. This analysis will inform the recommendations for the ULC’s future marketing activities.
Figure 2. Porter’s Five Forces for HE English language market (Adapted from Porter, 1998)
The market for the ULC should potentially be booming, with high numbers of international students looking to come to UK institutions, as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Percentage growth of enrolments in UK HE by domicile from 1998 – 2008. (Ramsden, 2009)
So, it is clear that whilst the international student market is increasing, it is a very competitive market, and likely to become even more competitive in years to come. The market currently has a lot of new entrants, and the way the market functions is changing all the time. HE English language providers are also very dependent on political factors in the macro-environment, which makes their position uncertain.
Most of the students who come to the UoB to study the pre-sessional, or co-sessional English courses are coming for master level study. Ranking of their master’s course in the league table is very important to these students, and most of them come to the UoB to study its more prestigious courses. The UoB manages to attract a high number of international students; international students form 20% of UoB students, giving it the fourth highest proportion of international students in the UK. This means that currently the ULC is well positioned to provide English courses providing progression onto other UoB courses.
Internally, the ULC has a growing market, as students with lower IELTS scores are being admitted. The need for good English support, to ensure completion, is therefore high.
4.3 Competition
The 5 forces analysis demonstrates that industry competition is strong, and it is getting stronger. As well as other universities, private colleges and companies are competitive threats. Many charge fees well below those levied by accrediting institutions and are recruiting increasing numbers of foreign students. These institutions provide many of the same functions as the ULC, allowing routes of progression onto HE courses. Figure 4 looks at them in more detail.
University owned language centres VS private institutions
University owned Private institutions
Strategies Students pass internal test after the class and then move onto the master level course/study directly, which is a recruitment incentive. Into, Kaplan, etc, are national companies who can appear at recruitment fairs and recruit for all their institutions.
Standard product nationally
Strengths The possibility to provide continuous language support throughout students’ whole academic life.
Infrastructure which allows us to invite guest lectures from different schools onto the course. Course design can be tailored for more detailed and specific topics, as more students attend the course.
Recruitment not dependant on reputation of the university.
One product nationally
Weakness The numbers of students can vary every year.
Difficulties in recruiting short-term teachers as a result the quality of teaching might vary year by year.
Dependent on reputation of university. Operates more on a profits-pursuit, business level, so larger classes, not such good facilities.
Lack of the continuous link or relationship after students move on to their master’s study.
Market Size
Tends to depend on the university recruitment of international students. Possibly bigger; easy to achieve economies of scale.
Profitability Cost based financial strategy. Public sector so 3Es: Economy; Efficiency; and Effectiveness. Profits pursuit
Figure 4. University owned language centres Vs private institutions. From own design.
The ability to recruit internationally for all institutions is a huge benefit for these private institutions and they will be an increasing force in UK HE English provision. Many universities already use their services and they represent a serious threat for the ULC.
5. Internal Marketing Audit
5.1 Operating Results
Operating results for the ULC can be measured in terms of income and benefit to the UoB in the wider sense. With 95% (Frost, 2010) of IELTS students progressing to UoB courses, and 100% of IFP students doing likewise, clearly ULC courses are extremely beneficial to the UoB beyond their own profitability.
5.2. Strategic Issues Analysis
5.2.1 Marketing Objectives
Marketing objectives for the ULC currently, appear to be to continue providing routes into UoB courses, and to provide English support, ensuring completion. The SLED 5 year plan in Appendix 1 gives more details.
5.2.2 Market Segmentation
The ULC can currently be divided into the following market segments:
Figure 5. Current ULC Market Segments. From own design.
INTERNATIONAL
• IELTS preparation course (15 weeks and 30 weeks)
Students are often coming to Bradford anyway, but with a lower IELTS level. They are specifically attracted to certain courses such as Management, Economics or Computer security. The reputations of these courses are the main criteria of choice for the students.
• IFP
As above.
• Pre-degree programmes (summer pre-sessional courses and co-sessional course)
Students already coming to Bradford to study. Some students do these courses for the extra English practice.
• MA TESOL course - Mostly recruits from international students but also recruits some home students.
INTERNAL
• English Language Support Classes – For existing students.
• LFA – Foreign language modules, appealing to a mixture of international and home students, already at Bradford.
5.2.3 Competitive Advantages
The ULC not only provides high quality English language support for the university but also provides cross-cultural, language based, social events in C101, its language resources centre. C101 has become one of the main places where cool events take place on campus and where home students and international students actually meet and integrate. Increasingly C101 is seen as an extra benefit for the ULC and a key player in enhancing the student learning experience at the UoB.
So, we can say that the ULC’s competitive advantages are:
• The resources centre; C101
• The UoB’s prestigious courses
• High quality teaching
• Bradford City; Bradford is seen as a cheap and culturally accepting city with a high immigrant population.
5.2.4 Core Competences
The quality of teaching, the UoB infrastructure surrounding the ULC, and the learning support services in C101 are the ULC’s core competences.
5.2.5 Competitive Positioning
Bearing in mind the ULC’s competences and competitive advantages; they are positioned well in some respects. As a progression service they have a guaranteed income in an institution which has a high proportion of international students, and courses which are desirable to this group.
5.3 Marketing Mix Effectiveness
Products & Services
ULC provides language products and services: its products being language courses and its services being language support.
Another product where the ULC makes money is in joint ventures with institutions in other countries. For example, the ULC has a relationship with a HE institute in Singapore – MDIS, whereby ULC endorsed modules are taught by MDIS staff and the ULC is paid for this. This relationship could be considered a cash cow for the ULC as it is highly profitable.
Promotion
Marketing and promoting is currently through the International Office and the Marketing Department, with ULC courses promoted as a stepping stone for students who are interested in doing other courses.
Promoting ULC internally within the university has been taken up seriously by staff in C101 but much more needs to be done.
Price
ULC course fees are agreed by the Finance Officer, the Dean of School, and the Fees and Bursaries committee. Fees are almost totally based on the cost of running the course, with some consideration of competitive pricing. So, the pricing strategy of the ULC is a combination of cost-orientated pricing, with some consideration of going-rate pricing (Malish, 2010).
Place
The location of the ULC and Room C101; on the ground floor of Richmond Building, which is the main university building is advantageous.
People
The ULC, for the most part, has experienced, highly competent staff. In recent months a number of the most experienced staff have left the UoB and hourly paid staff have replaced them. Whilst this has meant a loss of expertise, it has in some senses been compensated for by youthful enthusiasm, and financial savings which make the teaching more cost effective.
5.4 Marketing Structures and Systems
Currently, responsibility for marketing is spread amongst the International Office, the Marketing Department, and senior management. None of these groups have any language expertise. This means that there is no one with sufficient expertise planning and developing appropriate marketing structures and systems which meet the ULC’s core competencies and capabilities.
6. SWOT Analysis
A SWOT analysis for the ULC will help pull together what we have covered so far, and potentially provide some future strategies.
Strengths
• Good quality of teaching
• Progression to desirable courses
• Great learning support services and level of vertical integration
• Approachable and available staff
• Good connections internationally and with joint-ventures
• C101, a popular social and cross-cultural centre Weaknesses
• No visionary force planning ahead
• Lack of publicity within the university
• Lack of branding
• Small class sizes making running costs high.
• Dependent on the reputation of others
Opportunities
• Growing international recruitment market
• New markets and institutional links
• Government funding for local ESOL, etc
• High immigrant population locally
• Bradford seen as cheap and culturally diverse. Threats
• Increased competition from private language schools,
• Changing technology
• Visa rule changes
• Bradford seen as undesirable
• The overlapping of learning support
Figure 6. SWOT analysis for ULC. From own design.
There are some great opportunities, particularly in the local market, which would be a new market for the ULC. Being in SLED, which has a lot of contacts with the local community could really help the ULC to break into that market.
The international student market is turbulent and very competitive, and the ULC is in many ways dependent on the competitive advantages of other courses (if they should lose their competitive edge then the ULC would suffer also), this is all the more reason to spread the risk and try to break into other markets. Indeed, the ULC is in many ways so well polished in its operation that it could try to break into the pre-UG English course summer school market, developing short summer courses for international school leavers.
7. Marketing Objectives
7.1 Strategic Thrust
Bearing in mind the opportunities identified an Ansoff Matrix can be used to outline the potential market and product mix:
Figure 7. Ansoff Matrix for ULC. Adapted from Strategic Management lecture notes, Rawal, 2010).
Market penetration or expansion
• The ULC should be able to improve market penetration by focusing on promoting the ULC internally across the university, and building relationships with foreign institutions, sponsors and agents.
Product development
• The ULC could run supplementary courses with extra fee charges for students who are preparing for IELTS tests. The courses can be run out of normal teaching hours and would be for improving specific areas, e.g. writing practice.
• English support could be more tailored to the student’s degree or PG course. Each staff member could be assigned a school to focus on, and develop English support to suit that school. When this was tried in the University of Newcastle, student take-up increased five fold (Saunders, 2010).
• ULC foreign language provision could be expanded to provide new languages such as Chinese, Japanese or Urdu.
Market development
• Promoting foreign language classes, e.g. Chinese or Spanish classes to members of the public with a small charge could potentially bring in a lot of profit for something the ULC is already teaching.
• New international markets for students to come to the UoB through greater connections internationally. More joint-ventures, similar to the ULC’s relationship with MDIS in Singapore, should be developed.
Diversification
• The ULC could run English courses for staff who are not native English speakers (e.g. a funded English class for UoB cleaners is currently taught by Bradford College).
• Locally, there is a strong immigrant market. Bradford Council has recently announced its new ESOL strategy document which lists the many groups within Bradford potentially looking for English support (see Appendix 3). With such a potentially large market on the doorstep, the ULC could certainly make inroads into these markets, previously dominated by Bradford College.
• The ULC could also look to develop new English courses internationally, for example English Summer Courses in the Heart of Yorkshire, for school-leavers who want to learn English in England. By offering cross-cultural events and trips (something C101 has worked hard on over the last few years) the ULC could develop a very attractive package, with clear competitive advantages, which could perhaps be taught in June, a quiet time for the ULC, or in August alongside pre-sessional courses.
• Post-study English courses for PG graduates could be designed focusing on career development, including interview English, etc. This could be developed with the UoB Careers Centre.
7.2 Strategic Objectives
The ULC’s strategic objectives should be to develop new products and markets both internationally and locally. In this way they can spread their risk and be less dependent on the reputations of other courses, which are out of their control, or other political factors, such as visa issues. By branching out into the highly advantageous local market, the ULC also ensure that they are not entirely dependent on international students for survival.
The ULC also need to harvest their advantages by improving profit margins. For example, by maximizing class sizes, promoting LFA locally, more joint-ventures, and developing more computer and software based learning materials, they could increase profit margins.
8. Core Strategy
Figure 5 has been updated to show the proposed new market segments and products for the ULC. These products and markets reflect the core strategy of maximising competitive advantages and competencies to spread risk and make the ULC less dependent on factors beyond its control.
Figure 8. Proposed ULC Market Segments; new courses/markets are in black lined boxes. From own design.
8.1. Target Markets
ULC target customers can be identified as international students, internal customers, and people who live locally, as shown in Figure 7. If the ULC decides to run English courses for international school leavers then these are also a new target market.
8.2. Competitor Targets
The Language Centre at the University of Leeds (UoL) can be seen as a successful competitor. The tuition fees of the language centre go directly to the centre. As it is run independently the Centre has its own identity and manages to attract international pre-degree students to its language courses. The ULC should aim for this business model.
8.3 Competitive Advantage
The quality of teaching and C101, with the good support set-up are the ULC’s competitive advantages. They have a good support space which can be utilised innovatively.
As stated, currently many of the ULC’s main competitive advantages are actually the competitive advantages of other departments. With this proposed new focus the ULC would not be as dependent on these other departments.
9. Marketing Mix Decisions
9.1 Products & Services
As outlined in the Marketing Objectives section of this report the ULC’s potential new products are– language courses:
• Develop new courses to meet international students’ interests, such as TOEIC, which is currently one of the UK Border Agency’s requirements for visa purposes (See Appendix 4).
• Short English courses for school leavers.
• ESOL for the local market.
• Short-term supplementary IELTS courses.
Potential services – language support:
• Social events should be organised all year round, not just for summer Pre-degree courses. Enhancing the student experience and ensuring integration are high priorities according to the Vice Chancellor, and will differentiate the UoB from competitors.
• The ULC need to improve English support provision to increase attendance at courses and to help with retention and student success rates at UoB. This could also contribute to the UoB’s diversification strategy, allowing them to advertise subject tailored English support provision, something most UK HE institutes do not provide.
9.2 Promotion
• Launch ULC as a brand within the university, similar to the LDU which has been very successful at marketing itself internally. They have a number of aggressive champions.
• Flyers of ULC should be more accessible for students and staff. Flyers should be segmented; one for English support, one for LFA, one for English courses, etc. Currently there is one brochure for all the ULC’s mixed portfolio.
• Internationally the ULC brand needs to be better promoted.
• As a unit within SLED, and SLED having good links with the local community, the ULC should be able to promote ESOL provision widely in the community.
• C101 could be further promoted as part of a UoB diversification strategy.
9.3 Price
The pricing strategies for new courses (e.g. ESOL, Summer courses, IELTS supplementary courses) should start with a promotional, cost-orientated pricing strategy to get the course going during the trial period.
LFA classes could charge the public £135 (Green, 2010), this is a cost based and going rate based figure which would cover costs but is competitive with other local providers (Bradford College). Since the course is running anyway, any money is profit.
9.4 Place
Room C101 should be looking into expanding its area and replacing old equipment. This facility is one of the ULC’s dynamic competitive advantages and provides an opportunity for the ULC, and UoB to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
9.5 People
Recruiting hourly contracted teaching staff might bring in different aspects and dynamics into ULC’s teaching portfolio. The recruitment of a new, permanent Head of the ULC, due to start in July 2010, should help focus the department, and move it forward.
10. Budget
Any marketing budget should be divided up accordingly:
R&D; developing new courses (e.g. ESOL, Summer English course, TESOL) 30%
Marketing and promoting activities (internally and externally) 40%
Updating physical resources in C101 (Books, computers, software) 30%
Figure 9. Marketing Budget for ULC by percentage. From own design.
11. Organization and Implementation
In terms of implementation this marketing plan should be applied over 3 years to gradually develop and introduce new courses according to the following timeline:
Date New course/Project Launch
September 2010 ESOL Course
November 2010 Short-Term IELTS Supplementary Course - Writing
May 2011 Hold an IELTS Test on campus
September 2011 Post-Study English Course
February 2012 TOEIC Course
July 2012 General Summer School Course
Figure 10. Brief marketing plan implementation calendar for ULC. From own design. (more details in Appendix 5)
The ULC should begin to develop ESOL courses for the community over the 2010 spring and summer. There is a sense of urgency about developing this course as government money must be applied for within a given timeframe and competition might be fierce.
Courses building on existing markets, like the IELTS supplementary courses, should be launched at the beginning of the 2010/11 academic year, as they are easy to develop.
Holding an IELTS Test in Bradford might take a long time to co-ordinate with the test centre, therefore the test is scheduled in May 2011.
The next big project is to launch the Post-Study English Course at the end of September 2011, when PG students finish dissertation submission.
Summer courses for international school leavers will take a little longer to develop and so will not come online until summer of 2011.
A detailed breakdown of this implementation plan can be found in Appendix 5.
12. Control
In terms of control, measurement should depend on market segment:
• There will hopefully be an easily measured profit increase from the existing international market (pre-sessional, co-sessional, IELTS supplementary courses). New profit should be measured against the development and running costs of any new international business which is developed. Any new profit from the local market (ESOL, LFA, TESOL, and additional LFA income) is also easily measured.
• For the measurement of the internal market, we can look at how many extra students are joining the English support classes. Being able to advertise subject based English support provision may even increase recruitment for the UoB.
REFLEXIVE ACCOUNT
In preparing for this assignment I read about the HE market much more avidly, coming across John Saunders’ article in THES, which caused me to reflect on how our English support classes could be restructured.
Examining the ULC’s strengths and weaknesses prompted me to talk to ULC colleagues. As a result of my enquiries the lack of future planning within the ULC became apparent. All new business coming into the ULC has been from initiatives by senior management. I realised that the fact that these new initiatives do not feel owned by the team have meant that they have often resisted them.
Looking for practical ideas for my 5 P’s I talked to colleagues in the LDU. I discovered that they have a marketing calendar. Inspired by this I drew up a similar marketing calendar for the ULC which can be seen in Appendix 6. I used 5 P’s rather than the more traditional 4 P’s because of the huge importance of people in the services the ULC provides. I believe that in the teaching of languages, nothing is more important than the people providing the service.
Thinking about my department as if I were responsible for marketing it led me to prepare an annual report for C101, my own particular area of responsibility. This report has appeared on the university’s Homepage, been widely circulated amongst senior management, and has raised the profile of the ULC. The realisation of the importance of C101 and my own role in providing one of the ULC’s competitive advantages has being very encouraging for me.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council (2010). Local Area ESOL Action Plan Template for 2010/11. 14/01/10. Bradford, Bradford Council.
ETS. (2010). TOEIC for Visa Purposes. ETS website. Accessed on 2.2.10, From:
http://www.uk.toeic.eu/toeic/uk/about-the-toeic-test/toeic-for-visa-purposes/
Frost, P. (2010). ULC Administrator. Personal Interview. (PG Cert. Bus. Man. Marketing Assignment). Bradford, with M. Allhouse. 15.2.10
Ghauri, P. and Gronhaug, K. (2005). Research Methods in Business Studies: A Practical Guide. Harlow: Prentice Hall.
Green, T. (2010). Head of LFA. Personal Interview. (PG Cert. Bus. Man. Marketing Assignment). Bradford, with M. Allhouse. 20.2.10
Jobber, D. (2010). Principles and Practice of Marketing. 6th Edition. Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.
Johnson, G. Scholes, K. and Whittington, R. (2008). Exploring Corporate Strategy: Text and Cases. Eighth Edition. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited.
Layer, G. (2010) Senate notes on student numbers. Unpublished internal strategy document. Office of the Vice Chancellor: University of Bradford.
Malish, C. (2010) Finance Officer, SLED. Personal Interview. (PG Cert. Bus. Man. Marketing Assignment). Bradford, with M. Allhouse. 24.3.10
Mirza, N. (2010) Dean of SLED. Personal Interview. (PG Cert. Bus. Man. Marketing Assignment). Bradford, with M. Allhouse. 23.2.10
Porter, M.E. (1998). Competitive Strategy. New York: Free Press.
Ramsden, B. (2009). Patterns of Higher Education Institutions in the UK. Ninth Report. Universities UK. Accessed on 5th March 2010, from:
http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/Publications/Documents/Patterns9.pdf
Rawal, J. (2010). Strategic Management module, lecture notes. 2010. University of Bradford, School of Management.
Saunders, J. (2010). Foreigners flock to academic-literacy lessons. 18 February 2010 THES Online. Accessed on 18th February 2010, from:
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=410427
SLED (2009) SLED 5 year plan. Unpublished internal strategy document. SLED: University of Bradford.
Monday, 19 April 2010
Language Centre Strategy
One of the questions the LeedsArcadesProjects is most often asked is, "What Strategic Direction would you take the University Language Centre, at the University of Bradford, in?"
Well, we had a little think, and here's what we came up with:-
ABSTRACT
This report uses an environmental analysis and an internal analysis to define and identify the ULC’s competitive advantage. The ULC is found to be currently at the mercy of several environmental factors beyond its control. Its competitive advantage is identified in relation to a number of staff, resource, and wider UoB factors. Consideration of how to keep competitive advantage dynamic, leads to an assessment of future ULC strategic direction.
The report proposes that the ULC adopts a diversification strategy which will make it more independent of factors it cannot influence. Using an Ansoff Matrix and the Strategy Clock the report details possible products and strategies which will make best use of the ULC’s competitive advantage. Finally, the report outlines ways the success of the strategic direction can be reviewed.
1. INTRODUCTION
The objectives of this report are to identify the competitive advantage of the ULC at the UoB and assess how to keep it dynamic. In the process the strategic direction of the ULC will be appraised and some future strategic options proposed.
The ULC is responsible for all language provision at the UoB, with a particular focus on English language. The ULC provides English support to current students (both home and international); teaches foreign languages (LFA); teaches various English courses which act as routes for international students to progress onto other UoB courses (IELTS, IFP, pre-sessional and co-sessional courses); and runs an MA in TESOL. The author of this report is a member of staff in the ULC and much of the information herein has been gained from working within the department.
Figure 1. Strategy process, (Adapted from Rawel, 2010).
Figure 1 shows the strategy process as it will be used to identify competitive advantage in this report. The process will become clear as the report progresses.
Before competitive advantage can be ascertained an understanding of the business environment must be gained. The following sections will attempt to do this for the ULC.
2. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS: MACRO-ENVIRONMENT
A PEST analysis will be used to properly examine the external macro-environment of the ULC. Since the vast proportion of the ULC’s business is to provide courses for international students to progress onto other UoB courses, this PEST analysis will mainly outline the factors which affect international student recruitment. These factors will inform the analysis of the ULC’s future strategy.
Political/Legal
Overall, political/legal stability has a huge impact on ULC recruitment activities, especially in the non-EU student recruitment market. An example of this is recent UK Border Agency regulation changes, which could drive students away from the UK.
Recent government undergraduate funding cutbacks have made international recruitment a more significant growth area for the UoB (see Appendix 1 for more details).
Economic
The recruitment cycle of international students is bound to the economic cycle; as the global market suffers from recession, there is an associated impact on recruitment.
Social
Birth rate is the main engine of growth for students studying in HE. The UoB is focussing on ‘Glocal’ (Global and Local) markets, which is healthy, as local Bradford student, and international student markets are growing.
International students currently regard western education as highly desirable.
Technological
Access to the internet and language software, no matter where students are, provides potential new teaching methods. For example, teaching English via Skype messenger and a webcam is a new trend.
Figure 2. PEST analysis for Language schools in HE, (From own design).
This PEST analysis demonstrates that there are several factors which could seriously impact on the ULC’s current strategy. UK government visa changes in particular, can seriously affect whether students come to the UK to study.
3. MICRO-ENVIRONMENT
Porter’s 5 Forces (Porter, 1998) provides a good model for the analysis of the micro-environment of the ULC.
Figure 3. Porter’s Five Forces for the ULC (Adapted from Porter, 1980).
With western education seen as desirable and the numbers of international students increasing, we can say that the ULC’s potential market is healthy. However, the HE English language market currently has a lot of new entrants, and the way the market functions is also changing. As well as other universities, private colleges and companies offering routes into university, are new competitive threats. Many of these charge low fees and are recruiting foreign students in increasing numbers.
Most of the students who join ULC courses are hoping to progress onto a masters course at the UoB. Ranking of their master’s course in the league table is very important to these students, and most of them come to the UoB to study its more prestigious courses, such as Management courses or Peace Studies. The UoB manages to attract a high number of international students; international students form 20% of UoB students, giving it the fourth highest proportion of international students in the UK. This puts the ULC in a healthy position; teaching English courses providing progression onto other UoB courses.
Internally, the ULC also has a growing market, as students with lower IELTS scores are being admitted. The need for good English support, to ensure completion, is therefore high.
4. INTERNAL REVIEW
ULC strategy has been handed down from senior management with no consultation with ULC staff (Green and Frost, 2010). There has also been no permanent Head of Department since inception in 2007. For these reasons staff have felt that business has been dictated by people without subject expertise (Green and Frost, 2010). Unless staff feel some ownership of a strategic direction they may resist change. This has been a problem in the ULC for some time now and can be said to be holding the department back from progress.
A SWOT analysis for the ULC will help to relate internal factors to the external environment and identify strategic opportunities and threats.
Strengths
• Good quality of teaching
• Progression to desirable courses
• Great learning support services and vertical integration
• The ULC resources centre; C101 is a popular learning, social and cross-cultural centre
• Approachable and available staff
• Good connections internationally and with joint-ventures
Weaknesses
• No permanent Head of Department, so no visionary force planning ahead
• Lack of publicity within the university
• Lack of branding
• Small class sizes making running costs high
• Dependent on the reputation of others
Opportunities
• Growing international recruitment market
• New markets and institutional links
• Government funding for ESOL
Courses in the local community (City of Bradford Metropolitan district Council, 2010)
• High immigrant population locally
• Bradford seen as cheap and culturally diverse. Threats
• Increased competition from private language schools,
• Changing technology
• Visa rule changes
• Bradford seen as undesirable
Figure 4. SWOT analysis for ULC, (From own design).
The international student market is healthy but it is also very competitive, and the ULC is in many ways dependent on the competitive advantage of other courses (if they should lose their competitive edge then the ULC would suffer also), and also on visa regulations. This suggests that the ULC should spread its risk by adopting a diversification strategy and try to break into other markets. Indeed, the ULC is in many ways so well polished in its operation that it could try to break into markets such as: the pre-UG English course summer school market, developing short summer courses for international school leavers; ESOL provision in the local market (being in SLED, which has a lot of contacts with the local community, could really help the ULC to break into that market); ‘English for Employment’ courses for post-study students; and foreign language classes for local people. These possible strategic directions will be elaborated on in greater detail in section 6.
5. STRATEGIC DIRECTION
5.1 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
Critical success factors for the ULC are that they must be able to provide teaching of a sufficiently high calibre. They must also be able to provide all the various support required.
Critical to the ULC’s success is that there must be demand for their services. As a provider mainly of routes into other courses, one critical success factor is that international students must want to come to Bradford to study those other courses. So, for the ULC, the wider success of the UoB in the international market is a key success factor.
Also important to students is that qualifications they receive are widely recognised. For example, the ULC IELTS course. The pre-sessional course allows students to achieve a 0.5 point increase in their IELTS mark, allowing them entry to UoB courses they may not otherwise be able to access.
5.2 COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
In order to determine its competitive advantage the ULC needs to identify and differentiate its threshold capabilities and its capabilities for competitive advantage. Figure 5 outlines these various factors.
Figure 5. Threshold capabilities and capabilities for competitive advantage for the ULC, (From own design).
Critical success factors can be said to have been met with the demand for, and ability to teach, language at a high enough standard to meet HE needs, and to provide the associated administrative support. Where the ULC has surpassed its critical success factors is with its resources provision and with its ability to provide continuous English support throughout a student’s time at the UoB. For example, a student may attend the pre-sessional course over the summer, progress onto their Masters course, and can continue to receive English support from the ULC (and often from the same tutor). This is a service which cannot be provided by private language schools, or other competitors.
Competitive advantage comes from offering consumers greater value by either offering lower prices or providing greater benefits. For the ULC, its languages resources centre; C101, with its diverse resources and student enhancing support can be seen as contributing to the ULC’s competitive advantage. According to the resource-based view, sustainable competitive advantage is achieved by continuously developing new resources and capabilities which competitors cannot match. C101 provides language support resources, 1-to1 support, English practice activities, and cross-cultural social events. It has become one of the main places where home students and international students actually integrate, and is regularly praised as a vital part of the international student experience (see Appendix 2; C101 Annual Report). This is a remarkable competitive advantage for the ULC as overseas students at British universities often form social ‘ghettos’ (Morgan, 2010).
Johnson et al tell us that “the knowledge and experience of people can be the key factors influencing the success of strategies” (Johnson et al, 2008, p.475). The ULC has academic staff with many years experience of delivering courses at HE level. Almost every member of academic staff has been teaching English for over 20 years. This level of expertise is a clear competitive advantage (and a potential disadvantage as there is little use of new technologies in the ULC).
Another element of the ULC’s competitive advantage is the competitive advantage of the whole of the UoB. Students who come to study most ULC courses do so to progress onto a Bradford course such as the MBA or the MA in Peace Studies. In many respects the ULC is totally dependent on these courses maintaining their competitive advantage.
So, we can say that the ULC has competitive advantage as a result of:
• Continuous language support
• The resources centre, C101
• Expertise of staff
• UoB prestigious courses
6. KEEPING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE DYNAMIC
An organisation can keep its competitive advantage dynamic by renewing its strategic capabilities in line with the changing environment (Johnson et al, 2008). The language market in HE is currently undergoing a period of great change (as detailed in the PEST and 5 Forces analyses) and the ULC has traditionally not reacted quickly to change. A new Head of the ULC is due to be recruited soon and they will have to think strategically to make sure the ULC can react to changes in the environment to keep it’s competitive advantage dynamic.
Bearing in mind the opportunities identified in the SWOT analysis and the competitive advantage identified in the previous section, an Ansoff Matrix can be used to provide possible strategic directions, with potential market and product mixes:
Figure 6. Ansoff Matrix for ULC, (Adapted from Strategic Management lecture notes, Rawel, 2010).
Since the ULC is dependent on the reputations of other courses, and on other factors beyond its control (such as visa issues), it needs to spread its risk by adopting a diversification strategy. The ULC needs to better utilise its competitive advantage, and find a more healthy strategic position, by introducing new products, and looking for new markets.
Figure 7. Proposed ULC course map (new courses are in black lined boxes) (From own design).
Figure 7 shows a proposed new ULC course outline, extrapolated from the Ansoff matrix suggestions. This new outline spreads risk over a wider range of products/markets. All of these products should however be easily implemented using existing expertise and resources.
In order to determine future strategic direction the suggestions from Figures 7 and 8 will be examined within the context of various theories of competitive strategy. There are four main competitive strategies according to Johnson et al (2008): Price, Differentiation, Hybrid or Focus. Michael Porter (1985) also suggested four “generic” business strategies that could be adopted in order to gain competitive advantage: Differentiation, Differentiation Focus, Cost Focus and Cost Leadership. These strategies are compounded in the Strategy Clock (Johnson et al, 2008).
The ULC could try a differentiation strategy (Strategy Clock position 4) in the local market, as it can “provide services that offer benefits different from those of competitors and that are widely valued. The aim is to develop competitive advantages by offering better products or services” (Johnson, 2008, p.229). This is clearly something the ULC can offer in the local ESOL market for people whose first language is not English. The ULC will stand out on the basis of its competitive advantage; prestige, expertise, the vast support network the UoB has in place, and the resources the ULC has available (such as C101). Differentiation offers perceived added value without price premium, which would match ESOL classes, as they are government funded at a fixed rate. If the ULC wanted to expand English provision for the local market with English courses which could be charged for, then a hybrid strategy (Strategy Clock position 3) might be sensible, i.e. providing a competitive price, with quality differentiation. The hybrid strategy is “used as an entry strategy in a market with established competitors” (Johnson et al, 2008, p.230).
LFA classes could be opened to the public and charged for, adopting a combination of cost-orientated and competitive pricing, or Strategy Clock position 3; a hybrid strategy, i.e. a low price and offering better provision than competitors. A low price could be maintained since the classes are already running for students.
Internationally the ULC could also try competing using a differentiation strategy, as they can offer several advantages over competitors (expertise, continued support, additional resources). The ULC could develop new courses to meet international students’ interests, such as short English courses for school leavers or post-study, ‘English for Employment’ courses. Investing further in C101 and other areas of competitive advantage could help to further enhance the ULC’s competitivity, perhaps leading to the ULC becoming a factor in international students choosing the UoB over competitors. This could also be aided by the improvement of the English support provision to be more subject focussed, as, if students know they will receive excellent English support, which can enhance their academic achievement, they may well make that a decision factor in choosing the UoB.
As the ULC develops new products for international students it could also consider employing a hybrid strategy (Strategy Clock position 3), as this strategy is good for new markets, and also for targeting “a poorly run operation in a competitor’s portfolio” (Johnson et al, 2008, p.230). Bradford College currently runs short English courses in both the local and international market, which the ULC could certainly compete with, indeed many Bradford College students looking to progress onto UoB courses currently use C101, as it offers superior support to the college’s provision.
By measuring the success of a strategic direction we can ensure that key success factors are being met by an organisation’s competitive advantage. With the changes in strategic direction proposed above, it is important that the ULC regularly review its strategy. A balanced scorecard can be used to control and measure the success of a business strategy. It is made up of an examination of a set of performance measures, which will now be applied to the ULC.
Financial Performance
New courses will bring in extra money with little outlay other than teaching cost. So, ESOL provision and any extra English courses should increase ULC profitability. However, in HE there are more important performance measures: quality of service; reputation; student completion; and student achievement. Restructuring English support provision is just one of the ways in which these outcomes can be improved. They will be measured by attendance at support classes, and ultimately by improvement in the achievement of UoB students.
Customer Satisfaction
New courses such as the post-study, ‘English for Employment’ course, and the restructuring of the English support provision, should increase student satisfaction levels. This will be measured through course feedback forms. The ULC should also try, in future, to employ younger teaching staff and invest in the resources centre (C101 gets great customer feedback, but needs investment in its equipment to keep it up-to-date and indeed, dynamic) as this would further increase customer satisfaction.
The restructuring of the English support classes to be specifically adapted to students’ courses will greatly improve customer satisfaction, both from students and their academic departments, who should see an improvement in student achievement. This will be measured by attendance, feedback forms, results, and academic department feedback.
Internal Processes
With the restructuring of support provision, staff time will hopefully be utilised better (workshops on ‘English for Economics’ or ‘English for Engineering’, for example would be held infrequently, but would hopefully be much better attended than current provision).
There are other improvements to internal processes which could be made, such as rationalising teaching to maximise class sizes and occasionally doubling up on courses. An example of this could be during the teaching of the 6 and 10 week pre-sessional courses which could have certain exercises which include both groups.
The ULC also needs better branding and marketing, which will require greater co-ordination of the department with other agencies within the UoB. Again, this task has been held back by the lack of a Head to liaise on behalf of the department. The success of this aspect will be measured by an increase in visibility of the ULC, both in the university, and internationally.
Learning and innovation
With new courses developed and new ways of structuring time, the ULC will hopefully become much more innovative. The ability to continue to develop new products and keep competitive advantage dynamic will be the measure of the success of this aspect. More extra curricular activities based around cross cultural interaction are one way to do this.
Vision and Strategy
Adopting a diversification strategy, with new products and new markets, will hopefully be an effective future strategic direction for the ULC, as this is a good way to spread risk. The measure of how successful this strategy is, will be how well the ULC’s new courses recruit and whether attendance at support classes increases. As provision changes so will the ULC’s critical success factors and competitive advantage. With an increase in the range of products, so investment could lead to greater improvements in resources and a wider range of expertise of ULC staff.
7. CONCLUSION
This report has used environmental and internal analyses to define and identify the ULC’s competitive advantage. These have informed a proposed future strategic direction for the ULC, which will make the centre more independent of factors beyond its control. The competitive advantage of the ULC will be kept dynamic through this new strategic direction. Specifically, the report has proposed that the ULC adopts a diversification strategy at a business level (the ULC will have more products, in more markets), which will lead to the UoB having more of a differentiation strategy at corporate level (the ULC will be able to provide something different to the UoB’s competitors, which will make the UoB stand out). This report has provided some possible ways these strategic goals can be achieved, outlining possible products, and the strategies that could be employed for these products to succeed in their markets (mostly differentiation and hybrid strategies). Finally, the report has outlined ways the success of the strategic direction can be measured, to ensure strategies are not heading for ultimate failure.
What has become apparent, is that the ULC needs to work towards becoming a learning organisation; an organisation “capable of continuous regeneration from the variety of knowledge, experience and skills of individuals within a culture that encourages mutual questioning and challenge around a shared purpose or vision” (Johnson et al, 2008, p.421). This ability to regenerate from within would allow the sustainable development of dynamic strategies and consistent competitive advantage.
Well, we had a little think, and here's what we came up with:-
ABSTRACT
This report uses an environmental analysis and an internal analysis to define and identify the ULC’s competitive advantage. The ULC is found to be currently at the mercy of several environmental factors beyond its control. Its competitive advantage is identified in relation to a number of staff, resource, and wider UoB factors. Consideration of how to keep competitive advantage dynamic, leads to an assessment of future ULC strategic direction.
The report proposes that the ULC adopts a diversification strategy which will make it more independent of factors it cannot influence. Using an Ansoff Matrix and the Strategy Clock the report details possible products and strategies which will make best use of the ULC’s competitive advantage. Finally, the report outlines ways the success of the strategic direction can be reviewed.
1. INTRODUCTION
The objectives of this report are to identify the competitive advantage of the ULC at the UoB and assess how to keep it dynamic. In the process the strategic direction of the ULC will be appraised and some future strategic options proposed.
The ULC is responsible for all language provision at the UoB, with a particular focus on English language. The ULC provides English support to current students (both home and international); teaches foreign languages (LFA); teaches various English courses which act as routes for international students to progress onto other UoB courses (IELTS, IFP, pre-sessional and co-sessional courses); and runs an MA in TESOL. The author of this report is a member of staff in the ULC and much of the information herein has been gained from working within the department.
Figure 1. Strategy process, (Adapted from Rawel, 2010).
Figure 1 shows the strategy process as it will be used to identify competitive advantage in this report. The process will become clear as the report progresses.
Before competitive advantage can be ascertained an understanding of the business environment must be gained. The following sections will attempt to do this for the ULC.
2. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS: MACRO-ENVIRONMENT
A PEST analysis will be used to properly examine the external macro-environment of the ULC. Since the vast proportion of the ULC’s business is to provide courses for international students to progress onto other UoB courses, this PEST analysis will mainly outline the factors which affect international student recruitment. These factors will inform the analysis of the ULC’s future strategy.
Political/Legal
Overall, political/legal stability has a huge impact on ULC recruitment activities, especially in the non-EU student recruitment market. An example of this is recent UK Border Agency regulation changes, which could drive students away from the UK.
Recent government undergraduate funding cutbacks have made international recruitment a more significant growth area for the UoB (see Appendix 1 for more details).
Economic
The recruitment cycle of international students is bound to the economic cycle; as the global market suffers from recession, there is an associated impact on recruitment.
Social
Birth rate is the main engine of growth for students studying in HE. The UoB is focussing on ‘Glocal’ (Global and Local) markets, which is healthy, as local Bradford student, and international student markets are growing.
International students currently regard western education as highly desirable.
Technological
Access to the internet and language software, no matter where students are, provides potential new teaching methods. For example, teaching English via Skype messenger and a webcam is a new trend.
Figure 2. PEST analysis for Language schools in HE, (From own design).
This PEST analysis demonstrates that there are several factors which could seriously impact on the ULC’s current strategy. UK government visa changes in particular, can seriously affect whether students come to the UK to study.
3. MICRO-ENVIRONMENT
Porter’s 5 Forces (Porter, 1998) provides a good model for the analysis of the micro-environment of the ULC.
Figure 3. Porter’s Five Forces for the ULC (Adapted from Porter, 1980).
With western education seen as desirable and the numbers of international students increasing, we can say that the ULC’s potential market is healthy. However, the HE English language market currently has a lot of new entrants, and the way the market functions is also changing. As well as other universities, private colleges and companies offering routes into university, are new competitive threats. Many of these charge low fees and are recruiting foreign students in increasing numbers.
Most of the students who join ULC courses are hoping to progress onto a masters course at the UoB. Ranking of their master’s course in the league table is very important to these students, and most of them come to the UoB to study its more prestigious courses, such as Management courses or Peace Studies. The UoB manages to attract a high number of international students; international students form 20% of UoB students, giving it the fourth highest proportion of international students in the UK. This puts the ULC in a healthy position; teaching English courses providing progression onto other UoB courses.
Internally, the ULC also has a growing market, as students with lower IELTS scores are being admitted. The need for good English support, to ensure completion, is therefore high.
4. INTERNAL REVIEW
ULC strategy has been handed down from senior management with no consultation with ULC staff (Green and Frost, 2010). There has also been no permanent Head of Department since inception in 2007. For these reasons staff have felt that business has been dictated by people without subject expertise (Green and Frost, 2010). Unless staff feel some ownership of a strategic direction they may resist change. This has been a problem in the ULC for some time now and can be said to be holding the department back from progress.
A SWOT analysis for the ULC will help to relate internal factors to the external environment and identify strategic opportunities and threats.
Strengths
• Good quality of teaching
• Progression to desirable courses
• Great learning support services and vertical integration
• The ULC resources centre; C101 is a popular learning, social and cross-cultural centre
• Approachable and available staff
• Good connections internationally and with joint-ventures
Weaknesses
• No permanent Head of Department, so no visionary force planning ahead
• Lack of publicity within the university
• Lack of branding
• Small class sizes making running costs high
• Dependent on the reputation of others
Opportunities
• Growing international recruitment market
• New markets and institutional links
• Government funding for ESOL
Courses in the local community (City of Bradford Metropolitan district Council, 2010)
• High immigrant population locally
• Bradford seen as cheap and culturally diverse. Threats
• Increased competition from private language schools,
• Changing technology
• Visa rule changes
• Bradford seen as undesirable
Figure 4. SWOT analysis for ULC, (From own design).
The international student market is healthy but it is also very competitive, and the ULC is in many ways dependent on the competitive advantage of other courses (if they should lose their competitive edge then the ULC would suffer also), and also on visa regulations. This suggests that the ULC should spread its risk by adopting a diversification strategy and try to break into other markets. Indeed, the ULC is in many ways so well polished in its operation that it could try to break into markets such as: the pre-UG English course summer school market, developing short summer courses for international school leavers; ESOL provision in the local market (being in SLED, which has a lot of contacts with the local community, could really help the ULC to break into that market); ‘English for Employment’ courses for post-study students; and foreign language classes for local people. These possible strategic directions will be elaborated on in greater detail in section 6.
5. STRATEGIC DIRECTION
5.1 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
Critical success factors for the ULC are that they must be able to provide teaching of a sufficiently high calibre. They must also be able to provide all the various support required.
Critical to the ULC’s success is that there must be demand for their services. As a provider mainly of routes into other courses, one critical success factor is that international students must want to come to Bradford to study those other courses. So, for the ULC, the wider success of the UoB in the international market is a key success factor.
Also important to students is that qualifications they receive are widely recognised. For example, the ULC IELTS course. The pre-sessional course allows students to achieve a 0.5 point increase in their IELTS mark, allowing them entry to UoB courses they may not otherwise be able to access.
5.2 COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
In order to determine its competitive advantage the ULC needs to identify and differentiate its threshold capabilities and its capabilities for competitive advantage. Figure 5 outlines these various factors.
Figure 5. Threshold capabilities and capabilities for competitive advantage for the ULC, (From own design).
Critical success factors can be said to have been met with the demand for, and ability to teach, language at a high enough standard to meet HE needs, and to provide the associated administrative support. Where the ULC has surpassed its critical success factors is with its resources provision and with its ability to provide continuous English support throughout a student’s time at the UoB. For example, a student may attend the pre-sessional course over the summer, progress onto their Masters course, and can continue to receive English support from the ULC (and often from the same tutor). This is a service which cannot be provided by private language schools, or other competitors.
Competitive advantage comes from offering consumers greater value by either offering lower prices or providing greater benefits. For the ULC, its languages resources centre; C101, with its diverse resources and student enhancing support can be seen as contributing to the ULC’s competitive advantage. According to the resource-based view, sustainable competitive advantage is achieved by continuously developing new resources and capabilities which competitors cannot match. C101 provides language support resources, 1-to1 support, English practice activities, and cross-cultural social events. It has become one of the main places where home students and international students actually integrate, and is regularly praised as a vital part of the international student experience (see Appendix 2; C101 Annual Report). This is a remarkable competitive advantage for the ULC as overseas students at British universities often form social ‘ghettos’ (Morgan, 2010).
Johnson et al tell us that “the knowledge and experience of people can be the key factors influencing the success of strategies” (Johnson et al, 2008, p.475). The ULC has academic staff with many years experience of delivering courses at HE level. Almost every member of academic staff has been teaching English for over 20 years. This level of expertise is a clear competitive advantage (and a potential disadvantage as there is little use of new technologies in the ULC).
Another element of the ULC’s competitive advantage is the competitive advantage of the whole of the UoB. Students who come to study most ULC courses do so to progress onto a Bradford course such as the MBA or the MA in Peace Studies. In many respects the ULC is totally dependent on these courses maintaining their competitive advantage.
So, we can say that the ULC has competitive advantage as a result of:
• Continuous language support
• The resources centre, C101
• Expertise of staff
• UoB prestigious courses
6. KEEPING COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE DYNAMIC
An organisation can keep its competitive advantage dynamic by renewing its strategic capabilities in line with the changing environment (Johnson et al, 2008). The language market in HE is currently undergoing a period of great change (as detailed in the PEST and 5 Forces analyses) and the ULC has traditionally not reacted quickly to change. A new Head of the ULC is due to be recruited soon and they will have to think strategically to make sure the ULC can react to changes in the environment to keep it’s competitive advantage dynamic.
Bearing in mind the opportunities identified in the SWOT analysis and the competitive advantage identified in the previous section, an Ansoff Matrix can be used to provide possible strategic directions, with potential market and product mixes:
Figure 6. Ansoff Matrix for ULC, (Adapted from Strategic Management lecture notes, Rawel, 2010).
Since the ULC is dependent on the reputations of other courses, and on other factors beyond its control (such as visa issues), it needs to spread its risk by adopting a diversification strategy. The ULC needs to better utilise its competitive advantage, and find a more healthy strategic position, by introducing new products, and looking for new markets.
Figure 7. Proposed ULC course map (new courses are in black lined boxes) (From own design).
Figure 7 shows a proposed new ULC course outline, extrapolated from the Ansoff matrix suggestions. This new outline spreads risk over a wider range of products/markets. All of these products should however be easily implemented using existing expertise and resources.
In order to determine future strategic direction the suggestions from Figures 7 and 8 will be examined within the context of various theories of competitive strategy. There are four main competitive strategies according to Johnson et al (2008): Price, Differentiation, Hybrid or Focus. Michael Porter (1985) also suggested four “generic” business strategies that could be adopted in order to gain competitive advantage: Differentiation, Differentiation Focus, Cost Focus and Cost Leadership. These strategies are compounded in the Strategy Clock (Johnson et al, 2008).
The ULC could try a differentiation strategy (Strategy Clock position 4) in the local market, as it can “provide services that offer benefits different from those of competitors and that are widely valued. The aim is to develop competitive advantages by offering better products or services” (Johnson, 2008, p.229). This is clearly something the ULC can offer in the local ESOL market for people whose first language is not English. The ULC will stand out on the basis of its competitive advantage; prestige, expertise, the vast support network the UoB has in place, and the resources the ULC has available (such as C101). Differentiation offers perceived added value without price premium, which would match ESOL classes, as they are government funded at a fixed rate. If the ULC wanted to expand English provision for the local market with English courses which could be charged for, then a hybrid strategy (Strategy Clock position 3) might be sensible, i.e. providing a competitive price, with quality differentiation. The hybrid strategy is “used as an entry strategy in a market with established competitors” (Johnson et al, 2008, p.230).
LFA classes could be opened to the public and charged for, adopting a combination of cost-orientated and competitive pricing, or Strategy Clock position 3; a hybrid strategy, i.e. a low price and offering better provision than competitors. A low price could be maintained since the classes are already running for students.
Internationally the ULC could also try competing using a differentiation strategy, as they can offer several advantages over competitors (expertise, continued support, additional resources). The ULC could develop new courses to meet international students’ interests, such as short English courses for school leavers or post-study, ‘English for Employment’ courses. Investing further in C101 and other areas of competitive advantage could help to further enhance the ULC’s competitivity, perhaps leading to the ULC becoming a factor in international students choosing the UoB over competitors. This could also be aided by the improvement of the English support provision to be more subject focussed, as, if students know they will receive excellent English support, which can enhance their academic achievement, they may well make that a decision factor in choosing the UoB.
As the ULC develops new products for international students it could also consider employing a hybrid strategy (Strategy Clock position 3), as this strategy is good for new markets, and also for targeting “a poorly run operation in a competitor’s portfolio” (Johnson et al, 2008, p.230). Bradford College currently runs short English courses in both the local and international market, which the ULC could certainly compete with, indeed many Bradford College students looking to progress onto UoB courses currently use C101, as it offers superior support to the college’s provision.
By measuring the success of a strategic direction we can ensure that key success factors are being met by an organisation’s competitive advantage. With the changes in strategic direction proposed above, it is important that the ULC regularly review its strategy. A balanced scorecard can be used to control and measure the success of a business strategy. It is made up of an examination of a set of performance measures, which will now be applied to the ULC.
Financial Performance
New courses will bring in extra money with little outlay other than teaching cost. So, ESOL provision and any extra English courses should increase ULC profitability. However, in HE there are more important performance measures: quality of service; reputation; student completion; and student achievement. Restructuring English support provision is just one of the ways in which these outcomes can be improved. They will be measured by attendance at support classes, and ultimately by improvement in the achievement of UoB students.
Customer Satisfaction
New courses such as the post-study, ‘English for Employment’ course, and the restructuring of the English support provision, should increase student satisfaction levels. This will be measured through course feedback forms. The ULC should also try, in future, to employ younger teaching staff and invest in the resources centre (C101 gets great customer feedback, but needs investment in its equipment to keep it up-to-date and indeed, dynamic) as this would further increase customer satisfaction.
The restructuring of the English support classes to be specifically adapted to students’ courses will greatly improve customer satisfaction, both from students and their academic departments, who should see an improvement in student achievement. This will be measured by attendance, feedback forms, results, and academic department feedback.
Internal Processes
With the restructuring of support provision, staff time will hopefully be utilised better (workshops on ‘English for Economics’ or ‘English for Engineering’, for example would be held infrequently, but would hopefully be much better attended than current provision).
There are other improvements to internal processes which could be made, such as rationalising teaching to maximise class sizes and occasionally doubling up on courses. An example of this could be during the teaching of the 6 and 10 week pre-sessional courses which could have certain exercises which include both groups.
The ULC also needs better branding and marketing, which will require greater co-ordination of the department with other agencies within the UoB. Again, this task has been held back by the lack of a Head to liaise on behalf of the department. The success of this aspect will be measured by an increase in visibility of the ULC, both in the university, and internationally.
Learning and innovation
With new courses developed and new ways of structuring time, the ULC will hopefully become much more innovative. The ability to continue to develop new products and keep competitive advantage dynamic will be the measure of the success of this aspect. More extra curricular activities based around cross cultural interaction are one way to do this.
Vision and Strategy
Adopting a diversification strategy, with new products and new markets, will hopefully be an effective future strategic direction for the ULC, as this is a good way to spread risk. The measure of how successful this strategy is, will be how well the ULC’s new courses recruit and whether attendance at support classes increases. As provision changes so will the ULC’s critical success factors and competitive advantage. With an increase in the range of products, so investment could lead to greater improvements in resources and a wider range of expertise of ULC staff.
7. CONCLUSION
This report has used environmental and internal analyses to define and identify the ULC’s competitive advantage. These have informed a proposed future strategic direction for the ULC, which will make the centre more independent of factors beyond its control. The competitive advantage of the ULC will be kept dynamic through this new strategic direction. Specifically, the report has proposed that the ULC adopts a diversification strategy at a business level (the ULC will have more products, in more markets), which will lead to the UoB having more of a differentiation strategy at corporate level (the ULC will be able to provide something different to the UoB’s competitors, which will make the UoB stand out). This report has provided some possible ways these strategic goals can be achieved, outlining possible products, and the strategies that could be employed for these products to succeed in their markets (mostly differentiation and hybrid strategies). Finally, the report has outlined ways the success of the strategic direction can be measured, to ensure strategies are not heading for ultimate failure.
What has become apparent, is that the ULC needs to work towards becoming a learning organisation; an organisation “capable of continuous regeneration from the variety of knowledge, experience and skills of individuals within a culture that encourages mutual questioning and challenge around a shared purpose or vision” (Johnson et al, 2008, p.421). This ability to regenerate from within would allow the sustainable development of dynamic strategies and consistent competitive advantage.
Sunday, 18 April 2010
Diary from April 17th, 2010, to the Day of My Death.
Visiting a house in a nearby village, i suddenly notice that my left hand is incredibly cold. I stick it inside my shirt, but it doesnt seems to do any good, it feels unbelievably cold, and i am never cold. Worry turns to panic; i cannot swallow and feel that strange dissasociation with my left arm. I get into the car but i'm shaking and cannot drive. Sit there for a few moments trying to pull myself together.
Saturday, 17 April 2010
Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen
Always wondered what that book Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen was all about, turns out its this:-
Do you really want to listen to a cranky old man ramble on about his childhood, his heart surgery, his hobbies, his son, and the way things, in general, aren't what they used to be? It turns out you do. In Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen, Larry McMurtry comes the old pardner, and the result is a powerful elegy for the lost spaces in American life. He takes as his starting point an afternoon he spent at the Dairy Queen in Archer City, Texas, reading the pensées of early 20th-century German philosopher Walter Benjamin. At the time Benjamin was writing, McMurtry's grandparents were settling dusty reaches of west Texas, and McMurtry crosscuts neatly between Benjamin's spent, smoky Europe and his own grandparents' America: "While my grandparents were dealing with almost absolute emptiness, both social and cultural, Europe was approaching an absolute (and perhaps intolerable) density." McMurtry demonstrates a confidence almost bordering on naiveté in the way he appropriates the great thinking of Europe and applies it to his own history. He apologizes neither to the highfalutin Europeans nor to the down-home Americans, but makes them lie down together any way he sees fit. This brio makes Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen a thrilling read.
McMurtry's book-length essay loops outward from Archer City to encompass a polemic against computers, a foray into the world of book collecting, a family biography, an account of his soul-loss after heart surgery, and finally an elegy for the cowboy. This last lament casts a shadow back over what we've read. Not just over this book, but over McMurtry's whole body of work. A man who's lived his whole life in print gives us a glimpse of what has fed him, and, strangely, it's loss. "Because of when and where I grew up, on the Great Plains just as the herding tradition was beginning to lose its vitality, I have been interested all my life in vanishing breeds." The master of storytelling is finally revealed as a master of melancholy. --Claire Dederer
From Publishers Weekly
After reading an essay by Walter Benjamin in a Dairy Queen during his hometown's centennial celebration, McMurtry set out to ponder how Benjamin's conclusions about the death of the oral tradition apply to his own desolate patch of Texas cattle country. That essay, "The Storyteller," is the touchstone McMurtry returns to throughout this digressive, erudite and frequently glum assessment of his career and the importance of storytelling. "Real curiosity," he writes, "now gets little chance to developAit's smothered with information before it can draw a natural breath." Taking a break from writing fiction to think "about place, about my life, about literature and my relation to it," the bestselling author (Comanche Moon, etc.) and purveyor of antiquarian books offers prickly appraisals of great writers. A devotee of European literature, McMurtry considers Virginia Woolf's diaries and Proust's 12-volume opus the White Nile and Blue Nile of language. As for critics, he spurns theorists for those he considers great readers (Susan Sontag, Edmund Wilson and V.S. Pritchett, among others). Surveying his own two dozen books, he feels much like his cattle ranching father at the end of his life, contemplating his "too meager acres" and concluding he could have done more. At the same time, McMurtry claims he has exhausted the themes that interest him and hints that he may be done with fiction for good. The most infectious element in this book-length essay is McMurtry's passion for reading, which was rooted in boyhood and blossomed into a lifelong quest to understand the European culture that spawned his own pioneer familyAa quest that brings him full circle back to Benjamin. It all adds up to a thoughtful, elegant retrospective on Texas, his work and the meaning of reading by an author who has the range to write with intelligence about both Proust and the bathos of a Holiday Inn marquee.
Do you really want to listen to a cranky old man ramble on about his childhood, his heart surgery, his hobbies, his son, and the way things, in general, aren't what they used to be? It turns out you do. In Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen, Larry McMurtry comes the old pardner, and the result is a powerful elegy for the lost spaces in American life. He takes as his starting point an afternoon he spent at the Dairy Queen in Archer City, Texas, reading the pensées of early 20th-century German philosopher Walter Benjamin. At the time Benjamin was writing, McMurtry's grandparents were settling dusty reaches of west Texas, and McMurtry crosscuts neatly between Benjamin's spent, smoky Europe and his own grandparents' America: "While my grandparents were dealing with almost absolute emptiness, both social and cultural, Europe was approaching an absolute (and perhaps intolerable) density." McMurtry demonstrates a confidence almost bordering on naiveté in the way he appropriates the great thinking of Europe and applies it to his own history. He apologizes neither to the highfalutin Europeans nor to the down-home Americans, but makes them lie down together any way he sees fit. This brio makes Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen a thrilling read.
McMurtry's book-length essay loops outward from Archer City to encompass a polemic against computers, a foray into the world of book collecting, a family biography, an account of his soul-loss after heart surgery, and finally an elegy for the cowboy. This last lament casts a shadow back over what we've read. Not just over this book, but over McMurtry's whole body of work. A man who's lived his whole life in print gives us a glimpse of what has fed him, and, strangely, it's loss. "Because of when and where I grew up, on the Great Plains just as the herding tradition was beginning to lose its vitality, I have been interested all my life in vanishing breeds." The master of storytelling is finally revealed as a master of melancholy. --Claire Dederer
From Publishers Weekly
After reading an essay by Walter Benjamin in a Dairy Queen during his hometown's centennial celebration, McMurtry set out to ponder how Benjamin's conclusions about the death of the oral tradition apply to his own desolate patch of Texas cattle country. That essay, "The Storyteller," is the touchstone McMurtry returns to throughout this digressive, erudite and frequently glum assessment of his career and the importance of storytelling. "Real curiosity," he writes, "now gets little chance to developAit's smothered with information before it can draw a natural breath." Taking a break from writing fiction to think "about place, about my life, about literature and my relation to it," the bestselling author (Comanche Moon, etc.) and purveyor of antiquarian books offers prickly appraisals of great writers. A devotee of European literature, McMurtry considers Virginia Woolf's diaries and Proust's 12-volume opus the White Nile and Blue Nile of language. As for critics, he spurns theorists for those he considers great readers (Susan Sontag, Edmund Wilson and V.S. Pritchett, among others). Surveying his own two dozen books, he feels much like his cattle ranching father at the end of his life, contemplating his "too meager acres" and concluding he could have done more. At the same time, McMurtry claims he has exhausted the themes that interest him and hints that he may be done with fiction for good. The most infectious element in this book-length essay is McMurtry's passion for reading, which was rooted in boyhood and blossomed into a lifelong quest to understand the European culture that spawned his own pioneer familyAa quest that brings him full circle back to Benjamin. It all adds up to a thoughtful, elegant retrospective on Texas, his work and the meaning of reading by an author who has the range to write with intelligence about both Proust and the bathos of a Holiday Inn marquee.
Diary from April 17th, 2010, to the Day of My Death.
In the shower this morning, a slight feeling of disassociation with my left hand that led to mild panic. The hand was working fine, and could grip and move as normal, but seemed curiously distant, or almost not fully connected to my brain. Turning on the radio helped to take my mind off it.
A few Benjamin quotes
"Books and harlots have their quarrels in public."
"The destructive character lives from the feeling, not that life is worth living, but that suicide is not worth the trouble."
"He who observes etiquette but objects to lying is like someone who dresses fashionably but wears no vest."
"The destructive character lives from the feeling, not that life is worth living, but that suicide is not worth the trouble."
"He who observes etiquette but objects to lying is like someone who dresses fashionably but wears no vest."
Monday, 12 April 2010
One way street
Many flights now just £1. Visit www.jet2.com
The most significant moments on a foreign trip are always on the bus journey from the airport; the first moments. When every sight, no matter how commonplace, seems like an insight into a different culture.
So, on the bus into Venice from the airport, a young girl stretching out her pants in the process of hanging them out to dry, seems like an indication of a whole other way of life; "Ah", we say, "they are so much more in tune with their bodies here". But this is just one person, one incident, yet for me it has revealed something of the Venician soul.
The most significant moments on a foreign trip are always on the bus journey from the airport; the first moments. When every sight, no matter how commonplace, seems like an insight into a different culture.
So, on the bus into Venice from the airport, a young girl stretching out her pants in the process of hanging them out to dry, seems like an indication of a whole other way of life; "Ah", we say, "they are so much more in tune with their bodies here". But this is just one person, one incident, yet for me it has revealed something of the Venician soul.
Friday, 9 April 2010
Tintoretto's 'The Last Judgement'
In the church of Madonna dell'Orto in the far north of Cannaregio we see 'The Last Judgement' by Tintoretto. Ruskin said that this painting,"is the only painting to ever grasp the event in its verity...as they may see it who shall not sleep, but be changed."
Er, yep, there's certainly alot going on in it.
Benjamin in moleskin
Whilst on holiday in Venice, Mrs LeedsArcadesProjects bought us the Moleskin notebook for Venice, which contains Venice maps and other bits and bobs, including the following quote from Benjamin:-
"Not to find one's way around a city does not mean much. But to lose one's way in a city, as one loses one's way in a forest, requires some schooling. Street names must speak to the urban wanderer like the snapping of dry twigs, and little streets in the heart of the city must reflect the times of day, for him, as clearly as a mountain valley."
What else to say other than that this is a perfect quote for Venice, and completely sums up the charm it holds for me.
"Not to find one's way around a city does not mean much. But to lose one's way in a city, as one loses one's way in a forest, requires some schooling. Street names must speak to the urban wanderer like the snapping of dry twigs, and little streets in the heart of the city must reflect the times of day, for him, as clearly as a mountain valley."
What else to say other than that this is a perfect quote for Venice, and completely sums up the charm it holds for me.
Thursday, 8 April 2010
TheLeedsArcadesProjects on Holiday
TheLeedsArcadesProjects have been on holiday to Venice, searching out all Ruskin's old haunts. Here we are looking at his old hotel in Dorsoduro. This place is on the waterfront, looking across to the Island of La Giudecca.
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