Маркетинговий підхід до ціноутворення на послуги вищої освіти

Abstract

Розглянуто трансформацію умов функціонування вищих навчальних закладів та доведено необхідність використання маркетингового підходу до ціноутворення на їх послуги. Визначено характерні ознаки маркетингового підходу та його принципи, які складаються із загальних, маркетингових та специфічних. Систематизовано чинники, які необхідно аналізувати під час визначення цін на послуги вищої освіти, та зазначено необхіднсіть урахування особливостей освітньої послуги під час ціноутворення.

In the current conditions the task of forming a system of paid educational services and the development of adequate pricing mechanisms are updated. Higher education services market has only recently started to develop under the laws of the market economy and currently underuses the appropriate market pricing mechanisms which are the defining instrument of competition for most higher education institutions. The article is aimed to determine the characteristics of the marketing approach to pricing, to order pricing factors for higher education services. Increasing capacity of free setting of prices for universities and increased competition, the development of market conditions, operations and other trends necessitate marketing approach, the key advantage of which is to calculate such integrated assessment of educational services and the complex of related additional services, which would set a price suited for the seller and the buyer. The main aspect of this process involves taking reasonable management decisions on pricing with a focus on customer needs and opportunities, development of an adaptive mechanism that will contribute to achieving the long-term competitive advantages in the market of universities. To ensure the effectiveness of pricing in higher education establishment it is necessary to follow the general and specific marketing principles that take into account the peculiarities of education. Pricing decisions are affected by numerous internal and external factors, and such characteristics of educational services as areas of training, system of competencies, educational programs and technology, the monetary complexity of currency prices. The most important external factors of pricing in higher education are identified as the demand for educational services and price sensitivity of consumers; the market of educational services; trends in the labor market; socio-economic and demographic situation; level of competition, the internationalization and globalization, technological progress and innovation development, government regulation of higher education. Among the internal factors requiring special attention there are the objective of the university and its marketing policies; quality of education; costs associated with its provision; amount of students; level of public funding of universities; image of the university, its infrastructure and material base, competitiveness. In the current circumstances, there is the need for fundamentally new approaches to pricing in higher education to be focused on creating a positive image of the university, promote favorable positioning in selected segments of the market, meet the level of consumer value of educational services, stimulate the demand for higher education institution to provide it with a competitive advantage.