Challenges with engineering education from the marketing perspective
2016
Dolele, L., Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia) | Deicmane, I., Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia) | Janmere, L., Latvia Univ. of Agriculture, Jelgava (Latvia)
The level of economic development in the country is significantly influenced by the availability of engineering specialists in the labour market. In the labour market of Latvia, the demand for engineers is satisfied only to the extent of 60-70 %. According to the Central Statistical Bureau data, the number of engineering students in Latvia represents 10 % of the total number of students, while in the European Union it is about 25 %. The fourth biggest university in Latvia (Latvia University of Agriculture) prepares engineering specialists in various fields – energy, construction, information technologies etc. But every year the number of students in engineering programmes is decreasing, which is affected by various factors, including the marketing activities implemented by the university. The aim of the research is to identify the problems of engineering education from the marketing perspective and to define the improvement opportunities. In the research paper, a case-study approach is implemented in order to analyse marketing-mix efforts of an engineering education provider, the Latvia University of Agriculture. The case-study approach was combined with a focus group of engineering students and alumni of the Latvia University of Agriculture and an analysis of a survey of potential students. The study shows that the price and quality of engineering programmes of the Latvia University of Agriculture (LUA) are competitive in the market. The main problems are connected with promotion. It can be concluded that there is a lack of information on the engineering programmes provided by the LUA, which is mainly affected by irregular marketing activities; the public image of the university does not seem attractive enough and does not revel connection with engineering studies.
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