Rethinking Higher Education: The Entrepreneurial University at the Heart of an Integrated Marketing Strategy

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the application of marketing in the higher education sector, using the entrepreneurial university model as a reference. This modern configuration of the traditional university incorporates an entrepreneurial spirit into an initially non-market activity, requiring the marketing approach to be adapted to the institution's specific characteristics and broader missions.

Faced with contemporary challenges such as graduate employability and adapting to environmental change, it has become imperative for universities to modernize their missions. This includes integrating the entrepreneurial dimension, seen as an essential lever for contributing to socio-economic development through innovation and research. Some entrepreneurial universities, such as Stanford, Harvard and Hamburg, inspired us during our research with their management based on a marketing logic and developing a particular state of mind.

In this context, the university needs to promote its new activities to better meet the expectations of its students and stakeholders. A favorable positioning and a positive institutional image require a structured marketing approach, which is now seen as a catalyst for the transformation of the modern university. This process is based on a dual approach: strategic and operational, supported by an in-depth strategic diagnosis.

It should be noted that the marketing of entrepreneurial higher education institutions is an original approach that has not been sufficiently developed in the literature.

Keywords: Higher education marketing, university marketing, entrepreneurial university, marketing approach

JEL Classification: M31 ; I23

Type of article: theoretical Research