Author(s): Lubica Gajanova, Jana Majerova, Margareta Nadanyiova, Maria Szalmane Csete
The current situation in education system of the universities is characterized by a number of problems and challenges that are related not only to demographic, but also to legislative and socio-psychographic changes. One of the significant consequences of this situation is that education can be seen as a product requiring marketing activities. The aim of the paper is to put forward the proposals for the managing the value of higher education as a product in the context of the specific conditions of the Slovak Republic. Conjoint analysis was used to obtain relative data for the suggestions. The survey was carried out using the CAWI method. The questionnaire was distributed in second quarter of 2021 on statistically relevant sample. It has been found out that the profile of the optimal value of the product is characterized by these characteristics of the examined attributes: studying is appropriately challenging; employability of graduates in practice is high; the reference group evaluates the university positively; acquaintances are studying at the university and at the same time the university is currently close to where students live; the atmosphere of the campus is as high as the quality of education. The importance of individual attributes varies across the criteria of the respondent's gender and the type of high school attended, which implies the need to apply a diverse approach to building and managing the value of higher education as a product in terms of marketing.