An innovative marketing strategy to promote our college of IT: Zayed University Case Study

Abstract

The College of Information Technology (CIT) at Zayed University seeks to produce graduates recognized by business, government, and educational entities in the United Arab Emirates, the Gulf region, and the rest of the world as having a sound, current, and comprehensive education in IT. However, the enrollment of the CIT is limited, compared to other colleges. Two surveys have revealed the importance of introducing the CIT to young male and female students before they decide on their major field of study. In this paper, we present the marketing strategy followed by our CIT, based on presentations to students in the COL 105 (Career Exploration) and COL 270 (Introduction to IT) courses, which prepare them well for “Majors Day” and other high profile IT events they can attend. This marketing strategy is designed to increase the students’ knowledge about the CIT, especially those who have no background in computing. Our proposed strategy is inspiring them to spend more time learning about the CIT, and a population growth study has shown promising results and an increase in enrollment since the fall of 2010. In addition, we in clude a set of suggestions and recommendations on how to enhance this strategy