How the city works its magic: the contribution of location to the Higher Education servicescape

In today’s highly competitive Higher Education environment institutions are operating as service sector businesses, adopting marketing practices and working hard to differentiate themselves from one another other. One of the ways in which this is achieved is through building a unique identity and it is acknowledged that the location contributes an inherent part of this identity. That said, the way in which location is used by institutions remains underexplored. Through content analysis of marketing materials and exploratory qualitative research with institution marketing decision makers, this working paper aims to show both how location is being used by institutions, and the reasons why it is being used in this way. In doing this, a valuable contribution to understanding the relationship between institution and location will be provided, alongside a clearer understanding the contribution location makes to the university servicescape. In addition, the results offer implications for practice for both HE and civic marketing decision makers for how location can be best used to an institution’s advantage.