Most Wanted Brand Attributes: Student Perceived Values of Private Universities in Surabaya

The rising quantity of private universities in Indonesia creates heightened competition in delivering the added values most wanted by, especially their potential students. Although most universities strive to create a point of distinction, the marketing department often communicates this advantage in a corporate-centric manner, neglecting the perspective of the recipients (i.e., the potential students). Literature has shown that most previous studies have adopted service quality or customer perceived value constructs to measure higher educational values and linked it with students behavioral intentions. This study aims at finding out what students want from selected private universities in Surabaya in terms of added values and brand attributes. A series of in-depth interviews with university students was conducted to confirm predetermined and develop new themes from the conversations. A thematic analysis applied to the verbatim transcripts revealed five major student perceived values: functional, social, epistemic, emotional, conditional, and three emerging values: monetary, symbolic, and pre-university experiential values.