THE IMPACT OF BRANDING AT UNIVERSITIES ON UNIVERSITY PREFERENCE OF PRIVATE UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

The effect of university brands during the decision making process of students’ university selections who are in their last year in upper-secondary schools in Turkey has not been searched in the literature sufficiently. The researches so far have been focused on alumni who have entered a university and have had a university education experience. The purpose of this research is to analyse the branding cases of universities in Turkey and to examine the effect on the decision making processes of the students while they are preferring universities in their last year of K-12 education. The adopted method is an experimental study in terms of hypothesis testing. In accordance with this purpose, a questionnaire form has been designed and 1117 forms have been assessed. The data derived from the questionnaire have been analysed against the statistical methods. From the point of view of the research results, branding or becoming a brand is very significant for universities and the findings have supported this study. Thus, the main hypothesis of branding at universities that has an impact on university preference of K-12 students in their last year has been verified.