Education being Branded
With changing times, the higher education system needs to relook at the role it sees itself in. Several institutions still look at their 
role as imparting, giving superior knowledge. With the advent of the internet a lot has changed. Its not only information that’s easily available, but the discussion forums, the exchange that have made it a learners delight. Modern day educational institutes have no choice but to redefine their character. Hence, educational institutions will have to share and engage people in this transformation process.
Education will need to transform from being known as destination by itself to becoming a platform. Education will need to create practical platforms for people to do more, do different, do better. Education will need to be more open and find purpose in inspiring people to design varied approaches and futures in ways they have not done before, using resources they may not have considered before, tending towards a tomorrow we have not imagined before. To convey this to the environment it is a part of, branding will certainly play an important role.
Branding Education is more than creating a brand name or a logo or indulging in large media exercises. I would see it as an exercise that helps develop an identity that inspires people.
Probably its well put by Kanchana Thamodaran, IIT-ian & Tamil writer when she said, “If a brand name serves to expand opportunities, then the question is to optimise the brand's size so as to maximise opportunities without reducing brand equity.”
Branding in education is not a new phenomenon. We still resonate with impressions when the names of “Nalanda” and “Takshila”- ancient Indian Universities. These institutions we evolutionary and served as bridges to realize what several people wanted to do. Hence without being able to establish a link with people an external branding exercise will be futile. In education creating a brand- an identity and designing the service behind it, are becoming inseparable
With the Indian economy unfolding new possibilities and opportunities, it is inevitable that education in India will certainly need to do
more and deliver better. In a nation with a vast population eager to play their part – education in modern India has the challenge to cater to futuristic needs coupled with inclusive growth. With increase in number of trained and employable workforce, environment for academia-industry partnership just got better.
Institutions will need to attract more and more students and increase its pool of potential entrants and also ensure greater diversity from within the population. With corporate expanding business by reaching out to markets beyond the metros and cities, there is a greater need for manpower in these areas. It would be extremely essential to have locally trained and skilled manpower to fuel this growth. Hence educational institutes will need to increase the bouquet of offerings and reach out to larger populations.
In a dynamic environment such as this, where the opportunity offered by the education sector is only opening up some educational institutions may confuse branding in education with creating noise that gets people to enroll. This could only spell doom though. The approach of branding and the role of education are both changing parallely. With the life transforming impact education can make, it is inevitable to understand the synergy and the changing environment.
Brands are less the property of an organization and more the banner of a movement – a theme. Education is transforming from a controlled environment of a few to a platform that brings about learning that happens when multiple ideologies meet. People don’t love a brand – they love what the brand allows them to do or experience. Education as a destination is a thing of the past, education is about the opportunities that it opens up for you.
What unites the people that connect with a brand is not a surface logo alone but the value of the engagements it creates, much similar to education where the brand is not created as much by the several ranking survey results as by the impact and the multiplying nature of its underlying theme.
So when education decides to use branding it will mean playing out the new role of educational institutions who understand what modern day branding entails.
Hence education can being branded holds opportunities and threats, but with information, connectivity and choices increasing, sustaining “branded education” without lending meaning would collapse like a pack of cards. But with the right attitude it could embrace a larger community that will not only benefit but will want to contribute and own a part of the theme the brand represents.
In the context of the changing meaning of a brand and the role of education I would say Education being branded is natural and holds promise.
Prof. Dr. Uday Salunkhe
Director
Welingkar Institute of Management
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