Colleges and universities compete with each other to attract
the best students to join them. Student
is making a choice among several options available to her, whether a college
decides to participate in this competition or not. And that choice is dependent
on the information available to the student, about perceptions that other
influencers have about the college brand, and about the guidance student
receives from these influencers.
Every student aspires to join the best college, yet their choice depends on what is available to them or what is known to them. Decision making happens in two months period of constant see-saw between what is student’s aspiration and what is available.
What is Available
Not every student can join PGDM program of IIM Ahmedabad. Not every course or every college is available to students, it depends on their academic track record, exam results and performance in the selection process. CAT (Common Admission Test) results are announced well before final admissions, however, that is followed by Group Discussions and Interviews which continue till June-July. Final admission (admits) information is available only in June and July or later.
JEE Main results (Joint Entrance Examination - for B.Tech courses) are announced in April and May. That's the peak of admission season. Until the time of results announcement, student and parents know little about what is available to them. In fact, even this is hard to know because each state has different counselling for different state level colleges (for example, Joint Admission Counselling JAC in Delhi), besides the national level counselling JOSAA. And these counselling sessions are spread over 6 to 8 weeks with 6-7 rounds and with each round what is available and what is not available is changing.
A student can refer to previous years cut off data, ranking, college reviews, refer to friends and seek help from alumni etc. to make a decision regarding course and college. However, this process is challenging because of a very short period time window available for decision making.
Few Elements of Differentiation
The biggest reason for confusion among students is that there is little differentiation among colleges. Over the last few years, I have personally seen students struggling to chose one NIT over another NIT or a new age IIT or a private engineering college. The challenge for new age colleges is to define their charter in unique manner and constantly innovate to differentiate themselves.
Aspirations and Affordability
Education is seen as path to better future. And investment in education continues to be very high. India is a growing economy with increase in payment capacity of students. At the same time, parental support continues to remain high when it comes to funding education. With improving affordability, students are also opting for more private colleges. In aggregate, student and alumni reviews across colleges suggest that private colleges tend to have better quality of infrastructure and among the top private colleges, there is better engagement with industry and also more opportunities for industrial training.
Awareness before Positive Brand Association
Every student aspires to join the best college, yet their choice depends on what is available to them or what is known to them. Decision making happens in two months period of constant see-saw between what is student’s aspiration and what is available.
What is Available
Not every student can join PGDM program of IIM Ahmedabad. Not every course or every college is available to students, it depends on their academic track record, exam results and performance in the selection process. CAT (Common Admission Test) results are announced well before final admissions, however, that is followed by Group Discussions and Interviews which continue till June-July. Final admission (admits) information is available only in June and July or later.
JEE Main results (Joint Entrance Examination - for B.Tech courses) are announced in April and May. That's the peak of admission season. Until the time of results announcement, student and parents know little about what is available to them. In fact, even this is hard to know because each state has different counselling for different state level colleges (for example, Joint Admission Counselling JAC in Delhi), besides the national level counselling JOSAA. And these counselling sessions are spread over 6 to 8 weeks with 6-7 rounds and with each round what is available and what is not available is changing.
A student can refer to previous years cut off data, ranking, college reviews, refer to friends and seek help from alumni etc. to make a decision regarding course and college. However, this process is challenging because of a very short period time window available for decision making.
Few Elements of Differentiation
The biggest reason for confusion among students is that there is little differentiation among colleges. Over the last few years, I have personally seen students struggling to chose one NIT over another NIT or a new age IIT or a private engineering college. The challenge for new age colleges is to define their charter in unique manner and constantly innovate to differentiate themselves.
Aspirations and Affordability
Education is seen as path to better future. And investment in education continues to be very high. India is a growing economy with increase in payment capacity of students. At the same time, parental support continues to remain high when it comes to funding education. With improving affordability, students are also opting for more private colleges. In aggregate, student and alumni reviews across colleges suggest that private colleges tend to have better quality of infrastructure and among the top private colleges, there is better engagement with industry and also more opportunities for industrial training.
Awareness before Positive Brand Association
It is important for any college to ensure that student at least is aware about the college. That's the first challenge- making it to the consideration set. And awareness that is associated with positive attributes which helps the student make the right decision. If a college attracts good students (and maintains good faculty and course curriculum), industrial placements are likely to be better. With improving reputation, it starts attracting a higher calibre of students and faculty, and then it becomes a virtuous cycle.
