*Muhammad Zaiamri Zainal Abidin, Nursyamira Shaid, Nur Haniz Mohd Nor, Md Azalanshah Md Syed

Abstract:

The development of an education-based economy, the internationalisation of institutions, and the growth of a global higher education hub has brought numerous changes to the field of higher education in the 21st century. This development encourages competition between universities to promote and market their organisation and academic services as an effort to dominate the higher education market. To understand better their efforts, this study explores the implementation of strategic communication by research universities in Malaysia to promote their organisation and academic services. The study specifically focuses on the efforts carried out by three main research universities in Malaysia: Universiti Malaya (UM), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM). This exploratory study employed a qualitative method that involved in-depth interviews with the management staff of Responsibility Centers (PTj) that implement strategic communication.

Keywords: Strategic communication, research university, marketing communication, generic visibilty, academic services, promotion