Coventry University - Growth Strategy - Case Study Example

Coventry University growth strategy Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code: Date of Submission: Introduction The global education systems have been changing with time. The reason for the changing systems of education is due to competition in the education sector. Globally, education system has been experiencing some changes in the programs. This is because the Universities are competing for customers who are the students. Coventry University has not been left behind. The University has been applying various strategies to ensure it remains competitive in the global education. Many Universities are competing for the global students (Waddington 2013). In this effect, only the best Universities with the best strategies can survive the global education competition by meeting the needs of the students. In this paper therefore, I will discuss the growth strategy which has been applied by the Coventry University for its growth. The University of Coventry is among the best performing Universities in UK which is located in the city of Coventry. Growth strategy of Coventry University The University of Coventry has been growing tremendously due to its growth strategy. The growth strategy for the University is increasing market share strategy. Through this strategy, the Coventry University has applied various strategies to increase its growth. The University of Coventry is applying the philosophy of quality education by offering various quality programs which meet the needs of the global education standards (Waddington 2013). In order to increase the market share, the University has applied various strategies to attract and retain many students from global outreach. This is achieved by offering quality education by offering various global programs. The following are the systems the University has applied to increase its market share. To start with, the University has been able to offer various programs which improve the quality of the education offered. The University has competent lecturers who are qualified and have adequate experience to offer quality education (Waddington 2013). In this effect, the reputation of the University is good and this has enabled it to attract many customers who are the students. This has enabled the University to attract and retain many students from the global scope hence improving the market share for Coventry University globally. Moreover, the University offers various programs which can meet the needs and demands of various students globally. The University specializes in offering exceptional programs to meet the needs of the Universities. Due to changes in the global lifestyle, various students require various educational programs so that they can advance their educational skills (Waddington 2013). Some of the programs offered by the University to meet the needs of the customers include part time educational programs, full time teaching programs and distant learning programs. This has enabled the University to attract and retain many students as it meets their needs. The promotional strategies which are applied by the University has also enabled the University to grow by increasing the market share (Waddington 2013). The University offers various scholarships as a way of attracting global students who are in need of the scholarships due to financial constraints. These scholarships enable the University to attract many students from the needy families. As a result, the University has had many students which increase the market share for the University hence leading to growth. The University of Coventry has also applied promotional strategies which help to create awareness of the University globally. The University conducts various marketing events to improve the image of the University (Lynch 2012). For instance, the University conducts its marketing activities on electronic devices such as internet and TVs. The students are likely to be convinced and join the University. This has enabled to improve its reputation in the global education market leading to attraction of many students leading to growth in market share hence its growth. Another strategy which is applied by Coventry University to improve its market share is due to international partnerships the University has signed. The University has the international strategy. The University has gone international to access the global education market (Lynch 2012). For instance, the University entered into partnership with a University in Turkey which is among the leading Universities in Turkey. Due to its partnership with Kadir Has University in Turkey, Coventry University has been able to improve its market share by enabling the students from Turkey to access its facilities including the education systems. This has led to the growth of the University going international. Moreover, going international enables the University to gain competitive advantage. This is because any University which goes international will improve its reputations and will attract many students by offering various programs (Lynch 2012). By going to Turkey, the University will be able to meet the needs of the students who have travelled to Turkey from the global scope. In this regard, the University is able to attract many students than Universities which have not gone international and can only meet the needs of the local students. The University of Coventry has not only expanded into global education market but has managed to attract the local students. The University has opened many campuses in various cities in UK with the aim of taking out the facilities to the students’ disposal. This system of having many campuses has enabled the University to attract and maintain many students (Lynch 2012). In this effect, the University has been able to increase its growth by having many students. In addition, the University offers various programs at affordable prices. The programs of the University are not so costly when compared to other Universities. This is an incentive to attract many students because the customers are always conscious on the ways they spend their financial resources. The students will always join a University which offers quality education at low prices. This enables the University to attract many students because of its affordable prices (Lynch 2012). The University has grown tremendously due to its affordable prices for programs offered. This has enabled the growth of the University by having a competitive advantage than other competitor Universities. Furthermore, the University has grown because of the facilities it has. The University offers various facilities such as accommodation facilities and services. The University owns more than four facilities which are used to offer accommodation facilities to the students (Lynch 2012). These facilities are Priory Hall, Quadrant Hall, Singer Hall and several other houses which surround the University. In this regard, the students’ hospitality services are taken care of and the students are satisfied with the hospitality services they receive from the University. This helps to satisfy the students and also attract many more to the University leading to its growth. Moreover, the ranking of the university in terms of the quality of services offered helps to attract many students. The University is ranked 33th in UK (Simpson 2012). This implies that the University is performing well in the education sector. This ranking can indicate that the University offers quality education and that is why it is ranked at that position. Therefore, the growth of the University has been influenced by the ranking of the University both in UK and in the global education arena. Despite the growth strategies put in place by the University, there are challenges which face the management of Coventry University. The first challenge facing the University is the infrastructure. This comprises of communication and information technology. The University has not appropriately managed to implement IT system appropriately. The University offers various programs and the students expect that the University should use technology which is used by the students so that it can be easy to satisfy the needs of the students (Simpson 2012). For instance through information technology the students will be able to pay their school fees and the students can access all the information of the University online. Another challenge is the security challenge. This is the challenge which affects the information of the students stored by the University. There are no adequate security measures to guard the access of the confidential information stored by the University (Simpson 2012). This leads to access of information to authorized people which violates the University laws. There is also the challenge of funding the University programs. The University used to get some funding from various charitable organizations and the government. Since the funding stopped, it has been difficult for the University to offer scholarships for the needy students and other programs. This means that the University has to offer much with limited resources (Simpson 2012). The effect is that the University will not be able to meet the needs of the students as previous when there was funding. In this regard, the University has to be forced to apply IT so that it will cut down the expenses by using facilities such as master cards. In addition, competition from more competitive Universities is another challenge. There are Universities in UK which have established than Coventry University and this becomes a major challenge to the University management. This is because many students prefer joining Universities with big brand names and which are ranked higher than Coventry (Simpson 2012). In this regard, Coventry University has to develop unique strategies for improving its competency so as to be able to attract and retain many students from the global environment. Inadequate facilities is also another challenge which faces the management of the University in its growth. The University is growing at a faster rate which implies that the University is attracting many students than it can accommodate. In this effect, the University has to ensure it plans strategically on how to manage the facilities of the University. Conclusion Coventry University is among the Universities which are performing well in the UK. The University is growing at a faster rate due to its strategy it has put in place. The growth strategy for Coventry University is increasing market share strategy. The strategies which have been applied by the University to grow include going international, provision of quality education, effective marketing strategies, ability to provide scholarships to needy students and ability to increase its performance in the local market. These strategies have enabled the University to increase its market share by attracting and retaining many students. Despite the growth of Coventry University, there are some challenges which are facing the management in implementing its growth strategy. The first challenge is lack of adequate implementation of information communication technology, lack of security, lack of adequate funding and competition from the established Universities. Despite the high growth of the University, these challenges are likely to slow down the growth of the University if not well managed. References Lynch, L 2012, Coventry University College targets students who miss out University place, McGraw Hill Simpson, C 2012, "Coventry University's admissions on the rise, new figures show", Checklist, Kogan Page Waddington, J 2013, "Coventry University’s Technology Park opens new, McGraw Hill Read More