Foundation of Knowledge - a Critical Review: Marketing Intelligence & Planning

FOUNDATION OF KNOWLEDGE

A CRITICAL REVIEW: MARKETING INTELLIGENCE & PLANNING

OMER MASTOOR

109016807

MSc. MARKETING

(Word Count: 985)

The article, Marketing Intelligence and Planning by Jie Liu focus on International students coming to the United Kingdom from various parts of the world and the numerous restraints they face mainly due to their lack of knowledge, experience and understanding of the subject.

The article main emphasis is on the following aspects;

1. What mainly motivates the student for opting for this course (Marketing)?

2. What students expect to achieve after the completion of their degree?

AND

3. Their current skills and understanding towards Marketing?

The taught post graduate program brought in income of over £ 1.5 billion for universities compared to the UK domiciled students; therefore it was vital to evaluate these factors and understand them. A research was conducted where four Universities in the United Kingdom were taken into consideration. A Likert-scale questionnaire was designed to collect data from students of the universities based on their results it was determined that there was a gap in what the student expected and perceived and what the student actually received. It was also evaluated that there are various intrinsic, extrinsic and career oriented factors for International student to opt for marketing studies in the United Kingdom. This course equips the students with the marketing skill sets and knowledge which develops them for later stages, when they step in the corporate world. However, one of the major setbacks for International students coming to the UK for their post graduation is their 'preparedness'. A lot of International students are not acclimatized with the education system in the UK, are not well spoken in English, have difficulty getting used to the British culture, resulting in complexity and intricacy to achieve their target. As illustrated below in the figure 1.1 below the number of International students over the past year has significantly increased in the UK from 1.83 million (2000) to 3.43 (2009) according to Unesco statistics. (Coughlan S., BBC, Mar 2011).

The world is becoming a global village; hence students go to other countries for their higher, post graduate studies to have a competitive edge in the corporate world, either in their own country or wherever they opt to work. UK is one of the leading post graduate education provider. International student's who come to the United Kingdom face difficulties and hurdles mainly due to the difference in learning style, even though the Universities have a certain criteria which the International student has to meet but that is just an initial step to get accepted by the University. Liu (2010, Vol. 28, Issue: 7, p823-824) states that student's preparedness indicate that students had relatively low perception of their preparedness. In particular, they felt under prepared with marketing-related knowledge and skills.

The grounds leading to this obscurity is the difference in the teaching methodology used in the UK. Most of the International students are used to the rote learning system, however in the United Kingdom the mode of teaching is different, making it a constraint for international students. "Students are generally expected to take the initiative and ask for help, but some may feel unable to make such demands out of a sense of respect. This can become very serious when students being to work in isolation which can lead to waste of time,