“You need to sell the university”: International-branch campus lecturers’ orientations toward supporting marketing activities

In recent decades several Australian universities have opened international branch campuses (IBCs) overseas (C-BERT, 2017). IBCs export international education to students in their home countries, offering an attractive alternative to studying abroad (Wilkins & Huisman, 2011). IBCs depend upon student enrollments for viability, making effective marketing crucial (Lipka, 2012). IBC lecturers are often engaged to support marketing efforts. However, lecturers’ perspectives on their marketing involvement is largely unknown. This paper presents extracts from interviews with six IBC lecturers about their roles in IBC marketing activities. Our research found that IBC lecturers are generally willing to support IBC marketing activities, but may be more comfortable doing so if they can retain their academic identity and limit their “selling” behavior during this process.