What's in a Name? The Effect of Brand on the Level of English Universities' Fees

Andrew Jenkins () and Alison Wolf
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Andrew Jenkins: Department of Social Science, University College London
Alison Wolf: School of Management, King's College London

No 16-12, DoQSS Working Papers from Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London

Abstract: Higher education is increasingly competitive and international in its recruitment of both students and faculty, and international 'league tables' are increasingly publicised and discussed. In many jurisdictions, universities also now have freedom to set fees for at least some students, and those with a high reputation are well placed to charge large amounts. England has a university sector which is highly differentiated in reputational terms, and a fee regime which allows universities to set fees for a large proportion of their students. It is therefore possible, using administrative and income data, to examine how far commonly recognised measures of reputation explain universities' teaching income per student, after controlling for a wide range of other factors. The results confirm that reputation, or 'brand', appears to have a very large impact on fee and teaching income, and that it is therefore entirely rational for English universities to prioritise activities which raise their international visibility and reputation.

Keywords: Fees; Teaching income; Brand; University reputation; University revenue (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I22 I23 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-eur, nep-ipr and nep-mkt
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