SZABIST Islamabad Public Relation & Service Analysis

SZABIST Islamabad

The Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) is a fully Chartered Institute established through a Legislative Act of the Pakistan Assembly (Sindh Act No. XI of 1995) and is approved and recognized by the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Pakistan, as a degree granting institution. 

SZABIST has campuses in Karachi, Islamabad, Larkana, Dubai (UAE) and Hyderabad. SZABIST is a registered member of the International Association of Universities (IAU), Paris; Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), London; Federation of the Universities of Islamic World (FUIW), Rabat; Asia University Federation (AUF), Seoul; and the Association of SAARC Universities, (ASU). 

Business Week, the leading international business magazine, has listed SZABIST among the best business schools of the world for five consecutive years (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006). SZABIST is one of the top 20 business schools from Asia recognized by Business Week. Only two business schools from Pakistan are listed in Business Week. 

Asia Inc, a leading Asian Magazine, has ranked SZABIST among the top MBA Schools of South Asia in its Asia's Best MBA Schools Survey for two consecutive years (2003, 2004). SZABIST is one of the top 15 business schools from South Asia ranked in Asia Inc. 

SZABIST is also ranked among the best Science and Technology and MBA schools in Asia by the CNN-Time publication Asia week. SZABIST is also listed in the CNN Executive Education Schools. SZABIST thus has the unparalleled honor of being the only Pakistani Institute to be recognized internationally by Business Week, Asia week, Asia Inc. and CNN. SZABIST has signed Articulation Agreements with the University of Wales, UK and the University Of Northampton, UK. SZABIST has also signed MOUs with the State University of New York, USA; University of London, UK; Philippines Women University, Philippines; and the Asian Academy of Film & Television, India. 

SZABIST today is identified as a major university comprising of five campuses (including one foreign campus) three diploma centers, three intermediate colleges and one research center. More than 6500 degrees have been awarded by SZABIST to date. 

·         Nature of product or service

SZABIST Islamabad provides education as their core service. It has programs from Bachelor’s level to PHD level. With departments ranging from Business Administration, Media Sciences & social sciences.

·         Product Life Cycle Stages

·         The product life cycle has 4 stages :

·         Introduction , growth , maturity , decline

·         Growth Stage – The growth stage is typically characterized by a strong growth in sales and profits, and because the company can start to benefit from its business which can be a product like a stationary shop and a service sector like SZABIST providing education. This makes it possible for businesses to invest more money in the promotional activity to maximize the potential of this growth stage right now SZABIST is at its growth stage due to its rival and its investment like establishment of students clubs and societies moreover with the new building we expect that SZABIST ISL would open more department such as an engineering department and others as SZABIST right now has only few departments such as media , social science, business administration not to forget the accounting & finance department .Not only this SZABIST ISL first student council election has just been held which is going to be the voice of students in organizing events. ZAB F.M radio is one of the points our SZABIST students are the brightest as it is operated by students in the university. Not to forget that a university is incomplete without any clubs or societies and that’s right SZABIST ISL has a club named Szabfirefoxisl, an official international club associated with Mozilla firefox browser. Its main purpose is to promote Mozilla software’s and to promote students activities by organizing events.I

·         BCG Matrix :

·         It includes Dog, Star, Cash Cow and Question Mark

·         SZABIST ISL is a university which provides education, there are other great universities too which has given a tough time to SZABIST too. But there are certain things which has made it competitive like its faculty and the skills the students apply in the practical market have marked its point.

·         If we look at the BCG matrix SZABIST market share is a little low as compared with the other universities such as Comsats , Islamic , Quaid –e-Azam  and other universities they have large land area which is why they are able to build no of buildings to enroll large no of students as compared to SZABIST  not only this , some of the universities have large no of public relations or investors who are investing or providing scholarships to students such as Islamic universities has support provided from middle east and NUST from military which has helped to ease on the pressure on the students  fees. SZABIST ISL is still growing and hasn’t reached the maturity stage as from the fact we can see from the new building which has just been made for the no of reasons.

1.       The no students strength is increasing and their was a despite need of the new rooms to enroll new students. So with the new building being made some of the rooms in the old building are being vacant such as the finance office and others to convert them into classrooms.

2.       There is a need to make new departments increase SZABIST market share like including the engineering department. Research department etc. as more students we enroll they will market SZABIST name too like if a student is studying at SZABIST ISL and wants his friends to join him by taking admission in the same university so he will use word to word market strategy to persuade them not only this those who able to get job in let’s say multinational firms are an asset for the university to use them as an alumni reference or way to recruit more SZABIST students.

·          After seeing these points I would say that SZABIST is in between STAR and the Question mark. The reason for the star is because that  this semester is really blessful for students because of the fact that first ever SZABIST ISL student council elections were held, a body which is meant to listen towards student’s problems, its issues and organizing events. Not only this , this semester our university has begun to encourage students to organize events , HOC door had a student consultation hour list posted which wasn’t there before which had been problem for students as they had to take appointment first then they had  to wait for some days before they can actually reach them. Now it had been changed as students are now been allowed to meet the HOC as the time listed. Not to forget the ZAB FM and the first ever international club of the university Szabfirefoxisl. The club is officially affiliated with Mozilla. So this is why we have settled this under the STAR in the BCG matrix. Question Mark has been put as SZABIST had some departmental conflicts too which is why students are lacking teachers support for the extracurricular activities. Not only this our ASO department has many flaws. The text messages send by them reaches to everyone but there are students who don’t get their messages such as those who have Ufone number. This problem has been from last 2 semesters and once they even told one of their students to buy another network sim just to get their messages. Another problem is that although this university is one of the most expensive university in Islamabad region but still due to improper uses of funds  and lack of maintenance SZABIST  projectors are been slowly damaged due to the fact that its lens are not cleaned regularly . In summer especially a/c uses was discouraged as it was never switched on by the authorities of the SZABIST in most of the classes. Generator problems shouldn’t be put aside this summer it’s been a mess several times there was a generator problem which affected the classes as due to the strength of the students it was hard for the students to receive lectures from the teachers   so many lectures were affected. Starting of student council and the establishment of the FM and the Club happened in this semester .Previously there was no concept or to be honest no encouragement for that even there was no official trip organized for the batch of 2011 BBA for 6 semester and in this semester we were taken to the trip. There is no proper alumni forum with respect to the P.R. section which is also very low as students in NUST universities are offered internships by NUST to everyone not like SZABIST where just few handpicked opportunity came by the executive department and even that has been shut down but these opportunities are sent by SZABIST. If these problems are not solved soon then it wouldn’t be wrong to put SZABIST in the question mark segment otherwise if the encouragement and steps taken in this semester continues   then surely it would be a star.

·         Model Of individual Orientation

Salience is how an individual thinks about an object and pertinence is how that individual gets a perception about something by comparing it with other objects. In case of SZABIST Islamabad an individual salience about ASO is that not all students are provided with the text messages and emails about class reschedule, makeup class or even an important announcement. Pertinence on the other hand will be comparing SZABIST Islamabad ASO with Bahria University ASO department to know which university ASO department is best.

·         Coorientational Relationship communication Strategies

SZABIST and Student hold different views of an issue .To solve this SZABIST  introduces text messages along with emails to inform students about new schedule and more establishes a EDC department. Not all students are getting texts and EDC jobs and internships are insufficient to all the students.

·         Program Objective

SZABIST University is one of the top ranked business university which is why it should portray a great image about the extracurricular activities which are happening in the university like establishing of societies etc. Universities like LUMS and even international universities use this approach to target not just the brightest students but talented as well because once that student enter into a practical field it gives a good name to that university and open doors for more student to be easily employed by these practical organizations .Its like the process mention below :

Information Gain           Opinion Change             Behavioral Change

The website of the university displaying societies and activities done will definitely target those talented students which is like a information gain to these students will then change their opinions to get admission in this university because its both socially and academically active  leading to behavioral change  by taking admission into this university.

The strategy to let talented and brightest student to take admission in SZABIST Islamabad is done by adding these societies logos and their information in this website as a tactic.

·         Strategic Management Process

1.       Defining The problem

The problem is that the students are unable to get the texts on time and emails which is why in almost every makeup class there are absentees which is due to late or no text delivered to the students .Moreover the ASO takes a lot of time in giving responses to the students for instance giving them the transcripts may take up to three to four days.

Other than that due to the weak economic conditions of the country it is extremely hard for the people to find the job and internship in this case a university is a best way for a student to not just to complete his respective degree but it is also a best platform to help a student to step into the practical life. Universities like NUST provides internships to every student in summer especially in respective organizations such as Bahria Town and DHA etc . These very internships then lead most of the students to obtain a job in those organizations. Whereas we compare this to SZABIST the situation is completely opposite, not every student gets to have an internship opportunity provided by SZABIST moreover the opportunities that are provided are only able to cater to the needs of one or two members even job opportunities provided are very rare and most of them are not even up to the standard , few months back a school offered a job of admin with minimum qualification of BBA and a salary of Rs 20,000. SZABIST being the  expensive university in Islamabad and after studying for 4 years and doing many extracurricular activities not to forget that SZABIST as the one of the top business university we are only good for Rs20,000 I mean with these packages we can do a lot better than just Rs20,000.

2.       Planning and Programming

In this section plans have to be made how to improve the relationship between ASO/EDC and the students of the SZABIST by increasing the jobs and internships offers. Plans which include ways to ensure that every student gets the message provided through ASO about makeup class, exam schedule or even fee notice.

3.       Taking action and  communicating

In this process action has to be taken more industrial contacts have to be made while conducting seminars and workshop etc. Moreover the senior administration have to make some deals with corporate sector in ensuring that SZABIST students are given priorities in getting jobs in prestigious organizations which will place SZABIST name even more higher. ASO have to make sure to regather all students mobile no’s and email address so that no one is deprived of any message regarding makeup class or exam schedule.

4.       Evaluation

After implementing all the necessary action surveys should be done to note down the feedback of the students regarding any improvement of the services like emails and text messages are being received on time or not .Moreover it should be checked that more jobs & internships are offered and a market research should be checked to know the placements of SZABIST students  in the prestigious organizations and at what job position they are being placed in.

·         Industrial analysis

SZABIST Islamabad center was established with the aim to promote education center.

SZABIST ISL one of the tactic to lure students in was the advertisements it did on local newspaper as other universities did but it used its achievements as a weapon like the highest criteria rewarded by HEC in QWEC ranking .This had attracted a lot of students .Not only this the way of teaching has been different form most of the universities. As most of the universities use black or white board as a way to teach students but SZABIST ISL was one step forward then the rest of them we used projector and slide shows which relieved many teachers and students to write or note down the lectures and this time was utilized in understanding the lecture. One thing more the use of air conditioners in summer and the heaters in winter was a type of best service which everyone would expect to get like in the 5 star hotel .Although it is one of the expensive universities in Islamabad but it delivers the facilities too not for the charges they charge.

There was another problem as student was studying in an institute he may have to move due to the fact that his father/brother is in the army and the whole family has moved from Islamabad to Karachi. This was a problem experienced by many universities and was a type of retention level that was hard to control .SZABIST Islamabad found a way to solve this problem which was to open branches in many cities like in Islamabad, Larkana and Hyderabad etc.  Not only was this but an international branch opened too and that too in an one of the top economic hub Dubai.

SZABIST growth enrollment is till 2014 is almost 7000 students. SZABIST Islamabad enrollment status of 2015 is almost 2000 students.

·         Porters five industrial analysis

It helps an organization to understand where its power lies and helps you to know your competitive power.

·         Supplier’s power: fewer suppliers u have will provide suppliers the authority to increase their prices.

·         Buyer’s power: having few buyers means u have to charge low price and vice versa.

·         Competitive power :  high competitors  means low power u have

·         Threat of substitution : like use gas or petrol or distance learning program

·         Threats of new entry : less costly way to enter an industry where you work

·         Buyer’s Power : With the years passing by attaining education has become must for people so that is why  SZABIST ISL had to build a new building to cater a demand for the large no of  people who wants admission in the university but due to lack of rooms available it was difficult to accommodate all of them.

·         Competitive power : Competition is tough especially in educational sector as more institutes are being opened it had been difficult for SZABIST ISL to be the top leader or to create a monopoly type situation by charging high money . Still its opening of new building and its ranking declared by the HEC as the 3rd best university in the business sector has put it to be some effective player in the educational sector. SZABIST ISL was the first university in Islamabad to offer MBA executive programs on weekends which provided an opportunity for people who were doing their jobs and wanted to complete their masters but could.’ do it due to the class timings were attracted to this offer and this is why it had a large no of students now.

·         Threat of substitution : Substitution to going to not to go to SZABIST  or any other university and still get the degree is  the distance learning program .Although this program hasn’t been a  real threat to the SZABIST Islamabad as this trend is in a very small number of audience. Comsats offers distance learning program so as many international universities.  But this has been any threat due to lack of awareness, electricity and internet problems and etc.  In an education sector like SZABIST  the threat of substitution is very low although people are trying to do B.com first and then do MBA to avoid doing BBA and then to go for MBA otherwise it’s the same the total year spend in the university would be the same which 5.5 years.

·         Threat of new entry: A lot of new universities are being opened now and how are they grabbing new students is the almost the same as it is being done in a product based industry which is to offer low fees to attract the customers. Somehow they are being successful too because most of the universities are opening in the location close to the population and to target people with low income such as Comwave universities near F-8  or the opening of the  Allama Iqbal open university allowing the people especially from the rural area to study at home and give exams in exams centers only , this education sector has targeted women’s who  are willing to get education due to their local customs who can’t attend a university classes or those house wives Who are busy in their house problems are being targeted by this university.

·         Segmentation , targeting and positioning

SZABIST Islamabad has targeted vast area of Pakistan and has positioned itself as the cultural hub, a place where varieties of students belonging to different area like from Baluchistan, Sindh, Giligit Baltistan, Punjab and N.W.F.P. All are here. Normally it was perceived that this university is for elite class as it was seen that most of the students who came here belonged to business class family or had some political back ground. But now those with medium family income are also placing their child admission in this university like bankers, Govt job officers and even those surfing in private companies are also sending their children over here.

Starting MBA executive program targeted people who were busy in their jobs and wanted to do their masters but they couldn’t as their timings clashed. This was solved by the SZABIST Islamabad as they were the first one to offer it.

·         Distribution Strategies

SZABIST ISL has no distance learning program and so it provides physical distribution of education as an service through the classroom situation.

   Blueprint

         For admission purposes students from various areas come to SZABIST, similarly some of the students are not given admission due to incomplete documentation or failure to meet the required qualification to get admission in  . Furthermore students after giving test are also called for an interview for final selection .It looks easy for people living in Islamabad and Rawalpindi but it is extremely difficult for people living in remote or far away areas which include Gilgit Baltistan and Sindh so coming here at Islamabad for a day can be hectic and also add up the financial expenditure to those people so this  Blueprint here is a process which explains how this old method of admission taking can be changed with the new illustrated in the new Blueprint diagram with the addition of latest technology such as Skype etc for interviews.                                                                    

·         Old Blue Print for Taking the Admission

Student fill the form online

  

                        , students are to fill the online application from in order to take admission at SZABIST .This step involve no

                                                       employee intervention there is another option in which the

                                                       Student can fill the application form at SZABIST Islamabad .

                                                     

 

                                                                                                               Students have to go Admission Office to

                                                                            Submit their educational documents at the office.

          

                                                                                                   Employee intervention. Students who

                                                                         have submitted their online application are called for                                                                                       

                                                                              the test. The test is checked by the control people

                                                                             who have no interaction with the students taking

                                                                             admission.

 

                                                                                                                      Employee Intervention, students are                                                                      

                                                                                                                        to give interview to the panel of the                                                                      

                                                                                                                          faculty members.

 

                                                                                                                            Employee intervention, students                                                      

                                                                                                      who are selected are given the fees vouchers                                             

                                                                                                      And a specific a time spot in which they are to      

                                                                                                    Submit their fees.

·         Recommended Blue Print for Taking the Admission

Student fill the form online

  

                        , students are to fill the online application from in order to take admission at SZABIST .This step involve no

                                                       employee intervention there is another option in which the

                                                       Student can fill the application form at SZABIST Islamabad .

                                                      Employee intervention would only be involved when they go to

                                                        the campus.

 

                                                                                                               Students have to go Admission Office to

                                                                            Submit their educational documents at the office via                                                       

                                                                             mailing it to them or through the help of courier

                                                                             service.

          

 

                                                                                                   No Employee intervention. Students who

                                                                         have submitted their online application are given link of

                                                                              the test. The test is checked by the control people

                                                                             who have no interaction with the students taking

                                                                             admission.

 

                                                                                                                      Employee Intervention, students are                                                                      

                                                                                                                        to give interview to the panel of the                                                                      

                                                                                                                          faculty members by the usages of

                                                                                                                       Skype or phone interview.

 

                                                                                                                            Employee intervention, students                                                      

                                                                                                      who are selected are mailed with  the fees                              

SZABIST Islamabad We are going to measure the public relations being made by SZABIST Islamabad with its students and teachers by surveying them. Top of Form Are you happy with the services provided by SZABIST Islamabad ? o     Yes o     No Are you being updated on time about the schedule of your classes ? o     Yes o     No Do you regularly receive the text messages and emails from SZABIST Islamabad ? o     Yes o     No Are you satisfied with the ASO services ? o     Yes o     No Any suggestions which will help to improve the public relations made by SZABIST Islamabad ? Are Jobs and internships offer provided by EDC sufficient enough for the whole SZABIST Islamabad ? o     Yes o     No o     Option 1

                                                                                                     vouchers  So that they are to only come   at                                               SZABIST when there classes start.

·         GAP Model

Gap model is to demonstrate the expected and perceived services and qualities between the organization and the customers.

Gap 1  :  Knowledge  Gap : The gap  between the SZABIST Islamabad  and the student is present as the administration is only busy in providing us the best education but what SZABIST students are wanting are the public relations link of SZABIST Islamabad with the industrialist so that in future students of SZABIST Islamabad doesn’t have any problems  regarding jobs after they complete their bachelors . Moreover even NUST provides internship to all of its students whereas SZABIST only offers one or two opportunity for the limited no of students.

Gap 2  : Standard  Gap : A gap which may have been understood by the SZABIST ISL but they but it depends upon the speed of the work like previously there were only one or two internships offer being offered at SZABIST ISL and now it has increased to 6 or 8 but  the students wants the opportunities for all of them .

GAP 3 :Delivery  Gap : The Gap arises due to the poor training of the staff mainly as the new staff since the previous semester in the ASO hasn’t been able to lived up to SZABIST  regulations and the norms of sending the texts regarding the exam , make up class or of any other update which has increased .

GAP 4  : Communication Gap: SZABIST has failed to live up to the commitments as it posted in its ad as the 3^rd best business universities and when students took the admission they were not happy to find out about the lack of events & opportunities especially for the business students .So this had led many of the students to refer their friends and family members to the other universities then SZABIST .

Gap 5 :  Service  Gap:  Misinterpretation of information through perceived and experienced service. Every semester right before exams mails are generated to the students to submit their fees after the start of semester with an extension of deadline twice. Same emails regarding the fees submission was generated to the students and some of the students misinterpreted this information  and thought that there would be two deadline extension but in reality there was only one which led students to pay heavy fines along with their semester fees.

Survey : We even have the survey made to know feedback of the students regarding SZABIST administration and others .

.                                                    Top of Form Are you happy with the services provided by SZABIST Islamabad ? o     Yes o     No Are you being updated on time about the schedule of your classes ? o     Yes o     No Do you regularly receive the text messages and emails from SZABIST Islamabad ? o     Yes o     No Are you satisfied with the ASO services ? o     Yes o     No Any suggestions which will help to improve the public relations made by SZABIST Islamabad ? Are Jobs and internships offer provided by EDC sufficient enough for the whole SZABIST Islamabad ? o     Yes o     No

 

Results  :

No	No	No	No	Please offer more jobs and internships	No
Yes	Yes	Yes	No		NoNo
No	No	No	Yes		No
Yes	No	No	No		No
No	No	No	No		No

This survey indicated that most students at present were not happy with the response of ASO and job offers being send by the EDC and wanted improvement in this.

·         Recommendations & Conclusion

For the admission process  SZABIST ISL should go for online tests too as SZABIST ISL is a cultural hub and most of the people are applying from far away cities so it is difficult for them to come by traveling so far just to give test and documents , for documents online scanned documents should be accepted and so as for test there should be a link for the students to give from home and same should go for the interviews video conferencing should be conducted to select students from far areas which will save both SZABIST and that student time .That student should only come once he is been selected and printed vouchers should be mailed to students so that they can submit their fees from home .Not only at the time of admission this should be used for the students who are already studying these fee vouchers should be send to the parents , brothers or the guardian who can pay that student fees without disturbing the student.

This semester a lot of positive changes has occurred in this semester like the establishment of the  student council , FM radio and Clubs such as Szabfirefoxisl Club has led the SZABIST ISL name to be heard as far as it can through the events and activities conducted by the students. Not only this, SZABIST ISL public relations would increase and slowly students problems of few opportunities of internships and jobs will also be finished.