PROJECT REPORT ON MARKETING OF SERVICES IN EDUCATION SECTOR

SUBMITTED BY:
Shweta Kumari, Sonia Charak, Tarun Chauhan, Srishti Suneja, Yukti Bhatia MBA (GENERAL) 4th SEMESTER

SUBMITTED TO: Dr. Mani Shrestha AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

AMITY UNIVERSITY HARYANA

Education Service Sector and its structure

Education is the learning of knowledge, information and skills during the life. It lightens our society from small villages to the developed city also. Education in India takes major changes. As the time passes we had KASHI, TAKSHSHILA, and NALANDA one of the most famous education institutes in the ancient world. Today the model of education has changed from knowledge based to carrier based. People study to secure carrier and not to get adequate knowledge. Knowledge is the confident understanding of a subject with the ability to use it for a specific purpose while the education is the approach to acquire the knowledge. The growth in the personal disposable income of the Indians, growing contribution of the services sector to Indias GDP thereby requiring greater number of qualified youths and the increasing thrust of the Government of India to improve the countrys educational system and eventually the literacy rates has resulted in manifold growth of the Indian Educational sector since the last decade. India Ratings expects the Indian education sectors market size to increase to Rs 602,410 crore ($109.84 billion) by FY15 due to the expected strong demand for quality education. Indian education sectors market size in FY12 is estimated to be Rs 341,180 crore. The sector grew at a compounded annual growth rate of 16.5% during FY05-FY12. The higher education (HE) segment was at 34.04% ($17.02billion) of the total size in FY10 and grew by a CAGR of 18.13% during FY04-FY10. In todays global environment, an accessible and high quality higher education system is imperative for a nations economic progress. A sound higher education system supports and enhances the process of economic and social development for a better future.

Education sector Structure

Today education system in India can be divided into many stages. Pre- Primary - It consists of children of 3-5 years of age studying in nursery, lower kindergarten and upper kindergarten. At this stage student is given knowledge about school life and is taught to read and write some basic words.

Primary - It includes the age group of children of 6-11 years studying in classes from first to fifth.

Middle - It consists of children studying in classes from sixth to eighth. Secondary - it includes students studying in classes ninth and tenth. Higher Secondary - Includes students studying in eleventh and twelfth classes. Undergraduate - Here, a student goes through higher education, which is completed in college. This course may vary according to the subject pursued by the student. For medical student this stage is of four and a half years plus one year of compulsory internship, while a simple graduate degree can be attained in three years.

Postgraduate - After completing graduation a student may opt for post graduation to further add to his qualifications.

There are three principal levels of qualification within the higher education system in India: I. Graduation level II. Post-graduation level III. Doctoral degree.

Drivers of Educational Sector Growth

Higher education is the second largest opportunity in the Indian education sector. There has been phenomenal growth of higher education in India since Independence. There were only 20 universities and 500 colleges at the time of independence. These numbers have increased by 26 times in the case of Universities and 66 times in the case of colleges. Some of the other factors acting as growth drivers to the Higher education sector are:

Demographic advantageMore than 50 per cent of the Indian population is under the age of 25, this leads to increased demand for quality higher education and a skilled workforce.

Increasing affordabilityHigh income households (more than $10,500) are expected to increase from 5mn to 14mn by 2018 resulting in higher affordability. This will propel awareness towards education as a priority and an essential tool for career growth.

Knowledge led economyThe share of services in India has increased from 31 per cent in 1991 to 55 per cent in 2010. This increase in the services sector has led to a steady increase in the demand for an educated skilled workforce.

Women participationYoung working population with a median age of 25 years, nuclear families, along with emerging job opportunities in the services sector driven economy, have led to an increase in the number of working women in India. The population of working women is estimated to be more than 25 per cent by 2015.

Employment avenuesGlobalization has led to the increase in newer employment avenues. Industries such as outsourcing, legal, retail, aviation, and so on, have increased employment opportunities, and the demand for highly skilled manpower.

Nature of Education Services

1. IntangibilityEducation like most pure services is an intangible dominant service, impossible to touch, see or feel. Evaluation of this service however can be obtained by judging service content (curricula, course material, student workload, constituent faculty) and the service delivery system. The consumer, based on these evaluations, has a number of alternative choices before him and may make selection on the basis of his own evaluation referrals, opinions sought from others and of course a brand or corporate image of the organization providing education. At the end of the service experience, the consumer gets something tangible to show for his efforts i.e. a certificate or a grade card denoting his level of proficiency at the given course/programme. Education cannot be seen or touched and is often difficult to evaluate. Precise standardization is difficult. Education as a service cannot be patented. 2. PerishabilityServices are perishable and cannot be stored. To an extent, education displays this characteristic which results in certain features. Production and consumption are simultaneous activities: This is true of most conventional teaching institutions where face to face teaching necessitates simultaneous production and consumption. Open and distance learning systems which make substantial use of technology, however, have made it possible for production and consumption of the service to be carried out at different times-the use of audio-video units and preparation of course materials sent to the students across the consumer population, are designed to meet the challenge posed by the perishability character of services. No inventories can be build up: This is true of most services, as well as education, as an unutilized service like a course on offer, or a lecture scheduled to be delivered, cannot be stored, if there are no students enrolling for the course or to attend the lecture. This factor opens up the challenge of

managing the service in the face of fluctuating demand. Nearly all universities at one time or the other have faced the problem of overstaffing, when certain disciplines went out of vogue, like pure sciences and post graduate courses in languages. The marketing implications of perishability necessitate that a better match between supply and demand for educational packages would need to be made. Course design and course offers need to be preceded by a need analysis of the target population before the decision to launch them is made. This points towards the use of marketing research techniques for service development (designing the course concept) and planning, but more than that it necessitates a shift from institution orientation to a student or customer orientation. Courses need not be offered because the institutions have available expertise in an area or it is something that the institution has been traditionally doing. In consonance with the marketing concept, the capability of finding a better fit between the needs of the society and the design of the offering, would define the difference between an effective and a non-effective institution. 3. InseparabilityServices are also characterized by the factor of inseparability in the sense that it is usually impossible to separate a service from the person of the provider. In the context of education, this translates into the need for the presence of the performer (the instructor) when the service is to be performed and consumed. This necessarily limits the scale of operations to the number of instructors available, it also means that the distribution mode is more often than not direct in the sense that no intermediaries are involved; the transfer of knowledge is directly from the provider to the learner. As noted before, open learning systems have overcome the characteristic of inseparability by incorporating the teacher into the material and bringing about a separation between the producer and the service. A direct marketing implication of this inseparability is the need for obtaining/training more service providers as well as the need for more effective scheduling of operations.

4. Heterogeneity Heterogeneity in the context of services means that unlike product manufacturing situations where design specifications can be minutely standardized and followed, the standards of services, educational services included, would depend upon who provides the service and how. This heterogenity of performance renders service offers for the same basic service product from different institutes vastly different from each other. Even though standardization of courses according to some prescribed norms may be attained, it is difficult to standardize individual performance i.e. that of the faculty resource person. That, perhaps, is not even a desirable goal in education, but maintenance of a certain quality standard across performers certainly is. In the absence of accepted quality standardization mechanisms in this context, it is the market forces alone, which would force quality standards on education. Dwindling registrations in institutions, snatching away of market shares by more effective competitors is what is making institutions take a renewed look at quality of service delivery and mechanisms for maintenance of standards. In terms of marketing implications, the hetrogenity characteristic of educational services necessitates careful personnel selection and planning, constant and careful monitoring of standards which can provide cues to the prospective customers to aid choice of institutions. Examples of these cues could be success rates of the placement programme, the absorption of the institutions product in the job market, or the performance of the pass-outs at other competitive examinations. 5. OwnershipOwnership or the lack of it also characterizes service. In the context of education, the customer only buys access to education, or derives the learning benefit from the services provided. There is no transfer of the ownership of tangibles and intangibles which have gone into creation of the service product. Payment of fees (price for the service) is just the consideration for access to knowledge and for the use of facilities for a given tenure.

Flower of services in education Industry

Flower of services refer to a well-formed package of total services with all the supplementary services being well formulated along with the core services. The various petals of the flower are: Information A marketer needs to provide adequate information to his employess and his customers. This information is general information provided through various communication channels. In education industry information is provided with the help of: Marketing agents Seminars Web sites Print media Radio Television Events Consultancy This is additional customized information provided to the potential customers by the service provider. In the education sector it is provided by institutes consultants. Order taking Order taking should be done without mistakes. In education sector it is related with taking admissions and the further process. It is generally done through its website or through the staff. Hospitality Hospitality is a very pretty petal, reflecting pleasure at meeting new customers and greeting old ones when they return. Hospitality finds its full expression in face to face encounters with the students and parents during admission process.

Safe keeping It is the process and procedures used by marketers to safe guard and to maintain secrecy. In institutes the data of the students is very important. The data should be stored properly and should be available to the staff only. Example in Amity University all data of the students are stored on Amizone (Amity intranet).

Exceptional Exceptional service means services over and above customers expectations. It is related with campus facilities, student accommodation, infrastructure etc.

Payment In education sector, payment of fees is normally done through demand drafts and cheques.

The Service marketing Challenges and implications for marketers in Education sector
Third-Party AccountabilityUniversities must maintain credibility with parents, donors, alumni, employers and other stake holders Client UncertaintyIts documented that consumers of big-ticket items can feel buyers remorse, so most salespeople follow up shortly after the sale to ensure customers are comfortable with their decision and to counteract any extreme fears. After a student makes the major decision about which college to attend, key units within the university, such as student development, the business office and the academic department, must maintain contact to reinforce that the students decision was wise and valid. Little or no contact between the time of acceptance and reporting for class can result in a student changing his or her mind. Experience is EssentialThe universitys brand is based on quality, which often translates into faculty with vast teaching experience. However, especially in business-related disciplines, this must also translate into real-world experiences. Marketers must be able to accurately convey this balance. Limited DistinctivenessAlthough universities know they must find the unique attributes that make their institution distinctive, claims for universities within the same category, such as faith-based liberal arts colleges, may sound very similar: academic rigor, personal attention, and the teaching of values and ethics. Maintaining Quality ControlAll service industries experience variability in quality control because the humans delivering the service can be inconsistent transaction to transaction and person to person. Quality at a university depends not only on behavior and competence of all faculty and staff it depends on the behavior of the students who become alumni a key indicator of reputation. Making Doers Into Sellers-

Faculty can be highly effective in the recruiting process but may be resistant to this role that seems outside their area of responsibility. Allocating Faculty and Staff Time to MarketingEven if faculties are resistant the university will benefit from a culture shift toward involving everyone in marketing efforts to the extent that this expectation is made explicit in job descriptions. Reorienting the Reactive to the ProactiveThe orientation of most institutions of higher education is naturally reactive rather than proactive. In most colleges and universities, marketers are tasked with marketing the institution as it is. This is who we are and what we offer, administrators tell the marketers. Promote it. Conflicting Views on AdvertisingTraditionally, some in higher education equate marketing with advertising and feel that at the worst, advertising cheapens the university image and puts it on par with for-profit educational institutions. At the best, it wastes scares institutional resources that could be channeled toward academic programs. Others believe it is a valuable tool for educating potential students and donors about the universitys benefits. A Limited Marketing Knowledge BaseEvery faculty and staff member must have a basic grasp of marketing principles to achieve the levels of service required to effectively market the university. Marketers in general do not have solid base of knowledge regarding the marketing of services and that higher education is even more specialized. Marketers who come from an environment of marketing goods must become familiar with the politics and stakeholder groups in an academic setting. Likewise, faculty and staff who have had no exposure to marketing concepts need basic training.

Service mix of educational services

ProductIn case of educational services, the product means the students and the services means the intangible offers (like the course itself, the services rendered by the faculty etc.) made by the educational institutions. Here, services make the product of an institute. Through the products and services the educational institutions promotes their organization and develop the brand value in the competitive market.

PriceThe price is the amount a student pays for the services availed by him or her. It is determined by a number of factors including competition, service quality, placement, reputation of the institution, private or public ownership, infrastructure, facilities provided, location of the institute, mode of education, brand name of the educational institution etc. Here, price reflects the quality of services provided to the students. Hence, it can be used as marketing tool by the institutions. PlacePlace represents the location where an educational institute is established. It is often referred to as the service Center. If the institute is located at a Metro city, it will provide much more competitive edge, than if it is located in rural place. So, place is also a vital promotional tool for them. PromotionPromotion represents all of the communications that a service provider uses in the marketplace. Promotion has a few distinct elements such as advertising, public relations, word of mouth, point of sale, publicity, direct & web marketing, etc. Educational institute emphasizes mainly on two components of promotion viz. advertising and web-based marketing, rather than all. As far as promotion tool is concerned, positive word-of-mouth communication has been found the best tool for them. PeopleHere, the people mean teaching fraternity and non-teaching community directly and indirectly associated with the services rendered to the students. Satisfaction and retention of the students solely depends on the way the teachers are in a position to deliver their best services to them. Teachers are not treated as guru, rather they are known as facilitators / services providers. Growth and existence of an educational institute, particularly the professional educational organization depends on the competency, effectiveness, efficiency, sincerity, dedication and devotion of the teaching community of the institute. People proved as the most vibrant component of educational services marketing mix.

ProcessThe procedures, mechanisms and flow of activities which lead to an exchange of value are called the process. The way service providers render services to the students, plays a pivotal role in gaining the competitive advantages. If the service process is hassle free, simple, understandable, student friendly and technology based, it will definitely make the institution with difference. Examples might include the way a student is treated by a staff member and rendered service by a teacher, or the length of time a student has to wait to get services from them. Physical EvidenceIt is the direct sensory experience of a service that allows a student to measure whether he or she has received adequate facilities by the educational institution. Examples might include the physical environment in which service is delivered, the physical facilities provided and the infrastructure created by the organization for them. It might include state-of-art technology, building, total ambience, parking facility, playground,

gymnasium, swimming pool, indoor stadium, transportation facility, hostel, AC class room facility, computer laboratory, canteen, library, number of books and journals, different modern teaching aid etc. All of these play a crucial role in marketing of educational institute.

Students expectations for educational service

Students (and parents) expectations are now high and these include: Flexibility and choice in the delivery of education. Access to cutting edge technology. A two way communication process between them and with the university. To be consulted about the learning experience. Accurate information about their courses, assessment procedures, complaints process, etc. Honesty with respect to whether their needs can be met or not. Quality and professionalism in the provision of services. Access to suitably qualified teachers and appropriate learning support. Value of study to career prospects.

Gap in Education sector

Gap 1: Educational institutions do not know the expectations of the students. Gap 2: Institutions are not having the desired service designs and standards to meet the requirements of the students. Gap 3: Educational institutions are not delivering service standards as required to deliver. Gap 4: They are not matching performance they are supposed to show and promises communicated to the students. Gap 5: There are lot of differences between expectations of the students and their perceptions, which is known as Customer Gap.

Approaches to minimize gaps

Once gaps are identified, the educational institute should take some corrective measures to minimize those gaps. First, they should realize the expectations of the students and try to meet the same accordingly, if meet, customized services are to be rendered. Secondly, the institute should design the services which are market and student oriented. Thirdly, service quality and appropriate delivery process need to maintain properly. Fourthly, institute ought to keep the promises communicated by them. Fifthly, they must not allow creating any expectation and perception gap in the mind of their students. Marketing strategy should be adopted which are exclusive for student / customer satisfaction. The Consumer-Centric Business approach should be the appropriate path for them.

For the professional educational institutes suitable placement for students after completion of the course should be the first and foremost consideration. Later on, placement can be used as a marketing tool for the institution. Whenever loopholes are identified, institute should act very quickly to resolve it. Student Relationship Management (SRM) must be maintained systematically for the long run benefit of the institution. Alumni are the most important stakeholder and the greatest contributor for the organization. Fair treatment to all the present and former students is very necessary because of the fact that they act like non-paid brand ambassadors of the institute. Honest student appraisal can make an institute with difference. During appraisal process, halo effect, leniency effect, stringent effect, regency effect, primacy effect, central tendency effect, stereotyping, etc. ought to be avoided. During service delivery time quality and customization should be the mantra to the service provider. Market driven services must be offered to the students. Service providers ought to welcome and encourage feedback from the students to dissolve all the grievances among them.

Service blueprint of Education Sector

MARKETING STRATEGY AND EDUCATION

Some directions for marketing strategy for education may, however, be drawn keeping in mind the special characteristics of education as an intangible dominant, people based, high contact consumer service. These are outlined below. 1. The dominantly intangible nature of education service may make the consumers choice of competitive offers more difficult. 2. In case of delivery systems where the performance of the service demands the presence of the instructor, marketing of education would need to be localized and offer the consumer a more restricted choice. Of course, as institutions build up their pull in the market, consumers are willing to relocate themselves to avail of the service. 3. Perishability may prevent storage of the service product and may add risk and uncertainty to the marketing of education, especially in the event of fluctuating demand for courses/instructors/disciplines. It is also important to develop an understanding of the criteria prospective students apply when they choose between competing institutions. A study in the Indian context, for management education, reveals that some of the criteria used by students to choose between institutions were: Reputation of the institution, Number of applicants keen to enroll in the course, Past success rate of placement, Faculty expertise, Width of specialization offered, Infrastructural facilities, and Fees.

Identification of criteria used to differentiate between competing offers may lead institutions to lay emphasis on developing competing strengths and creating perceived differences between their offers and the competitors offer.

Pricing of the Education Service

Pricing decisions for the service offer are of a major importance and should ideally be related to achievement of marketing and organizational goals. Pricing of the educational offer however, typically represented as tuition fees, is subject to certain constraints and characteristics. Most educational institutions, in fact all public institutions like the Universities, institutes of technology, medical and engineering colleges, come under the category of services where price are subject to public regulation. In all such cases the price element is not controllable by the marketer, instead it becomes a subject matter of public policy, where political, environmental and social considerations take priority over purely economic considerations. Prices may be based on the ability to pay (fee structure relating to parents income in case of Universities) or some socially desirable goals (total fee exemption for women candidates in states like Rajasthan and Gujarat). Autonomous institutions also subject themselves to formal self-regulation of price for example, the institutions like AICWA, and ICWAI are subject to institutional regulations relating to fee structures which they decide for themselves. On the other hand private institutions, typically in specialized fields like medicine, engineering, computers and management tend to price their services on what the market would bear. As most of these institutions operate in subject fields where demand far exceeds supply, prices charged depend upon economic condition, consumer feelings about prices, buyer need urgency, competition in the market place, level of demand etc. Heterogeneity of services and different pricing considerations used by different types of institutions make price a less important determinant of consumer choice in educational services. The more the services are homogenous (undergraduate, graduate courses in the basic disciplines) the more competitive would tend to be the pricing. Another generalization that can be drawn from product marketing is that the more unique the education service offer, the greater would be the ability of the providers to vary prices according to the buying capacity of the consumer population. Differential pricing, based on the consumers willingness to pay may also be utilized for the education service. The practice of charging different fees for the sponsored candidates and the non-sponsored ones is common in professional courses, so is the

practice of charging differential fees from full time and part time evening participants of the study programme.

SERVICE QUALITY DIMENSIONS

5 dimensions of service quality are:Reliability:- It is the ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately Example- Like in education sector, universities promise quality education to students, grooming students well and successfully imparting practical knowledge to the students ,but if they are not doing what they promise to do, then they cannot be considered reliable.

Assurance:- It is the knowledge and courtesy of the employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence Example:- Counselors in universities, they interact with the student and get the students background noted and thus help in choosing them the correct field accordingly and convince them by telling the students about how the university will be helpful to them in imparting them with the right skills.

Tangibles:- They are the physical facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel which signifies quality Example:- In universities tangibles are seminar rooms, laboratories, libraries, lecture rooms which are critical tangibles

Empathy:- It is the caring and individualized attention to the customer Example:-Like in amity university, each student is enrolled with a mentor who guides the students on regular basis personally as well as professionally

Responsiveness:-It is the willingness to help the customer and provide them with prompt service

Example:- Like in amity hostel, when one lodges a complaint like electric complaints or plumbing complaints, such things are taken care of and there is prompt service to such complaints, so one can say that the hostel staff is responsive to the students complaints

TYPES OF CUSTOMER COMPLAINT ACTIONS: A dissatisfied customer may choose to complain on the spot to the service provider. Example:- In amity university, when the hostel wi-fi does not work, we complain about it to the IT department directly Some customers choose not to complain directly to the provider but rather spread negative word of mouth about the company to friends, relatives and coworkers. Example:- like in amity university, when we are assured of 100% placement assistance and when we do not get the same, we are dissatisfied and thus the students as well as parents spread negative word of mouth for the university

TYPES OF COMPLAINERS:1. Passives:They are group of customers who are least likely to take any action. They are unlikely to say anything to the provider, less likely than others to spread negative word of mouth, and unlikely to complain to a third party. They think that the consequences will not merit the time and effort they will expend. Example:- Some students take whatever they are being provided with like in amity hostel mess the quality of food has degraded from before, so whenever there is a hostel mess meeting, such students do not come to the mess to resolve the problem nor do they spread negative word of mouth 2. Voicers:These customers actively complain to the service provider, but they are less likely to spread negative word of mouth, to switch patronage or to go to the third parties with their complaints. Example:- in amity university, whenever students face any problem regarding conveyance when they are required to appear for job placement interviews, they complain for it to the CRC Department

3. Irates:These consumers are likely to engage in negative word of mouth to friends and relatives and to switch providers than are others. Example:- Some students may switch to another mentor instead of being with its designated mentor/guide when student feels that the designated mentor is not able to guide him/her properly

4. Activists:These consumers are characterized by above average propensity to complain on all dimensions: they will complain to the provider, they will tell others and they are more likely than any other group to complain to third parties. Example:- when giving overall feedback about the university, the students or parents may complain to the university itself an tell them about negative points of the university, and are more likely to complain to their friends and relatives and share their bad experiences that they had with the university.

SERVICE GUARANTEES
It is an assurance of the quality of or length of use to be expected from service offered for sale , often with a promise of reimbursement. A good guarantee is unconditional, easy to understand, meaningful, easy to invoke, and easy to collect. Example:- Amity University gives guarantee of 100% placement assistance .And it gives guarantee of 100% scholarship to students who get 90% and above in Xth and XIIth standard.

IMPACT OF SERVICE FAILURE AND RECOVERY

Service recovery refers to the actions taken by the organization in response to a service failure. Failures occur for all kinds of reasons- the service may be unavailable when promised, it may be delivered late or too slowly, the outcome may be incorrect or poorly executed, or employees may be rude or uncaring. All these types of failures bring about negative feelings and responses from customers.

Left unfixed, they can result in customers leaving, telling other customers about their negative experiences, and even challenging the organization through consumer rights organization or legal channels. And resolving customer problems effectively has a strong impact on customer satisfaction, loyalty and bottom line performance. Example:- In few education institutions, like in MBA degree course there is an option for the students either to opt for dual degree or major-minor combination of electives. But at the time of implementation of such, the students are left with no other choice than to choose from the electives that the university offers. This is a service failure on the part of the university. And such service failure can be recovered by telling the students about such things at the time of counseling, or otherwise proper rules and regulations should be mentioned in the brochure.