Assignment Task: 2 Marketing and Competitive Environment Analysis of University Brand: CQ University Date: 12.04.2017 Student Name: Professor Name: Simranjit Singh Parves Sultan Student ID: 12044654 (Unit Coordinator)   Executive Summary Getting educated today, in Australia is a costly affair. And even then, the market for education is booming. Students are flocking form all parts of the Continent, and from the nearby Neighbouring regions. CQ University is a university with more than 16 Campuses and study centres located across Australia. But in order to attract more students and to keep itself in the limelight, it must employ a few marketing techniques. Throughout this assignment we have provided various such options for the CQ University to impact more people through new age marketing procedures.   Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Background 4 Market Summary and Demand Assessment of CQ University 4 Segmentation & Target Market Analysis 4 Current Marketing Mix Analysis 5 PEST Analysis 5 Competitor Analysis 5 SWOT Analysis 6 Value and Brand Positioning 6 Conclusion 6 References 8   Background CQ University states in their website that they are among the top 150 Universities in the World and have a number of courses in their name. There are more than 35000 students studying in more than 300 courses across 16 campuses. The huge number of students tells a lot of things about the CQ University’s reputation. The University is celebrating 25 years as a University in 2017. There are a number of courses spread across a number of genres to suit the needs of all people (VTAC, 2015). Market Summary and Demand Assessment of CQ University (Batten, 2016). The market for education and especially for graduation and post -graduation has risen. The trends in CQ University tell a lot about the nearby futurism the increasing number of students enrolling from domestic as well as from international locations suggest the increase in market as well as the growth in the demand for high quality education. Since the CQ University is able to provide a good course and supports the opportunity to get education at different parts of the Australian continent, it provides better races to education and creates more demand. There are many specialisation courses and the Research opportunities also attract many people (Hyde, 2015). Segmentation & Target Market Analysis CQ University should target the people who have the potential and are showing interest in higher studies. While can help itself posts ion better if it can highlight the right courses to the right people. The target market should be the local meritorious students as well as students who are supported by scholarships (Marshall, 2015). Local communities, aboriginals should be provided equal rights to education. The university must extensively advertise and engage with high schools students in neighbouring countries which have attracted good number of students. The education industry is booming, so CQ University will have ample space to grow, provided it follows a clear marketing pattern (McMeeken, 2014). Current Marketing Mix Analysis CQ University is a large scale university; yet only a few marketing and promotional activities are run to enhance and retain the popularity. The university is highly dependent on more traditional approaches, but it has a good number of followers in Facebook. While it can definitely impact more people through the use of specific target marketing on Facebook, it should do targeted marketing through paid campaigns. The current Facebook likes for CQ University is around 62890, which is quite significant. The CQ University has a great opportunity to let it shine in 2017 since it has completed 285 years as a University (Affairs, 2006) The university uses Integra, a social media network specially used for images to reach out to more people. There is also the option to take part in special fairs and college associations to engage with future students. Also using the existing database of students and interested people, the CQ University can create a good heat map of which areas are more responsive to marketing efforts and target those specific areas. There is also the use of traditional marketing in local areas, through newspapers, magazines, yellow pages, banners and leaflets (Beesley, 2015). PEST Analysis In the recent years there has been a steady rise in the number of students who are coming from neighbouring countries to study in Australia. The Australian Bureau of Statistics suggests that the number of admissions in the higher education has been at an all-time high. With only 14% adults in Australia opting for higher education, we shall use our PEST analysis to assess the macro environment of the university. There are a number of factors that need to be discussed while talking about PEST analysis of the CQ University. The University has a number of engagements with the local students, who take part in the campuses throughout Australia. We need to keep in mind that while assessing the Political features that direct the growth of the education sector in Australia we must refer to the various facts provided by ‘StudyinAustralia’ website (Researcher, 2009). It suggests that the government has invested $200,000,000 annually to help international students to get quality education. It is also the third most popular place for international students to study with rankings among the top 50 universities under the courses of Clinical health as well as pre-clinical, Life Sciences, Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering & Technology (Goi, 2014) The Economic condition of the nearby countries has improved and the option to get international scholarships as well as for local people student loans helps them to enrol and get good education. The CQ University has a very free environment which promotes the growth of the students and also allows the unity to form within a diverse classroom. The university is slowly walking towards a more digitalised campus with switching to an online based assessment system, online connectivity through Wi-Fi and a centralised system for students and teachers to communicate (Salim, 2017) Competitor Analysis The competitors of the university are definitely the top Australian universities that include the prestigious universities like the Australian National University, The University of Melbourne, The University of New South Wales, Monash University, University of Technology Sydney and many more. Many universities in the local areas where CQ University has campuses also attract the local people (Pour, 2013). But other than the local competitors, it also has a large number of global competitors, like the National University of Singapore, University of Malaya, National University of Malaysia, University of Tokyo, Osaka University, Tohoku University, RMIT University, Vietnam and more. Since many students come to study from the nearby countries such as Vietnam, Japan, China, Malaysia, Singapore and many other, CQ University must try to express itself as a competition in these countries as well. The competitors are mainly high quality universities with good experience in handling different courses, but with the student strength and good reputation CQ University can easily help itself to a much higher position (Neuman, 2003) SWOT Analysis Each brand enjoys various Strengths and Weaknesses. The main idea behind conducting the SWOT analysis is to find the actual conation of the company and how it can help itself to get to a much stable position. The strengths of the CQ University are quite stable and straightforward. The university was awarded the status of a University in 1992. The University has 16+ campuses from which they can extend their reach with many people bad even aboriginal prospective students. The CQ University also has a number of weaknesses too, it is a large scale university with more than 35000 students, which make it tougher to implement changes and since there are multiple locations, offering same books and education at all facilities is not possible (Applegate, 2007). The CQ University has a number of courses which allow students to become ready for tomorrow’s demands and this can be done using the course at CQ University. The results and the reparation allow the CQ University to attract good talented students from the nearby region as also provides opportunities for the CQ University to attract students from the local areas and among aboriginals. Also threat of new universities entering into the Australian education industry as well as changes in how students get visas (For international students) and other factors can become threats (50MINUTES.COM, 2015). Value and Brand Positioning CQ University is a popular university and it has a good number of people who follow it. The current student and the alumni make for a large collection of people who are able to let others know about the CQ University. So, in order to attract more high quality students, the CQ University must participate in ways that highlight its great track records and present it as a valuable and high quality educational institute. The university must create more buzz around its favourite courses and popular ones, and use it for their marketing. Also, in order to attract more people, the university must also position itself as a university that enhances the students not only educational but also an overall growth through additional activities. The University must position itself an s high quality institution which only values talent in order to achieve good positioning. Also the fact that all students are provided great career building courses and they are easily employable will make for great publicity options (Applegate, 2007). Conclusion While concluding, we might express that the CQ University is itself a large scale university with 35000+ students and 16+ campuses. The popularity of the university is quite high in the regions where it has a centre. The need today is for it to impact students in the rural areas as well as areas with limited access to education. Also attracting international students will enhance its reputation as a good university. All of this is possible though creating and thoughtful marketing techniques. This is extremely impotent to CQ University, to use the right marketing techniques and impact more people through us of internet.   References 50MINUTES.COM. (2015). PESTLE Analysis: Understand and plan for your business environment. 50 Minutes,. ABS. (2001). Australian standard classification of education . 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