Having a local Premiership club can help a university to attract students. The evidence suggests that lower profile universities can derive particular benefits. The competition’s huge global audience estimated at 643 million students can provide a basis for recruitment, particularly in Asia.
Having a local Premiership club can help a university to attract students. The evidence suggests that lower profile universities can derive particular benefits. The competition’s huge global audience estimated at 643 million students can provide a basis for recruitment, particularly in Asia.
Swansea University has benefitted from a surge in interest since Swansea City was promoted to the Premier League in 2011, particularly among African students. This season the university will enter into an agreement with the club that includes television and match programme advertising. It will also sponsor an as yet unnamed foreign player to boost recognition of the university in their home country.
Cardiff City’s Malaysian owner, Vincent Tan, has generated considerable coverage for the club in his home country. Even when the club played in the Championship, the university saw a 42 per cent rise in the number of Malaysian students, and applications for 2013 are up 36 per cent.
However, Staffordshire University has gone further than most. The university has sponsored a stand at Stoke City for the past two years. The deal with Stoke provides the university with a number of free tickets that it often gives away to students. The university is now considering bundling cut price season tickets along with student fees.
The links perhaps make more sense when one consider that higher education and football are two of the UK’s strongest assets overseas. Moreover, both follow a practice of paying high transfer fees for top talent and have seen well above inflation increases in the price of admission.