Ways to create an effective positioning of Romanian universities through identity, image and promotion elements

The process of universities positioning, as a component of educational and university marketing consists of a synergetic system composed of all the marketing and management efforts of a university as an entity inside the educational market, materialized in identity, image and promotion elements that lead to the creation of a strong brand of the university and to contribute to the consolidation of a solid reputation. The present paper aims to address the topic of effective positioning of universities, as a tool of university marketing, in a Romanian and European higher education market with increasingly complex evolutions. Taking into account the tendencies in the field of education and university marketing (eg: competition between universities in Romania, but also at European and worldwide level), the authors consider that higher education institutions have to emphasize the various elements of identity, image and institutional promotion, because current or future bachelor students, master students and PhD students want to belong to some entities with prestige and reputation, in other words, with a strong image and identity to provide them with confidence and security. The paper considers an approach on three main components: the analysis of the stage of knowledge of the higher education field, an original marketing research research and the conclusions and solutions. The research consists of a quantitative marketing research applied among the Romanian high school graduating students, regarding their perception about different elements of identity, image and promotion of some important universities in Romania. The paper aims, as a fundamental objective, to provide results that can be integrated into the marketing strategies of the universities from Romania and Europe.