Acknowledgement

Working on this Capstone project Brand Revamping of AUSOM was a source

of huge knowledge and great experience to us. We would like to express our
appreciation to Mr. BILAL ARSHAD CHAUDHRY for his guidance, support and
encouragement in carrying out this Capstone project. We would also like to
thanks to the faculty members and our parents for their support.

Page 1 of 62

TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY......................................................................................5
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.......................................................................7
UNIVERSITY OVERVIEW.................................................................................7
AIR UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT (AUSOM)..................................8
VISION STATEMENT.......................................................................................9
MISSION STATEMENT.....................................................................................9
BUSINESS PROBLEM....................................................................................10
CAPSTONE OBJECTIVES...............................................................................11
CHAPTER 2: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION FRAMEWORK..........................12
GAP MODEL.................................................................................................12
Gap Model for Services............................................................................12
CHAPTER 3: ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS................................................16
PESTL ANALYSIS.........................................................................................16
Political Analysis.......................................................................................16
Economic Analysis...................................................................................17
Social Analysis.........................................................................................19

Page 2 of 62

Technological Analysis.............................................................................19
Legal Analysis..........................................................................................20
CHAPTER 4: INDUSTRY ANALYSIS............................................................21
PORTER FIVE FORCES MODEL.....................................................................21
Threats of New Entrants...........................................................................21
Bargaining Power of Suppliers.................................................................22
Bargaining Power of Buyers.....................................................................22
Threats of Substitutes..............................................................................23
Rivalry Among Existing Institutes............................................................23
CHAPTER 5: COMPETITOR ANALYSIS.......................................................24
COMPETITORS ANALYSIS.............................................................................24
CHAPTER 6: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.................................................27
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY........................................................................27
MARKET RESEARCH..................................................................................29
QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS..........................................................................29
RELIABILITY TEST.....................................................................................29
INTERNAL ANALYSIS.................................................................................31
EXTERNAL ANALYSIS................................................................................32
QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS.............................................................................35
Focus Group Experts (Internal)................................................................35
Page 3 of 62

Focus Group Experts (External)................................................................39

Focus Group Customers (AUSOM Students).............................................40
KEY FINDINGS.............................................................................................42
CHAPTER 7: RECOMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS............................44
BRANDING...................................................................................................44
SERVICE SCAPE...........................................................................................46
DEDICATED STUDENT BODY........................................................................48
OPERATIONS................................................................................................50
LIMITATIONS................................................................................................51
BIBLIOGRAPHY.........................................................................................52
Appendix
1.1................................................................................................................................
...............(1)
Appendix
1.2................................................................................................................................
...............(2)
Appendix
1.3................................................................................................................................
...............(3)
Appendix
1.4................................................................................................................................
...............(7)
Appendix
1.5................................................................................................................................
............(13)
Appendix
1.6................................................................................................................................
............(16)
Page 4 of 62

Appendix
1.7................................................................................................................................
............(25)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This project report has been written on the branding issues faced by newly
launched business school AUSOM of Air University. The school has been
facing many challenges like a lack of competitive edge, vague market image,
no demand pull, low perceived value among external stake holders and as a
consequence of all this, declining growth in terms of student enrollments for
the last few years. In-order to cope with this issue, a complete analysis of the
operations of AUSOM has been made. For understanding the existing
customers perceptions and for getting an idea about the issues being faced
by them, an internal analysis through survey and focus group interviews
have been made. From the results of this survey and focus group session we
came to know that the students are satisfied with the educational standards
and designed curriculum being set by the management of AUSOM. But
majority of the students are unsatisfied with the co-curricular

activities

organized by AUSOM. The analysis has also depicted that the service scape
model requires revamping. The physical place and evidence (class rooms,

Page 5 of 62

projectors, computers, multimedia) needs to be improved in-order to gain

more customer satisfaction.
An external analysis has also done for the purpose of checking the
awareness, perceptions and choices of prospects. The results indicated that
the awareness about AUSOM in the market is very low. Therefore an effective
marketing and promotional activity has been suggested for AUSOM. The
analysis has also shown that majority of students consider return on
investment in the form of jobs as an important factor while selecting a
business school. We also came to know that the linkage between students
and placement office is very weak. A proposed solution has also been given
for strengthening the linkage between students and placement office. A set
of suggestions and recommendations for improving the overall operations,
rebranding strategies and promotional strategies has also been given in the
final chapter of the report.

Page 6 of 62

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

UNIVERSITY OVERVIEW
Air University is a public research University located in Islamabad and Multan
Pakistan. Pakistan Air Force has established this University in 2002. Its status
is settled as civilian University and it is offering various programs in
undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral studies. The University is under
the management of PAFs education appreciation. The University is known for
providing high quality Engineering Studies and in the field of Engineering and
technology Air University is ranked amongst countrys top ten universities
ranked by HEC in 2010 (Au.edu.pk, 2015). It is associated with Pakistan
Engineering Council and HEC Pakistan. It is also a member of the Association
of Common wealth Universities of UK.

Page 7 of 62

AIR UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT

(AUSOM)
Air University school of management also called AUSOM is a management
sciences institute working under the umbrella of Air University. It offers
different management programs which include BBA , MBA (3.5) , MBA (1.5)
BSAF

MS

with

different

specialization

including

HR

FINANCE,

MANAGEMENT (Au.edu.pk, 2015). It is also offering PhD programs. Air

University school of management is not only grooming their students as a
classic manager of future but also polishing their creative abilities so that
they can think out of the box and can initiate new business ventures.

Page 8 of 62

VISION STATEMENT
Air University School of Management aspires to be among the leading
national

business

schools,

excelling

in

teaching,

learning,

research,

innovation and public service.

MISSION STATEMENT
The mission of Air University School of Management is to achieve excellence
in teaching and research for producing graduates with sound professional
knowledge, integrity of character, a keen sense of social responsibility and a
passion for lifelong learning. The School shall stand committed to creating an
environment conducive for attracting the best students, faculty and
supporting staff for contributing to the development of a prosperous,
peaceful and enlightened society.
Page 9 of 62

BUSINESS PROBLEM
Despite providing quality education to business students by competent
teaching faculty in experiential learning environment with remarkable
facilities, Air Universitys Department of Business Administration has been
facing many challenges like a lack of competitive edge, vague market image,
no demand pull, low perceived value among external stake holders and as a
consequence of all this, declining growth in terms of student enrollments for
the last few years.
In an effort to communicate a favorable market image among various
stakeholders and attracting better candidates for its various programs, there
is a need to transform our business programs into a valuable branded offer
and recreate a brand power for our business graduates.
There is a need to add real tangible value to AUSOM in order to reinforce its
brand image and communicate its new and desired positioning to all the
stake holders.

Page 10 of 62

CAPSTONE OBJECTIVES
Our objective is to work with the management of Air University and find out
constructive and innovative ways to overcome the mentioned problems. We
will focus on their branding strategy which at the moment seems weak as it
does not attract the target audience. As we have seen through our research
as well that most of the students we have come across are not aware of the
AUSOM. We will also be working with AUSOM to provide them help with
developing strategies for service delivery. We will be providing them with
suggestions and ideas on how to develop a better service delivery and strong
brand recognition or awareness among the business schools.
We will be providing them with consumer insights with regard to the trends
of the current requirement of students. We will identify the gap between the
perception value and delivered value We will work on this problem, for which
we will recommend some solutions. We will also do a competitor analysis of
its major competitors which are LUMS IBA IQRA University and all other
Page 11 of 62

business schools in Pakistan. The operations of AUSOM need a major

revamping for which we will work with the company management and come
up with suitable solutions and recognize the problem at its root.
The supplier relations and potential markets for AUSOM will also be
discussed in our report. Some have been identified as the major providers of
good quality infrastructures such as IT etc. We will be conducting meetings
with their managers to have discussions regarding this certain issue.

CHAPTER 2: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

FRAMEWORK

GAP MODEL
Service quality is a comparison of expectations with performance. A business
with high service quality will meet customer needs whilst remaining
economically competitive. Improved service quality may increase economic
competitiveness

(Jessop, McNab and Gubby, 2012). This aim may be

achieved by understanding and improving operational processes; identifying

problems quickly and systematically; establishing valid and reliable service
performance measures and measuring customer satisfaction and other
performance outcomes (Hrnciar and Madzk, 2013).

Page 12 of 62

Gap Model for Services

The Service Quality Model, also known as the GAP Model, was developed in
1985. It highlights the main requirements for delivering a high level of
service quality by identifying five gaps' that can lead to unsuccessful
delivery of service (Brown and Swartz, 2012).
In services, as we know that there is an element of intangibility that is, we
cannot show anything to the customer until the service is actually been
delivered or provided (El-Khawas, 2014). So, we need to make sure that
every step or the process that we incorporate in our strategy of service
delivery represent or reflects the quality and standard of our service. In
services, if we talk about satisfying our customer, practically its very hard to
agree a customer or make him/her trust that our service would be up to their
desired level. So, for this we need to identify some of the gaps that always
exist in very service firm and by filling those gaps, a company can satisfy her
customer more efficiently. The four services gaps are:

Gap 1 Not knowing what customers expect

The first gap is not knowing what your customer want. Firstly, you need to
identify what is your target market and are the actually customer from where
you aim to make profits. You cannot satisfy everyone in a single shot. You
need to segment your customer according to the segments and then develop
different strategies for each segment(Mokhtary and Pazhouh, 2012). Usually,

Page 13 of 62

this gap occurs when there is a gap between what customers expect from
the company and what their perceptions are. Expectations and perceptions
are developed on the bases of the message or the type of adverts that are
being used by the company to market their service. Being over promise and
then not delivering the promise is the same thing that we have discussed
before. In services, always under commit and over delivering is the key to
success become when you under commit and over deliver customers are
impressed by your services and will definitely approach next time. In case of
AUSOM, the faculty and management have an idea about what students
expects in terms of education. But the students also expects a good service
scape and more co-curricular activities. AUSOM must have to invest on the
service scape and on the co-curricular activities in-order to fill this gap.

Gap 2 Not having the right service designs and

standards
The second gap in services takes place when you dont have any right kind
of service design and standards. In our case of AUSOM, they have right kind
of service design but no proper standards. They need to make some
standards that help them communicate their service that is actually what

Page 14 of 62

they are and how they operate. For this, they have to market their service
through their branding on social media, print media and most important is
the branded counseling expos for the attraction of upcoming students. So
that while choosing University for further studies students must have AUSOM
in their minds.

Gap 3 Not delivering to service standards

The third gap exists when the company is not delivering up to the standards.
In case of AUSOM, they are trying to deliver up to the standards that reflect
the AUSOM as a premium service provider. They are confidently delivering
what standards they have developed. The thing where they need to establish
some more standards is their marketing section. They have to market the
actual standards. The difference between delivers and perceived values may
lead to dissatisfaction of the customers. They must have to develop the right
standards that they are delivering. When costumer comes to know that there
is a clear difference between the promised deal then it leads to
dissatisfaction and this dissatisfied customer then spread negative word of
mouth among the upcoming customers.

Gap 4 Not matching performance to promises

Page 15 of 62

The fourth and last gap occurs when the company is not delivering what they
have promised. As mentioned earlier that in services always under commit
and over deliver as to surprise customer that you are delivering before time,
always keep some margin between the actual and perceived delivery time so
that if any unusual thing happens that time could be managed and the
service time does not exceed. In our case of AUSOM, as we have conducted
market research those people who have consumed their services they are
very satisfied or not with quality of service. We worked on what students
wants from a business school for this we make focused group interviews of
students and employees so that we may able to analyze the gap. By fulfilling
the analyzed gap of service delivery AUSOM will make its own brand image
among the students and employer organizations.

Page 16 of 62

CHAPTER 3: ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS

PESTL ANALYSIS
PESTL analysis is the analysis of the macro-environment which will help the
management of Air University School of Management to analyze the external
environment which is expected to impact the managements planning and
decision process. The PESTL analysis is a tool to give competitive advantage
as the organization easily estimates its environment and devises the
marketing

strategy

to

attain

competitive

edge

over

the

competitors(PESTLE Analysis, 2015). The PESTL analysis will give a

comprehensive overview of all the major forces affecting the Air University
School of Management. The analysis is as follows:

Political Analysis
The political factors usually bring high positive or negative impact on the
educational institutes. These are relatively of great importance for the
organization in-order to get competitive edge therefore organizations should
take great care of these factors while making the decisions (Smith, 2015).
Political parties and government highly impact the Air University by changing
the laws and regulations and requirements regarding the accreditation of
Academic Institutes. As in Pakistan Higher Education is controlled by HEC and
Page 17 of 62

most of the governments recruit their own representatives in HEC. We have

recently seen in the case of Bahauddin Zakariya University Lahore campus
that HEC was not accrediting the campus due to political interventions.
The University is categorized under federal government

and it is the

government which issues the funds and donations to the institutes so

management must have to consider this factor in mind while launching the
institute.
With the change in elected government the education policy usually
changes. In Pakistan every new elected government changes the education
policy which directly or indirectly affects the rules and policies made by the
Universities.
Due to the terrorism threats and its counter action by armed forces, many
good students are either switching the University to a more secured one or
taking scholarship and moving abroad for their management studies. This is
posing great threat to the University as the students strength is decreasing
day by day.

Economic Analysis
The core inflation rate in Pakistan is 8.40 %. The GDP growth rate of service
sector is Pakistan is about 5.2% for the year 2014-2015 and as per the
financial experts this rate will increase in 2016 (State Bank of Pakistan,
2014). Islamabad and surrounding cities is the area where literacy rate is
Page 18 of 62

higher than other areas of the country and majority of population is affiliated
with service sector industry having medium to high purchasing power.
Considering this factor in mind parents invest in education of their students if
they have the surety that such institute will provide quality education to their
children. So there is a need to define excellent promotional strategy in-order
to cater the students from Islamabad.
Since AUSOM is a newly launched venture and for it high investment and
budget is required. Although University has granted specific budget for it but
still with the change in management or decision making bodies the financial
issues may affect the institute.
It has been seen that the students coming from cities other than Islamabad
often stays in hostels and private flats and they usually prefer to study in the
Universities which either provide scholarships or have a low fee structure. As
there are multiple areas surrounded by Islamabad where poverty rate is high.
To eradicate the poverty, there is need to provide equal opportunities to all
people from different backgrounds, classes and leniency for the poor
students from the rural areas. Air University School of Management should
have strong illumine to cater to this economic factor.
The present economic distress, where educated people are unemployed,
poses more pressures on Air University School of Management to provide the
students with more practical skills rather than just bookish knowledge. The
skilled graduates from this University will then get more opportunities to get
Page 19 of 62

employment. This economic factor put pressure on AUSOM and the

management should have to contract with the reputable organizations of the
country and have to get the students hired in those organizations.
With the increase in inflation the cost of resources (staff-teaching,
technology and maintenance) has also been increased. This factor has
directly increased the cost of operations. AUSOM must have to cater this
issue by targeting more student base from different areas of the country.

Social Analysis
The decision making power of parents in selecting an Academic institute has
been increased. Unfortunately in Pakistan people have a mind-set that
Private sector performance and services are better than Public sector
organizations so they prefer to take the services from private organizations
even if they have to pay premium amount for it. Air University School of
Management must have to change this mindset if they want more students
enrolled in the department. For that AUSOM must have to go for a good
advertising plan using social media and other internet tools.
According to our research we have found that students prefer to take
admissions in those Universities which have high value in the market in
terms of employment and have a good social life too. Air University School of
Management must have to consider this factor and have to built a culture
which encourages both academic and co-curricular activities.

Page 20 of 62

Technological Analysis
New technologies have been introduced for improving the education
processes, for example in west and Europe Black board technology is widely
been used. Students have an access to all the Academic Journals, curriculum
and other supporting material in a single click (Blackboard.com, 2015).
Students can easily contact the faculty members and their student advisors
with their online portals but unfortunately AUSOM is lagging behind in this
race. AUSOM management must have to invest in technology as by using
technological tools educational standards can be improved.
The introduction of Social media and Internet has increased the social
blogging and has connected the people virtually. People can easily get
information about any particular product or service using internet and social
media(Riman, 2013). Air University School of Management must have to
invest in Social media promotion and have to generate positive word of
mouth about the school by posting the summary and pictures of the events
being organized by the school.

Legal Analysis
A week legal system coupled with week enforcement has given strength to
an environment where piracy is common. Unfortunately the legal system so
backlogged that a single signature or a decision requires years to be
addressed. This issue has blocked the way of introducing new educational

Page 21 of 62

standards, new techniques of providing premium quality educational services

by Public Sector Universities(Usman, 2014). AUSOM must have to consider
this factor in mind while revamping the educational strategies and plans.

CHAPTER 4: INDUSTRY ANALYSIS

PORTER FIVE FORCES MODEL

Porters five forces is the analysis of the strong and weak areas of the
business (Mind Tools, 2012). It helps the organization analyze its competitive
position in the market (M.E.Porter, 1985).In this way the organization can
improve its weaknesses and can use the strengths of the business to get
advantage. Porter in his book supports the argument that technology boom
and economic downfall will affect the five forces in the education industry
(Porter, 2008).

Threats of New Entrants

Page 22 of 62

The new entrants impact the organizations profitability. HEC wants to

increase the universities count to reach the economies of scale to provide
the quality education to students from all parts of the country. If the Air
University School of Management distinct and diversify its programs then it
will surely attract huge chunk of students. With the help of economies of
scale cost of operations can be reduced. This will keep the new entrants
away from entering the market. The demand side economies of scale will
reach when more disciplines will be offered in AUSOM and more students will
be given admission in AUSOM. By doing so cost of services will be divided
among more students and by this way fee structure can be reduced and it
would be difficult for the new entrants to enter the market by targeting low
fee structure. This University is serving in the Islamabad from 2002 and has
gain well reputation in the market from its Engineering programs. So if
AUSOM use the good will of its engineering programs and correlate it with
AUSOM, competitive advantage can be attained. Therefore the only threat
AUSOM has is with the existing management sciences degree providing
institutes. The threat of new entrants is very low.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers

The Suppliers of Air University School of Management are the faculty
members, internet service providers, Custom support service providers,
technology (Computers, projectors etc) providers and books providers. The
bargaining power of suppliers in case of AUSOM is very low. As AUSOM is
Page 23 of 62

working under the umbrella of Air University, categorized under federal

government University, which uses tender notices for gaining suppliers. As
there are multiple suppliers of services and products required by the
University so the suppliers with lower prices and high quality have been
selected and it reduces the bargaining power of suppliers.

Bargaining Power of Buyers

The buyers are the students in this case. HEC has system of ranking the
University institutes and the students with the help of this ranking compare
the universities. The student strength is decreasing because AUSOM of Air
University is nowhere in the recent HEC ranking. If the University implement
the plan of extension, branding of the department and recruitment of
qualified faculty, it will surely get less affected with the buying power as then
the students will get attracted to the quality studies and market value of the
institute will surely increase.

Threats of Substitutes
At present the Business management department of the University is badly
suffering from the threat of substitutes. Due to bad culture of universities,
parents prefer to get their children admitted in their nearby commerce
colleges. Further the introduction of short diplomas and distance education
courses have changed the trend of education but still the market size of
Page 24 of 62

AUSOM is very big and if proper marketing have been done by the School
then it can surely grab increasing number of students.

Rivalry Among Existing Institutes

The rivalry among the Universities depends on students strength, academic
faculty, donors and funding for research. AUSOM is facing great competition
from other universities in the twin cities. The competitor Universities are
offering diverse range of disciplines in business management sciences.
Moreover their faculty members are highly qualified and a culture has been
developed there which attracts the students. Air Universitys business
management department is far behind in creating the culture which supports
both Academic and co-curricular activities. Although startup weeks and
entrepreneurship days have been organized by the department but no
specific events have been organized so far in which potential prospects have
been invited which rivalry institutes are doing from years. LUMS case study
solution events, LUMS Entrepreneurship events for all are of specific
importance in this regard.

AUSOM must have to invest its resources in

targeting this section in-order to gain competitive edge.

CHAPTER 5: COMPETITOR ANALYSIS

Page 25 of 62

COMPETITORS ANALYSIS
The competitors of Air University Business management department in the
twin cities are BAHRIA University, NUST Business School, IQRA University,
CUST and Comsats. NUST is providing the bachelor and master (regular and
executive) degrees in business studies in finance and accounting, HR, project
management and Marketing. It has PhD qualified faculty to produce the
skilled and quality students. They give scholarships to outstanding students
to facilitate them in their studies. They give open access to technology and
information for students who want to research and take guidance from the
published material. University gives master degree in two years and allows
the students to take admission in MS leading to PhD. The NUST brand is
renowned in market and has collaboration with many environmental, quality
and research institutes which gives it a competitive edge over the other
players (Nust.edu.pk, 2015).
BAHRIAs Business Administration is offering the disciplines of finance,
marketing and HR. The course curriculum is comprehensive and the culture
is open so that students can foster in the environment (Bahria.edu.pk, 2015).
It is also doing collaboration with different organizations to give facilities and
ease to their students. The faculty members are qualified with majority of
MBAs and selective PhDs. The University has high fee structures which limits
many poor students to study in this University. But the developed culture and
educational standards gets the attention of multiple new customers.
Page 26 of 62

MAJU (Mohammad Ali Jinnah University)now CUST has a strong business

administration department offering BBA, MBA, PhD, MS/M.Phil, Executive
MBA. They are providing education in finance, marketing, HR and project
management disciplines. They conduct their classes in Morning, Evening and
Afternoon times. The faculty is qualified and the University has a remarkable
position in the market place.
NUML Business Administration department is offering various programs for
its students including BBA, MBA, MS and Ph.D with majors in HRM, Finance
and Marketing. For BBA and MBA students it is compulsory to have practical
experience. While studying entrepreneurship and other practical subjects,
internships

are

provided

to

the

brilliant

students

in

well

reputed

organizations of Pakistan like PIA, State bank of Pakistan, OGDCL, Askari

Cements, fauji fertilizers etc so that they can have the practical exposure
(Numl.edu.pk, 2015). Entrepreneurial weeks are arranged for students of
final semester and proper guides have been given for new starters. Job fairs
have been conducted after every six month for the students of final semester
who are about to pass out in six months.
IQRA University is one of the best business management institute apart from
the general disciplines it is also offering supply chain, project management
and modern information system specialization (Iqra.edu.pk, 2015). Facility is
also out class which attract more students. IQRA University has an edge of its
main Karachi Campus. As the ranking of its Karachi campus is very good in

Page 27 of 62

Business Administration category therefore students in Islamabad also get

attracted in their Islamabad Campus.
International Islamic University Islamabad is one of the Pakistan's leading
semi Government University which is located in sector H-10 Islamabad.
International Islamic University's department of business administration
which is also called FMS ( Faculty of management sciences ) was established
in 1996 and now the department of business administration have more than
3700 students registered. This department is booming with mission of
developing the ethical and innovative business students and the faculty uses
different

teaching and learning practices to

atmosphere.

Department

of

business

provide active learning

administration

have

trained,

experienced and specialized faculty. Furthermore department of business

administrative sciences offering different programs including BBA, MBA , MS
and PHD with specialization of HR, Finance, Marketing, and Information
technology management. It is also offering PGD programs in world trade and
intellectual property rights (Iiu.edu.pk, 2015). The goal of faculty of
management sciences is to enhance research. The department is highly
focused in research and development.
Comsats Business department is also struggling in attracting large force of
Students. Although they have the best infrastructure and faculty available
but still they are unable to attract student force. The major programs offered

Page 28 of 62

by Comsats are BBA, MBA, MS in Finance, Marketing and Human Resource

Specialization.

CHAPTER 6: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
We have conducted two different surveys one from the students of the
institute (AUSOM) and the other from the students of whole Twin Cities. We
have distributed 250 questionnaires among the students of Air University
School of management out of which 208 have been used to analyze the
perceptions and requirements of the students while 42 questionnaires have
been disposed off due to incomplete data. The primary tools for our research
is two different set of questionnaires and focal group interviews. The
research technique used for conducing quantitative analysis is descriptive
statistics. The sampling technique used by during this survey was
Convenient Sampling.
We have developed an internal questionnaire considering the issues being
faced by the department and the perceived value of existing students in
Page 29 of 62

mind. For that we have considered different variables. The variables used in
designing internal questionnaires were: Education Standards, Facilities,
Environment or Service scape, Learning Methodologies and practical
exposure.
The external questionnaires has been developed considering the same
branding issues in mind.

The variables

used in designing external

questionnaires were: Student Awareness, Quality of Education, Industry

Exposure,

Physical

location,

Cost

of

Education.

While

considerable

factors(parents influence, Return on Investment, Accreditation) for any

student in selecting an academic institute were also kept in mind during the
design phase of the questionnaires.
For our research we have conducted two focus group sessions. The first focus
group was of two faculty members of AUSOM named as Mr. Umer Ghauri and
Mr. Imram Hameed and one faculty member of other University NUML Mrs.
Shehla Akhter. We have told them the entire objectives of our project and
have asked multiple questions related to the branding problems being faced
by AUSOM. The main idea for considering one focus group from faculty
members was that faculty members are completely aware of the situations
being faced by AUSOM and we can get better answers for the related
problems. The second focus group consisted of the five students who are
studying in AUSOM. In this focus group three students were male and two

Page 30 of 62

students were female. Their names have been kept confidential upon their
request.

MARKET RESEARCH
In our internal survey from Air University School of Management Students,
47%

students

were

female

while

53%

students

were

male.

Major

respondents of our survey were belonging from BBA (honors) 59% and were
in the age group of 18-22. The percentage of respondents belonging from 1822 age group were 53%.

QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
RELIABILITY TEST
Page 31 of 62

Reliability of measure indicates extent to which it is without bias and hence

ensures consistent measurement across time and across the various items in
the instrument. Reliability is a test of how consistently a measuring
instrument measures whatever concept it is measuring (Uma Sekaran,
2010).
The purpose of reliability test is to analyze and measure that either the data
collected through questionnaire is valid or not. Usually, if the reliability test
shows the value of Alpha greater than 0.60 or above then it means that the
data is reliable and is 60% valid. In our case, we had distributed 250
questionnaires among the students for internal analysis out of which 208
were completed and were able to represent the data. Therefore the Alpha for
reliability test 0.921 for internal analysis and the value of Alpha for external
analysis 0.891. These values depicts that the data for internal analysis was
92% valid while the data for external analysis was 89% valid.

The figures confirms that our data is highly reliable for future use.
Reliability Statistics
Case Processing Summary
N
Valid
Cases

Excluded
Total

Cronbach's Alpha

%
208

100.0

.0

208

100.0

.911

N of Items
58

Page 32 of 62

The reliability test results for external analysis are as follows:

Case Processing Summary

N
Valid
Cases

2400

100.0

.0

2400

100.0

Excluded
Total

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's Alpha
.891

N of Items
57

INTERNAL ANALYSIS

Page 33 of 62

EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS

Very Dissatisfied; 4%
Very Satisfied; 11%
Dissatisfied; 12%
Satisfied; 39%

Neutral; 35%

From the internal analysis we

came to know that the majority of the students are satisfied with the
educational standards of the University. They believe that AUSOM has high
educational standards in terms of responsive academic advisors, ease of
resource availability, advance information regarding new rules and policies,
grading systems and course registration.

Page 34 of 62

CO-CARRICULAR
120
100
80
60
40
20
0

The response from our sample

population also depicts that the students are not satisfied

with the co-

curricular activities. The co-curricular activities involved the entertainment

events being organized by the School so far, the sports week and the
seminars & workshops being conducted by AUSOM.
The response suggested that the population (students) are satisfied with the
facilities offered by AUSOM including but not limited to Library, Computer
Lab, Access to Academic Journals but the students are not satisfied and even
not aware of the health facilities being offered by the School.

Page 35 of 62

SERVICESCAPE
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

The response also suggests

that the learning environment, practical training period in terms of Academic
projects, self assessment and internships is satisfactory. Although majority of
the respondents are not satisfied with the ServiceScape and the amount of
job fairs organized by AUSOM.

EXTERNAL ANALYSIS
For external analysis we have distributed 3000 questionnaires among the
students

of

various

institutes

of

Rawalpindi

and

Islamabad.

600

questionnaires have been excluded because of incomplete data. Among the

remaining 2400 questionnaires, 47% respondents were female while 53%
respondents were male. The target population was students studying in
management sciences discipline in various Universities of Rawalpindi and
Islamabad. The students studying in commerce colleges were also been
included while conducting the survey.

Page 36 of 62

Majority of the respondents 60% were in the age group of 18-22 years. 45%
of our respondents were having the family income between PKR 80,000 to
100,000. From the result of survey conducted through questionnaires, we
came to know that only 47% of the respondents were aware of AUSOM.
Among those 47% majority of the respondents were not aware of the new

AWARENESS

NO; 52%

YES; 48%

re-launch of the School. The

feedback obtained from the respondent suggests that they know that Air
University is offering various programs in management sciences but they
Page 37 of 62

were completely unaware of its new launching with multiple new programs
for students. Among 47% respondents who have heared about AUSOM, Just
24% had a good image for AUSOM. The were agreed that AUSOM has
experienced, Qualified and trained faculty with good exposure for learning
While 20% were dissatisfied with the statement. The main reason for
dissatsfaction was the stritct rules and regulations, accounting for 70% of the
entire response.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT
NO; 17%

YES; 83%

When respondents were asked

about the market position of AUSOM in terms of Job Opportunitres and
market acceptance of its graduates 83% have choosen satisfactory.
The respondents were asked about the factors they consider while seclecting
an academic instiitute, The majority 83% have selected Return on
Investment as an important factor for selecting an academic institute while
17% were not considering it an important factor.

Page 38 of 62

When students were asked about the intensity of parents influence in

selectin an academic institute. 43% have selected very high and 40% have
selected moderate high, while only 3% have said that their parents do not
influence in Academic Institute Selection decision.

Promotional Chanels
Print Media; 12%
Educational Expos; 14%
Social Media; 31%

Cable TV; 7%
Radio; 13%
Billboards; 9%

Student Reviews; 14%

From

our

survey

we

also came to know about the mediums that student use while getting
information about any academic institute. The statistics of our survey shows
that 31% of the students use social media for getting information and advise
about Business Schools, 12% use print media for getting information about
admissions and programs offered by Business Schools. 12% students
suggested that billboards would be an effective medium for promoting
Business Schools. 14% suggested that existing customer reviews (word of
mouth) matters a lot, and is considered very helpful for them while making
the decision of Acadeimc Institute selection. 7% have suggested that cable
Tv could also be used as an effective medium for grabing applicants for MBA
Page 39 of 62

programs. 14% among the entire respondents selected educational expos as

a medium for gaining and comparing best business schools of the city.

QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS

A Qualitative analysis is used whenever there is a need of examination of

non measureable data such as Firm's reputation, brand image or customer's
feelings about the product or service (Investopedia, 2003). For Qualitative
analysis we have conducted focal group interviews. The details of focal group
interviews are as follows:

Focus Group Experts (Internal)

Mr. Umer Ghori (Permanent Faculty Member AUSOM)

Considering the Capstone objectives in mind we have told Mr Umer about the
issues being faced by AUSOM and have taken his expert opinion about the
issue. Sir Umer Ghori AUSOMs permanent faculty member in his interview
said that if we look at other best universities like LUMS they have different
schools in which they are teaching specific management studies and that is
why they are successful and our University is known as the engineering
University although there is a management department but students are not
attracted because they take Air University as engineering University. So
there is a need to make the department prominent and have to create an
image which attract the students. While launching the new name we have
Page 40 of 62

faced We had face many issues. The first and foremost issue that we have
faced was of logo design, alot of criticism have been made on the logo
design but no one was providing effective and efficient solutions for it. Mr
Umer said that the second issue that we have faced was the name AUSOM,
criticism has been made on it, some said AUSOM appears to be the name of
a Milk shop. We are not here to suggest a name which has resemblance with
any milk brand. Due to all of these issues it took 2 years to finalize the
names, programs and logo designs. AUSOM strengths are its Students, its
faculty members and its upgraded teaching methodology. The only thing
required at this moment is effective promotional and marketing strategy. An
effective push strategy along with the use of internet and social media would
be of great benefit for the institute. MOU which was signed on the
inauguration ceremony of AUSOM between the Dean and the CEO of Naya Tel
is one of the biggest achievement of the institute. The University must have
to advertise this so that the prospects can have an idea about our standard
of education and our graduates demand in the market. He suggested that a
push marketing strategy is very important and good in grabbing the
students. AUSOMs resources are their Faculty, their library, digital library,
research papers, infrastructure etc. and the suppliers are our faculty
members. As we have the intense faculty but we need to hire more
experienced and intense faculty who will be able to push our students on
way to success as in the lunching ceremony of AUSOM our guest speakers
said that if one teacher teaches thousand students and students want to
Page 41 of 62

learn then they will learn but if students dont want to learn then even
thousand teachers cant tech a single student. So as we have brilliant faculty
but our students also need to work harder.
AUSOM should firstly focus on the plans to be among 3 best business schools
of the country. Our experienced faculty members are preparing employees
for organizations, we are preparing entrepreneurs, who could initiate their
own businesses and are increasing the employment opportunities. I suggest
that faculty should Work hard, give tough time to students and not give
students the relaxation in their projects, and prepare them for responsibilities
and dont listen any excuses regarding deadlines. Another thing I want to
suggest is that Students should present their University in the market. I
believe that action speak louder than words and if we will produce
exceptional graduates in the market, the demand for our graduates in the
market will automatically be increased. Further the department should have
to make the arrangements that External firms (corporations, companies,
large firms) should come in the University at least once or twice in a
semester and recruit our graduates. As organizations hire employees and
once the organization's representatives will visit our Business school they will
surely get an idea about our quality standard graduates and it will create our
good will in the market. I also want to suggest that AUSOMs should have to
take a comprehensive test at the end of their degree in-order to refresh their
concepts and have to put a quality check on the students.

Page 42 of 62

Mr. Imran Hameed (Permanent Faculty Member AUSOM)

Mr. Imran Hameed is one of the faculty member of AUSOM. His area of
specialization is General Management. In AUSOM, he teaches different
subjects to BBA and MBA students. He teaches business strategy,
entrepreneurship,

business

ethics,

introduction

to

management

and

competitive management subjects. According to him idea of AUSOM was not

just an idea, it was the efforts of entire faculty members of AUSOM. The idea
of AUSOM was given in 2012 and once the idea was shared with the faculty
members all the faculty started to work on developing new syllabus,
improved

grading

system,

new

class

participation

criteria,

develop

curriculum, accreditation of HEC. He suggested that the Strengths of AUSOM

are, its foreign qualified and experienced faculty, its motivated students who
encourage challenges and our accreditation with NBEAC.
He said that based on the current market scenario we are facing multiple
barriers. Getting recognition in the market is on the top in it as marketing
strategy, positioning strategy of Air University School of Management is not
too good.

Positioning in the mind of students and employers is not

satisfactory. we have a neighbor BAHRIA University which is very attractive,

its open culture, student parties attracts students and their parents, whereas
our culture is closely watched. Main challenge we are facing is how to attract
more students. We are facing difficulty in attracting students although our
teaching quality is much more better than BAHRIA University. Air University

Page 43 of 62

is considered as top ranking engineering University, Our avionics department

makes us very strong and is very dominant in the market. In business studies
when parents and students compare Air University with BAHRIA University,
BAHRIA is gains the competitive edge.
AUSOM is unable to attract more students one reason behind this is that Air
University is lacking behind in the social life. We need to create social life,
social life can be created by student parties, clubs, extra curriculum
activities. For that there is a need of independent student bodies of AUSOM
working under the supervision of any faculty member.
Future plans of AUSOM are that soon AUSOM is going to offer ACCA and MBA
in supply chain. We will be short of faculty when we will offer new programs
and for that AUSOM is going to hire new faculty. members, so the conclusion
of the discussion is that there is a need of effective marketing strategy which
not only attract the students but their parents too. The use of outdoor
marketing campaign regarding the awareness of the institute will surely give
us competitive edge.

Focus Group Experts (External)

Mrs. Shehla Akhtar (Permanent Faculty Member ) (MBA Banking &
Finance MAJU, MS Banking & Finance UK )
Our First external focus group expert was Mrs Shehla Akhtar. She is one of
the permanent faculty member of NUML. We have shared the issues being

Page 44 of 62

faced by AUSOM with her and has taken her expert advice. She said when I
think about any business school at national level the names which came first
in my mind are IBA and LUMS. She said that the obstacles business schools
other than LUMS and IBA are having is the difference in the input quality.
LUMS and IBA picks up the cream on merit and then polish their skills but
other business schools take students with 45 % marks, these students are
average students and they dont have the habits of working hard, their
habits have been not developed. So these business schools have to work
hard in-order to get productivity. So management of AUSOM has to first go
for extensive marketing and have to grab large number of applicants. After
that they have to apply filter scans (GAT tests, interviews) in-order to get the
best candidates for MBA. If they will go with this strategy and will nurture the
skills of those selected candidates the worth of AUSOM would automatically
be increased in the market and students will surely be diverted towards
AUSOM.
Non availability of resources is another issue which most of the institutes are
facing these days. Management orientation of AUSOM is also need to be
improved in a significant way. Another issue is that Industry and academia
linkages are not as much strong, there is huge gap existing there so there is
need to cover this gap. Management of AUSOM must have to take steps in
building Academia and Industry linkages.

Page 45 of 62

Business schools are focusing more on the theoretical concepts and not on
the practical exposures. Universities which are offering business studies are
not doing market surveys, and if they will not do the surveys than how could
they know what is the demand in the market. What kind of expertise the
employers are looking for in their employees? This is what we called the
communication gap existing between the Business Schools and Industry.
Cooperation from

Business Organizations in this regard would be highly

required.
Main issue in our society is that students dont see in which things they are
good at, what is their interest, they only see the trend in the society and
follow that trend. Parents dont focus on quality they only focus on the fee.
Only those parents who are financially strong can send their children to best
universities it is a dilemma of our country.

Focus Group Customers (AUSOM Students)

A focus group session from the students of AUSOM was also being
conducted. In this focus group three students from BBA and two students
from MBA has been taken. Among those five students three were male and
two were female The name of the respondents have been kept confidential
upon their request. We have asked multiple question from them related to
the issues they are facing in the department and in which areas of the
service the improvement is required. The response we got from them was
that AUSOM is a good institute and the faculty and teaching methodology
Page 46 of 62

used by AUSOM is very good. One of our respondent has said that her cousin
is doing MBA from BAHRIA University, and said the amount of burden of
assignments, projects and quizzes which we get is way far more than BAHRIA
University. But BAHRIA University has a well organized management sciences
department as compared to AUSOM. The respondents said that when it
comes to faculty and educational curriculum AUSOM is the best but the
reason BAHRIA comes first in the mind before AUSOM is just because of their
culture. We at AUSOM hardly get one or two events in an year and that is
Welcome and farewell party while BAHRIA and other Business Schools keep
their students refreshed by organizing parties and other events. The students
have also said that the level of strictness in AUSOM is way far more than any
of the Business School operating in Islamabad. It seems like they are
studying in any higher secondary school and not in the University.
When a question about service scape has been asked from the focus group,
we got a response that the class rooms have not been maintained from a
very long time and all the computers in the class rooms are out dated. Old
operating systems have been installed in them and are full of viruses. The
printing and Photocopy facilities in AUSOM are also of serious consideration.
The respondents also said that there is a week linkage between the students
and placement office. We have to spent more time in getting information
related to any new jobs or internships. One other issue that was being
highlighted by the female student was that it happened most of the times

Page 47 of 62

with their class that the teachers had a class on any particular day and then
they cancel it without any prior notice or informing to the class. She said that
it de motivates the students when students get up early in the morning for
the class and upon reaching the school they get to know that the class has
been cancelled. So there is a need of proper notification system being which
informs the students about the class schedule and for extra classes.

KEY FINDINGS
From the internal and external analysis and through focus group interviews
we came to know that majority of the students are satisfied with the quality
of education given by AUSOM but the only issue they have with the Business
School is that the number of co-curricular activities being organized by
AUSOM are very low. The youth, particularly the youth of Islamabad and
Rawalpindi enjoys the parties and the culture which supports gathering and
get together, BAHRIA University has better understood this demand and has
given youth attractive culture which unfortunately AUSOM is failed to
provide. Further the students are not satisfied with the Service scape of
AUSOM. We came to know from our analysis that

there is limited number of

rooms available in the market and the maintenance of the classrooms and
departments is not very good. So, the University must have to invest in
improving the environment of Class rooms.

Page 48 of 62

We came to know from our analysis that majority of the students considers
Return on Investment as an important factor while making the decision of
selecting an Academic Institute. It has been observed during the analysis
that the link between placement office and students is very weak. Majority of
the students have even no idea about what placement office is. So there is a
need of coordination between the student advisors, students and placement
office so that the job opportunities could be availed by majority of students.
We also came to know from our analysis that majority of the respondents are
not even aware of AUSOM, they don't even heard the name AUSOM before,
so an effective advertising and promotional strategy is required for creating
customer awareness. The detail about the strategy has been explained in the
suggestion section.
We also came to know from our analysis that the most effective medium,
that student use in gaining information about Business schools is Social
Media (facebook fan page, twitter and blogs) while customer (existing
students) reviews and educational expos have also been used by students
for gaining information about Business Schools. So, AUSOM must have to
improve its social media advertisement strategy in-order to increase the
number of applicants.

Page 49 of 62

CHAPTER 7: RECOMENDATIONS AND

SUGGESTIONS

BRANDING
The American Marketing Association (AMA) has defined a brand as a name,
term, sign, symbol or any other feature that identifies a sellers product or
service as distinct from those of other sellers (Skaalsvik, 2014).
Business Schools do not consider very much in terms of marketing and in
terms of branding their school, although the schools teaches branding a lot.
The brand of a business school is very important for attracting students,
donors and for attracting professional companies. There is a concept being
Page 50 of 62

widely used in the west "PRACTICE WHAT YOU TEACH". Business schools of
these days are not distinguishing them from competitors existing in the
market. In Rawalpindi and Islamabad, almost every institute is offering MBA
programs which has increased the number of graduates produced in the
market while reducing the demand for MBAs. So, companies now do not only
consider MBA as a requirement for getting hired for a job, they also consider
the institute from where the candidate has completed his degree.
The culture in our emerging markets is much more hierarchical. It means
that a little can be done unless the approval of Dean or Vice chancellor. Inorder to cope with this issue, the management of AUSOM must have to make
a separate Marketing Department and have to assign them the tasks of
improving the overall brand image and the perception of students about
AUSOM brand. An effective Social Media strategy would help a lot in
improving the overall image of the School in the eyes of existing and
prospect Students. We have analyzed the current facebook page being
organized and managed by AUSOM. We have seen that the page has only
3500 likes and the followers get an update or see any new post after 10
days. We have also seen that there is no Youtube channel being handled by
AUSOM. We have also observed that there is no specific Twitter page
designed so far under the name of AUSOM. So, the role of that marketing
department would be to update the fan pages and Youtube channels on daily
basis in-order to engage and increase the number of followers.

Page 51 of 62

The second thing we suggest is that AUSOM must have to design its own
website and has to make every information about the School available on
that website. The Marketing department should also control and manage this
Website, and update it accordingly. There must be an option of LiveChat on
the website where the students or applicants can get information about
selection, admission criteria and queries related to admissions. Most of the
Universities in the West are doing this from years. IQRA University in Pakistan
is also using LIVE CHAT for getting in touch with their students and new
prospects. A dedicated email address must also be given on the website from
where students can submit their queries or can gain information about
admission. The reason for giving email address option along with LIVE CHAT
is that by doing so we can get the email addresses of applicants and for
those who are looking for information regarding admissions. The marketing
team can than later approach those potential customers (students) and can
convert them into applicants for BBA and MBA programs.
It would also be the duty of marketing department to visit the commerce
colleges located within the 150 KM radius of Islamabad and have to arrange
admission camps and awareness seminars about the benefits of doing MBA
from AUSOM. These seminars and admission camps will surely bring traffic in
AUSOM which the faculty have to retain.
As we have found from our research that most of the students consider
Return on Investment as an important factor while selecting a Business

Page 52 of 62

School and for students Return on Investment is getting a good job after
completing the degree. So the marketing department along with the
coordination of placement office have to issue lists along with the resumes of
graduating students or the students who are in the final semester. These list
are then to be sent to the HR department of multiple organizations from
where organizations can recruit the employees. The marketing team would
also go in the market and will create demand for the graduates of AUSOM.
The marketing department would be responsible for giving monthly progress
reports to the dean. By doing so the number of students can be increased in
limited amount of time. The proposed website design has been shown in the
appendix section of the report.

SERVICE SCAPE
Service Scape is defined as the totality of the ambience and physical
environment in which a service occurs. It is also called service setting
(BusinessDictionary.com, 2015).
As from the internal survey results we came to know that the students are
not satisfied with the service scape of Air University. Physical evidence is the
environment in which the service is delivered and the firm & customers
interact with each other. In the case of AUSOM the physical evidence are the
class

rooms

where

the

teachers

delivers

their

lectures.

Although

improvements have been made in the building and the department structure
Page 53 of 62

but still the classrooms are not up to the mark as other competing institutes
have. Although the scenic beauty the geographical location is very good but
the environment inside the lecture rooms is the one where AUSOM has to
work on. For that renovation of whiteboards, ceilings and improvement in
furniture is highly required. It has been observed that the computers
available in every class for presentation purposes are full of viruses with no
multimedia (speakers microphone) attached. These computers require
maintenance and there is a need of upgraded software and operating system
to be installed in them. Further the management of the School must have to
involve directly in improving the employees and students dress. Although a
dress code has been defined by the management of Air University but it has
been observed that the culture in Business schools is different from
Engineering or other professional schools. So, the use of formal dress along
with the compulsion of tie and coat will improve the overall environment of
the School and will leave a positive impression on new visitors. Further the
marketing and media team with the help of Videosk2 and Pictures will
promote this environment on social media and Youtube channel. By doing so
the demand for AUSOM will automatically be increased. Further AUSOM has
to design its own Student Cards different from the students of other
departments. This will also increase the attention of new potential customers
and will help in marketing and promotion of AUSOM.

Page 54 of 62

DEDICATED STUDENT BODY

As from our survey and focus group interviews we came to know that the
students are not been satisfied with the number of events organized by the
institute. For that there is a need of restructuring and improvement in the
overall student bodies working in AUSOM. A proposed structure has been
designed and has been shown below:

Hierarchy of AUSOM
Executive Club

Patron In charge
(One of the Faculty
member)

President
Logistics

President
Sports

President
Events

President
AUSOM post

MEMBER

MEMBER

MEMBER

MEMBER

MEMBER

MEMBER

MEMBER

MEMBER

MEMBER

MEMBER

MEMBER

MEMBER

MEMBER

MEMBER

MEMBER

MEMBER
Page 55
of 62

According to this structure there must be a faculty member leading the

student body from the top. The proposed name for this student body is
AUSOM Executive Club. Then there would be presidents for different
operations including Logistics, Sports, Event Organizers and AUSOM post.
Then below these presidents there would be a layer of members who will
organize these tasks. An enrollment form would be designed and will be
given to all interesting students of AUSOM. The patron in charge will then
conduct the interviews and will select the suitable members for every team.
This Executive Club will manage the entire co-curricular events organized by
the School.
One additional head which is been added in the AUSOM Executive Club is the
AUSOM Post. It would be an E-magazine and news letter. The information
regarding the upcoming events, the stories about the past events and news
related to the new programs would be published in it. This magazine would
be publish in e-format and would be shared with the leads (email addresses)
obtained from new admission enquiries.

Page 56 of 62

OPERATIONS
We have reviewed the operations of AUSOM in detail and have find few
bottlenecks in the operations of AUSOM. Currently AUSOM is only advertising
on Print media and on the website for new admissions. The applicants after
reading the ads visit the website and fill the online form and apply for the
test. AUSOM issues online bank challan which student have to download and
have to submit the application fee in the bank. The students then have to
send the copy of challan to the admission office. After this, AUSOM conduct a
test and based on the results of the test shortlist the candidates for
interview. After conducting the interview the University issues merit list.
Once this process has been completed then University issues the schedule of
classes and students have been notified about it through notice board. The
University also allots a student advisor to each class so that he can resolve
the issues of the students if any.
The current operations have some flaws which we have identified so far,
these are that the students only get to know about their time table and class
schedules from the notice board or from the student advisor office. Same is
Page 57 of 62

the case for teachers, they have to consult the administration staff directly if
they want to know about the schedule of the classes. Communicating
directly with the administration staff or looking the schedule from notice
board is an old technique. The management must have to replace it with the
new IT technologies. AUSOM must have to design an online app and have to
give a unique User Name and password to each student and faculty member.
The administration staff just have to upload the schedule and update about
any upcoming event on this app. and the students and faculty members can
easily access those notifications and schedules by simply login to the app.
The issue of non-availability of rooms for taking make-up classes could also
be resolved by this app. This app will also give the students the access to
check their attendance, The marks they have got in the last semester and
the upcoming make-up classes schedules.

LIMITATIONS
The biggest constraint that we have faced in our research is the shortage of
time. We have a sample size of 3000 for external survey and a sample size of
250 for internal survey. A single respondent has taken 5-7 minutes in
completing one questionnaire. So, almost 3 weeks have been spent in
getting the response of the sample population. Taking appointments for focus
group interview sessions has also consumed a lot of time which could be
better utilized if saved.
Page 58 of 62

The Dean of Preston University and NUML University has not given us time,
due to which we were unable to get their feedback and suggestions about
this new re-launch. Unfortunately we have to skip them from our focal group
interview list.
Non serious attitude of respondents were also been an issue which we have
faced. The respondents were not taking the questionnaires seriously and
instead of giving us response and better suggestions they were filling the
questionnaires without even reading the content. Due to this issue we have
wasted 642 questionnaires (42 from internal and 600 from external).

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Au.edu.pk,

(2015).

Air

University.

[online]

Available

at:

http://www.au.edu.pk/vision_and_mission.aspx
Bahria.edu.pk,

(2015).

Bahria

University.

[online]

Available

at:

http://www.bahria.edu.pk/buic/
Blackboard.com, (2015). Blackboard Learn | Learning Management System.
[online]

Available

at:

http://www.blackboard.com/learning-

management-system/blackboard-learn.aspx
Brown, S. and Swartz, T. (2012). A Gap Analysis of Professional Service
Quality. Journal of Marketing, 53(2), p.92.
Page 59 of 62

BusinessDictionary.com,
meaning.

(2015).

What

is

servicescape?

[online]

definition

Available

and
at:

http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/servicescape.html
El-Khawas, E. (2014). Inside quality reform: early results on using outcomes
for improvement. Quality in Higher Education, 20(2), pp.183-194.
Hrnciar, M. and Madzk, P. (2013). Improving the Quality of Higher Education
in Central Europe: Approach Based On GAP Analysis. Higher Education
Studies, 3(4).
Hugo Skaalsvik, B. O., 2014. Service branding: suggesting an interactive
model of service brand development. Kybernetes, 43(8), pp. 12091223.
Iiu.edu.pk, (2015). :: International Islamic University, Islamabad :: IIUI.
[online] Available at: http://www.iiu.edu.pk/
Investopedia, (2003). Qualitative Analysis Definition | Investopedia. [online]
Available

at:

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/q/qualitativeanalysis.asp
Iqra.edu.pk, (2015). Iqra University - Where your future begins. [online]
Available at: http://iqra.edu.pk/isl/
Jessop, T., McNab, N. and Gubby, L. (2012). Mind the gap: An analysis of how
quality

assurance

processes

influence

programme

assessment

patterns. Active Learning in Higher Education, 13(2), pp.143-154.

Page 60 of 62

M.E.Porter, 1985. Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior

Performance. 1985 ed. New York: New York free press.
Mind Tools, 2012. Porters Five Forces: Assessing the balance of power in a
business situation.
Available at: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_08.htm
Mokhtary, Z. and Pazhouh, B. (2012). Measuring Service Quality Using
Complement Methods for Gap Model. International Journal of Machine
Learning and Computing, pp.640-643.
Numl.edu.pk, (2015). National University of Modern Languages. [online]
Available at: http://www.numl.edu.pk/
Nust.edu.pk, (2015). NUST Business School (NBS) - National University of
Sciences

and

Technology

(NUST).

[online]

Available

at:

http://nust.edu.pk/INSTITUTIONS/Schools/NBS/Pages/default.aspx
PESTLE Analysis, (2015). What is PESTLE Analysis? A Tool for Business
Analysis. [online] Available at: http://pestleanalysis.com/what-is-pestleanalysis/
Riman, T. (2013). Seomworld: The effect of Social Media on Education | Pros
and

Cons.

[online]

Seomworld.com.

Available

at:

http://www.seomworld.com/2013/09/the-effect-of-social-media-oneducation.html#.Vn2mnvkrKM8

Page 61 of 62

Smith,

J.

(2015).

Marketing

Professionalacademy.com.

Theories

PESTEL

Analysis.

[online]

Available

at:

http://www.professionalacademy.com/blogs-and-advice/marketingtheories---pestel-analysis
State Bank of Pakistan, (2014). Annual Report. State Bank of Pakistan, pp.6081.
Uma Sekaran, R. B., 2010. Research Methods for Business. 6th ed.
Usman, S. (2014). Governance and Higher Education in Pakistan: What Roles
do Boards of Governors Play in Ensuring the Academic Quality
Maintenance in Public Universities versus Private Universities in
Pakistan?. IJHE, 3(2).

Page 62 of 62