HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS (HEIS) AND INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS (IMC): AN ODD COUPLE?

Currently an increasingly frequent application of the managerial logic to fields and sectors that were considered to not be dealing with business and financial logics (such as health, culture, research) is taking place. Education is also being affected by this trend and a strong "marketisation" of higher education is occurring. Universities are facing important challenges to better compete in the global and turbulent market and, in this new scenario, higher education institutions (HEIs) are implementing marketing activities that were exclusive for business organizations so far. In this process, the most experts agree about the crucial role of marketing communications in the management of these types of organizations, since they need to create strong relationships with their stakeholders in order to build a favourable image and reputation in their minds. In the last two decades the concept of Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) has attracted the attention of academics and practitioners, thus this paper attempts to analyse the main literature review on the adoption of IMC by universities and how they manage the process of integration. The conclusions suggest that the benefits arising from the application of this new paradigm in other sectors made IMC a crucial strategic element and it may be a sustainable competitive advantage to those universities that implement it successfully.