A league of our own?

Hmm. The relevant question here is: Who are our competitors?

The OED defines a business competitor as "an organisation competing with others in business.”

Right, so we might be a business and we might have customers. Or not. We might have partners rather than students who may or may not be entitled to all sorts of associated contractual rights and an ‘experience’. Or, indeed, a right to enjoyment. Or not. All or some of these apply (or don't) depending on any given policy, briefing and/or individuals’ point (or points) of view.

Blogs are supposed to be clear and fun. Admittedly, this one's already a "BIT OF A MESS". However, the element of marketisation I’d strongly suggest can’t be fudged or denied is that we, along with every other HE provider, have competitors.

By competitors, we usually refer to those institutions to whom our UCAS applicants are most likely to apply. Applicants have five choices, remember, so everyone we see and everyone who hopefully and eventually enrols with us may have applied to four other universities. Or more if they’ve come through Clearing. Or deferred. Et cetera.

Our UCAS competitor set is – and for some time has been:

• ·         Anglia Ruskin;
• ·         Bucks New;
• ·         Hertfordshire;
• ·         Middlesex;
• ·         Northampton, and…..
• ·         Coventry.

Coventry?

Yes; Coventry. Shiny, friendly, happy, dynamic, league table bustin’, sector-irritating Coventry. Being sent to Coventry is no longer a bad thing and its once deserted, ghosty streets are now full of deliriously happy students, plaiting each others' hair, being impeccably hip and getting firsts. As a community, Coventry’s council, uni and press have decided to coexist and help each other out. The uni has expanded, both within the city (Coventry University College has a different model delivering a more blended, flexible and less costly offer) as well as setting up campuses in London and Scarborough.

How do they do it?

Today Scarborough…… tomorrow THE WORLD

What is Southampton Solent?

The rest of our UCAS competitors, as anyone worth their salt will have spotted, are local. Easy. Except that this isn’t the full story; our competitors vary by subject. Southampton Solent, anyone? Who? For most subjects, ‘Solent’ are small fry, but some of what they do, they do well enough to lure students away from us and are particular threats to us in Biological Sciences, Law and Mass Communications & Documentation.

Locality is important to our students and we recruit heavily from Bedfordshire and London. And bits of Herts and Bucks. The trouble is, so do Herts, Middlesex, Northampton et al. And the bigger picture presents even bigger problems. Like toxic gas, competitors are all around us, pinching, poaching and getting up to the sort of hijinx the sector didn’t used to tolerate. Nottingham Trent and Lincoln are current ‘outliers’ making an impression at events and (in Trent’s case) in Bedfordshire’s schools. While neither are within commuting distance, they’re not so remote, particularly for students north of Bedford whose sights aren’t set on either Sport or Education.

In this context, DeMontfort are also in the mix and will pose a significant threat in the forthcoming years, what with their slick, almost constant advertising and a prediction of a fabulously rosy TEF score.

Serious stuff; serious money, by the look of it.
Without the sound on, it made me chuckle

So there you have it. In summary, defining our competitors is, I’d suggest, an art rather than a science. I’ve looked at institutions in the East Midlands; add the complexities of all sorts of institutions in London and your head will start to whirl.

Then the International Office have their own competitor set, and in my own work and analysis, I look further than the same old trusty and faithful six listed at the head of this blog; when a task suggests it, I might peek at aspirational competitors (e.g. City, Brunel, Oxford Brookes) or other institutions, nationwide, who have a similar reputational standing, but who may do things differently and – potentially – give us some ideas we may want to ‘adapt’ for our own institution.

This look at competitors highlights some of the challenge we’re increasingly facing in MARC (and elsewhere in the Uni), even as internal resources are "challenged" and the amount of work we're asked to do increases. We're always happy to help, but please, try and help us plan, bring your own insight to play and, as far as possible, ensure that outcomes are clearly anticipated and realised.

For more information about MARC’s work with competitors, including a breakdown of subject specific competitors, please see our intranet page.