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Despite sustained growth in international education (Bohm, et al., 2003, UNESCO, 2006)investigation into the marketing of international education remains limited and is largely based around international student choice [e.g. Joseph and Joseph (2000); Lawley (1998)] and student perception [e.g. Gatfield, Barker and Graham (1999); Patterson, Romm and Hill (1998)]. In the early 1980s, Kotler and Murphy (1981) called for the development of marketing strategy within the university sector. Yet by the late 1980s Pokarier and Ridings (1998) found institutional strategic planning regarding international student recruitment still to be at a low standard. More recently, Maringe (2004) calls for the adoption of marketing principles by university managers while in a review of marketing within the higher education sector, Hemsley-Brown and Oplatka (2006) f ind research of marketing within higher education remaining at a “relatively pioneer stage” (p. 334).
Within the small body of extant studies, marketing tactics of universities in the United Kingdom are investigated by Naude and Ivy (1999) who find tactic operationalisation
differences based on institutional age. Mazzarol and Hosie (1996) find no evidence of
consistent international education marketing strategy in Australian universities and Maringe and Foskett (2002) recommend that marketing should become an integ al part of institutional operations. Mazzarol (1998), using student recruitment as a measure for market success, identifies factors considered to have a critical impact on market success and then subsequently develops a model of competitive advantage for education institutions recruiting internationally (Mazzarol and Soutar, 1999). The positioning of university brands in Asian markets is considered by Gray, Fam and Llanes (2003). To date, no studies with a secondary school focus have been identified. This brings about the fundamental need to investigate marketing strategies from an educational institution point of view.
