Propuesta para la gestión estratégica de la reputación corporativa en la Universidad del Rosario

Abstract

Globalization and communication technologies have generated changes, in addition to the emergence of new scenarios for all types of businesses. The higher education sector has also evolved significantly in the last twenty years. While the market previously had few universities and there was a low demand from students, there are currently not only a significant number of universities, but also a greater number and heterogeneity of interested students. Market dynamics have changed substantially. Now, there is a high orientation towards competition, where intangible assets have great relevance in the student's purchase decision. Several aspects are considered by an applicant when choosing a university; in addition to quality and academic excellence, factors such as price, location, facilities, among others, also influence. However, today reputation plays a fundamental role and becomes a determining factor in the choice of the institution to which you want to belong. In the segment of higher education in Colombia, the Universidad del Rosario is a benchmark for its 365-year career, during which time it has built its reputation since fulfilling the mission. One of the slogans of the Universidad del Rosario, object of study of this project, has been to fulfill fully the traditional substantive functions: teaching, research and extension. However, society has gradually demanded the performance of new features: innovation, employability, job placement and corporate social responsibility. All this, as part of a new configuration of the higher education system and the economy that, through globalization, has allowed the creation of a comprehensive university market in which competition predominates. Thus, from this phenomenon mechanisms such as the world-class university arise, which have favored the concern for the reputation of universities and their recognition through international rankings. Considering the above, the purpose of this project is to build a proposal for the strategic management of corporate reputation at the Universidad del Rosario, taking into account the new strategic direction “Route 2025”. This proposal includes three phases: definition of the reputation of the University, reputational diagnosis and benchmarking of the competition, and approach to the reputation strategy.