University Rebranding Methodology

The article is devoted to rebranding procedure — a process that accompanies universities in a situation of merger, ideological or visual obsolescence of brand, expansion or significant increase in scope of the university, loss of loyalty on the part of the consumer of the service and/or crisis. The paper analyzes the experience of several Russian universities and for the first time describes the rebranding process at Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia in 2017. The main stages of the described procedure are the analysis of the current situation in terms of the university image, the definition of stakeholders and the competitive advantage of the university in the educational services market, and the training of staff in brand presentation tactics. The proposed methodology is based on the positive experience of Russian universities and contains such steps as building a university development program taking into account stakeholders’ interests; accentuation on external attributes given the history of the university; creation of such positions as university mission, university emblem and slogan, corporate identity; building up the material and technical base; determination of the scientific profile of the university; search for strategic partners; measures to develop brand awareness in society, which include work with local and regional media, with the university website, and souvenirs.