University Mergers Will Test Your Brand: Are You Ready?
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Show notes
A third of English universities are in deficit, and Kent and Greenwich have just become the UK's first university group. I explain why every merger is a brand decision, and how marketing leaders should prepare.
- Know your brand equity by audience and market before anyone asks.
- Get into the room early, so brand options are modelled alongside the financial ones.
- Protect the student promise, tell staff first and plan for the data.
Full transcript
Hello, and welcome to Marketing Greats in Higher Education. I'm Jonathan Sabarre, your host, and this is where we explore the ideas shaping how universities are seen, chosen and trusted around the world. Everything I share on this show is my own personal view.
In August this year, the universities of Greenwich and Kent became a single legal entity: the London and South East University Group. It has more than fifty thousand students across four campuses, one founding vice-chancellor and one balance sheet, yet students still apply to, study at and graduate from Greenwich or Kent. It's the first group of its kind in the UK, and I really doubt it will be the last!
King's College London and Cranfield have already announced plans to combine in 2027. And the financial backdrop explains why. The Office for Students reports that almost thirty-six per cent of English providers ran a deficit in 2024 to 25, and more than four in ten forecast one for the year just ended. In its most severe scenario, seventy per cent of the sector would be in deficit by 2029.
The regulator itself now talks about new business models, including mergers. Most consolidation is designed by finance and legal teams, for good reasons. But every structural option carries a reputational consequence, and those are usually discovered late. Do both names survive, or does one absorb the other? What does a graduate's certificate say? And how do partners, agents and alumni react? Those questions sound simple, but they shape how every audience feels about the change.
There are quieter questions too. What happens to each university's position in league tables, which depend on data that may now be combined? And how does a member of staff explain the change to a worried student at a recruitment fair? Greenwich and Kent chose to keep both brands within a group. That's sensible for them, but it isn't automatically right for everyone.
So what would I ask every marketing director to do? First, know your brand equity before anyone asks. Measure how each audience in each priority market sees you today. If a merger or partnership is proposed, you'll need evidence of what's at stake, not instinct. Second, get into the room early, so brand options are modelled alongside the financial ones.
One name, endorsed brands, or a family of separate names: each has costs and benefits, and they deserve the same rigour as the financial model. Third, bring realism to the recruitment forecast. The Office for Students found international entrants came in nine per cent below what universities had forecast, yet the sector still projects growth of over twenty per cent by 2029. Marketing knows those markets better than anyone.
Fourth, protect the student promise. Applicants and current students need to know, quickly and plainly, what changes and what doesn't. Uncertainty spreads faster than any announcement. And fifth, tell staff first. Colleagues are your most trusted messengers, and they'll hear the rumours long before the press release. Give them the facts and the words to explain them.
Handled badly, consolidation confuses everyone who matters to a university: students, staff, partners, alumni and the communities around them. Handled well, it's a rare chance to clarify what each institution stands for, cut duplication, and tell a stronger and simpler story about why the combination makes sense. Think about the alumni who've supported an institution for decades, or the partner who signed a long research agreement with a university that now sits inside a new group. They deserve to hear it first.
The next wave of these decisions is coming quickly. The universities that prepare their brand thinking now, before the board asks, will make far better choices than those who discover the reputational questions after the deal is done. So start that work this term, and make sure you're in the room when it matters!
Thank you for spending this time with me. If this episode sparked something for you, hit subscribe, so you never miss the next one. And our full season, with guests from leading universities around the world, is coming very soon. Head to Jonathan Sabarre dot com and sign up, so you're the first to know when it launches. Until next time, keep building something great.