Nobody knows us better than business schools and nobody knows business schools quite like us
16 September 2020
In 2004, CarringtonCrisp launched our first group market research project, The Business of Branding. Sixteen years on, The Business of Branding is one of five annual market insight studies that have been used by more than 150 business schools around the world.
The studies provide actionable data and insights across programme development, especially MBAs and Masters degrees, school branding and marketing with a focus on international recruitment and best practices on school websites, and alumni relations. We asked some of the business schools why they used our market insight reports and we are grateful for their views. AGSM, UNSW Business School in Australia commented:
“CarringtonCrisp research is a fantastic tool for schools to gain important higher education industry insight and benchmark performance against global best practice metrics. AGSM @ UNSW Business School has subscribed to CarringtonCrisp research for 10 years and we use the insight gained to shape strategic investments in marketing, recruitment and branding.”
The benchmarking theme is common among users of the research with schools able to compare themselves against the performance of other institutions as well as the wider market for business education. ESCP Business School in Europe take up the theme saying:
"ESCP Business School has been a subscriber to the five annual studies conducted by CarringtonCrisp for 10 years. We refer to them year after year for their specific insights into the Graduate Management Education Industry worldwide. They are an invaluable source of information for our marketing and admissions teams in particular because of the way that they are personalised for the subscribers, providing benchmarks to the industry."
Getting independent and objective data for the business education market is not always easy and the studies provide insights for markets around the world. Alongside school level and global reports, data is often available broken down by age, sex, location and level of study among survey respondents. Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University said:
“Global Higher Education market insights are difficult to obtain, which is why we at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University work closely with CarringtonCrisp. Their market researches really help us to better understand the needs of our potential clients.”
Similar themes are picked up by Trinity Business School, Trinity College Dublin who add:
“CarringtonCrisp provides us with valuable insights and market intelligence that help to inform our current and future recruitment strategy. Their findings give us an objective view of the global recruitment landscape, challenges faced by other business schools, what prospective students are looking for and, most important of all, our strengths and weaknesses.”
The data in itself is helpful for schools, but the power of the reports comes from the added insight that CarringtonCrisp are able to provide by leveraging their 17 years experience of the business education marketplace. The University of Edinburgh Business School highlight the value of insight:
“The University of Edinburgh Business School has subscribed to these reports for a number of years and continue to find them an invaluable source of information. The insights gained have helped to shape our marketing and student recruitment strategy especially in terms of identifying where we can make changes or improvements that will have the biggest impact versus our key objectives.”
In the current climate, perhaps one of the most important aspects of the studies is the value for money that the reports provide and this is clear from Durham University Business School who say:
“The CarringtonCrisp syndicate research gives us a strong evidence base across a range of strategic priorities, providing excellent return on investment. The specialist expertise is valued, providing insightful analysis within a Business School context.”
Thanks again to all the schools who have supported our research over the past sixteen years, we look forward to many more years of collaboration.
To find out how your business school can benefit from the insights from our market insight studies, explore the intelligence area of our website, email us at info@carringtoncrisp.com or call us on +44 207 229 7373.
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