Internal marketing and its role in the corporate brand of a tertiary educational institution

M.Comm.Institutional changes at tertiary educational institutions are an example of change that followed the first democratic elections in 1994. On 31 May 2002, a merger that formed part of the higher education landscape restructuring undertaken by the Department of Education was initiated. The merger entailed that the Technikon Witwatersrand (TWR), the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU) as well as two Vista University campuses situated in Soweto and East Rand merge as one new academic institution. The University of Johannesburg (UJ) was established on 1 December 2005 with over 40 000 full-time students and 2 700 permanent employees. This merger was as a result of the National Plan for Higher Education. Owing to the merger, the UJ had to undertake a major change management initiative. There is a perception that, although the UJ has established its corporate brand, employees are not familiar with the vision, mission and strategic goals set by the corporate brand. Some employees, especially those previously employed by the pre-merger institutions, still refer to these institutions and do not refer to the post-merger institution when they communicate with each other and people from outside. An exploratory research approach using both qualitative and quantitative research was followed in this study. The sample constituted 81 respondents who filled in the computerised questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of two sections. Section A covered the demographics of the respondents and section B consisted of 37 close-ended questions and three open-ended questions. From the research it is clear that the UJ in fact established this new brand, but that more should be done with regard to proper internalising of the brand. The role of employees in the promotion of the brand and service quality should be revaluated by the UJ in order to overcome the problems currently perceived by employees