reputation management...measure of good communications, but nor were they for most directors. sydney...

The World 100 Reputation Network MANAGING THE REPUTATIONS OF THE WORLD’S LEADING UNIVERSITIES

www.theworld100.com

[email protected]

Louise Simpson, Director Lisa Bould, Research Manager

[email protected] [email protected]

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT

Priorities, structures and resources in world-class universities

Benchmarking Report for University of Sydney

Directors of Communications and Marketing

Research Project for W100 Membership Year 2014/15

March 2016

http://www.theworld100.com/

mailto:[email protected]



2014/15 Research Project | www.theworld100.com

Reputation Management. Priorities, structure and resources in world-class universities

Benchmarking Report – University of Sydney


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

HOW SYDNEY DIFFERED… ............................................................................................................................ 2

RESPONSIBILITIES .......................................................................................................................................... 4

STRUCTURES AND STRATEGIES ................................................................................................................ 16

BUDGETS AND FINANCE .............................................................................................................................. 21

STAKEHOLDERS ............................................................................................................................................ 25

RANKINGS AND BENCHMARKING .............................................................................................................. 27

REPUTATION .................................................................................................................................................. 31

ABOUT THE WORLD 100 REPUTATION NETWORK .................................................................................. 33

IN THIS REPORT

The following pages detail how the responses from the lead communicator at University of Sydney, the

Director of Marketing and Communications, varied from the overall sample of world-class universities.

Benchmarking is provided for closed questions of the survey only.

The overall sample was made up of 47 respondents from 16 countries.





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HOW SYDNEY DIFFERED…

Here we note how Sydney differs from the majority responses from other world-class universities.

Background. The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney was fairly usual in being

amongst a third of respondents (30%) who were PR professionals with educational backgrounds. A

slightly larger group were PRs with commercial backgrounds (47%).

The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes but doesn’t lead public

engagement. This is in line with 35% of the universities. The majority have total responsibility, at

61% of directors.

The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes to community relations as

do about a third of the universities. Over half have overall responsibility for this function.

The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes to public affairs and

government relations. This is in line with around 43% of the universities. The large proportion,

53%, actually have overall responsibility for this area.

The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes to events, as do over a third

of directors. Over half have overall responsibility for events, however.

Team size. Sydney’s central communications team is very large at 100 compared with the overall

average of 39 for the global universities. The largest reported is 130, and the smallest just 4.

Sydney then has a very small number of total communicators outside central communications,

across the university, with only 10, compared to the average of 68 across the entire sample. The

largest number is 300. This suggests a very centralized model with departments not getting involved

in any communications or marketing.

Planning. As per a slight minority of universities, 41%, Sydney does have an overarching

communications strategy; the slight majority, 59%, had a series of plans instead. Despite this, and

the centralized staffing model, Sydney’s wider strategy and communications strategies only have

some relationship, which was the same for 28% of universities. A much larger group, 70% of the

universities, declared a clear relationship.

Reputational priorities. Ten of the 15 areas were identified as priorities for Sydney, including the

majority of those identified as priorities by large proportions of other global universities. The only

notable differences were that Supporting fundraising and raising the leader’s profile were more

important to Sydney than to other universities, and supporting community, media profile or attracting

the best staff, were less important, although chosen as high priorities by around half of other leading

universities.

Structure and reporting. Universities were split as to whether Directors of Communications are part

of, or report to, the senior management team. Sydney was amongst 49% of universities whose

marketing director is on SMT. There are many structural permutations for marketing and

communications departments, but most universities (63%) report integrated models (when we

combine all variants of integrated). Sydney is amongst the universities that have an integrated model





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with separate offices but overseen by one director. The most common individual structure was for

marketing to be part of communications, at 31%.

Reputational resourcing and prioritization. The Director of Communications and Marketing at

Sydney felt that communications is considered to be a very important function of the University and

is well resourced. This is in line with 50% of universities.

Turnover. Sydney’s annual income was above average, but somewhat lower than the largest

income of close to €6bn.

Salary. The salary for the lead communicator at Sydney is above average but a long way below the

highest reported salary.

Budget. The Sydney communications and marketing budget was the highest reported of all world

100 universities, thus appearing to be very extensive. However, this may also be because Sydney

has a very integrated system, and there is very little marketing and communications being done at

faculty level across the whole university. It also appears that marketing has some involvement in

recruitment, which is often not true for other universities. The Sydney operational budget was the

highest reported. The staff budget was just below the highest reported elsewhere. The operational

versus salary split was very much in line with the average of two thirds salary to one third

operational.

Stakeholders. Domestically Sydney agreed with the other universities about the top four most

important stakeholder groups – alumni and students, journalists and staff. It didn’t agree with the

importance of business leaders, which was chosen by over half of directors, but instead prioritizes

prospective students, chosen by only 32% of directors. This perhaps the smaller population of

Australia, making recruitment more important than it is for European, Asian or North American

counterparts.

Evaluation. Sydney obtains social and media coverage, web data, and conversion data. It also runs

audience awareness audits, like most of the universities, but doesn’t look at audience knowledge of

the university, or use search engine performance metrics, which were the two most important

monitoring activities for other peers. Award programmes were also not popular with Sydney as a

measure of good communications, but nor were they for most directors.

Sydney valued the same websites as other universities, although it didn’t value Instagram (favoured

by 44%) or Wikipedia (favoured only by 17%).

Reputational measures. Three of the top five reputational factors for Sydney were in the top 5 for

other global universities: academic research, programmes and contribution to culture and society.

They didn’t value Nobel Prizes as much as others. An upward trend in rankings and student

satisfaction were more important reputational assets to them compared with others, although many

picked out ranked position.

Barriers to reputational progress. Sydney didn’t select any challenges to reputation that were

experienced as barriers by many other directors. They instead added their own barrier: Lack of

understanding of the value media coverage can play for strategic purposes.





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Charts pick out Sydney’s responses in purple.

RESPONSIBILITIES

BACKGROUND OF THE LEAD COMMUNICATOR

Q: Are you: (tick all that apply)

The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney followed a common pattern of being amongst a

third of respondents (30%) who were PR professionals with educational backgrounds. A slightly larger

group were PRs with commercial backgrounds (47%).





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COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING REMIT

Q: As the lead manager for the University’s communications, which of these activities do

you have responsibility for?

The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney has overall responsibility for social media

management. This is in line with almost all of the universities.

The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes to recruitment as per the majority

who contribute to this function with the lead responsibility being elsewhere.





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The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes to postgraduate recruitment. This is

also true for over a third (38%) of the universities, who contribute but the lead is elsewhere.

As per the majority of directors, the Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes to

international recruitment, although the lead is elsewhere.





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The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney has very little input into admissions. This is also

true for over half (57%) of the universities.

The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes to corporate strategy, as do the

greater proportion of directors (66%), who also contribute but the lead is elsewhere.





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The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes to international strategy but the

lead responsibility is elsewhere. This is in line with more than three quarters of the universities.

The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes to international relations and

partnerships but the lead responsibility is elsewhere. This is in line with almost two thirds of the

universities.





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The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney has overall responsibility for brand identity. This

is evident in almost all of the universities.

The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes to engaging with students’ parents

and families. This is also true for nearly half of directors (47%), who told us that they contribute to this

activity with the lead elsewhere.





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The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes but doesn’t lead public

engagement. This is in line with 35% of the universities. The majority have total responsibility, at 61% of

directors.

The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes but doesn’t lead communications

with graduate employers but the lead is elsewhere. This is in line with the modal response at 49%.





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The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes but doesn’t lead alumni relations as

per over half of universities who have a significant involvement, contributing but not leading this function.

The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes to community relations as do about

a third of the universities. Over half have overall responsibility for this function.





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The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes to public affairs and government

relations. This is in line with around 43% of the universities. The large proportion, 53%, actually have

overall responsibility for this area.

The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney has overall lead for international media

relations, as per a third of universities, but the greater proportion (64%) have overall responsibility for this

area.





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The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney leads domestic media relations. This is also

true in over 80% of the universities.

The Director of Marketing and Communications at has overall responsibility for marketing, as do 70% of the

other world-class university directors.





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The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney has overall responsibility for website content.

This is in line with 83% of the universities.

The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes to events, as do over a third of

directors. Over half have overall responsibility for events, however.





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The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney has overall responsibility for internal

communications. This is in line with just over three quarters of the universities.

The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney contributes to fundraising, which is similar to

nearly half of universities, with the lead responsibility being elsewhere.





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STRUCTURES AND STRATEGIES

TEAM SIZE

Q: How large is your main central communications department? Please include all staff with

a communications, PR or marketing related role.

Sydney’s central communications team is very large at 100 compared with the overall average of 39 for the

global universities. The largest reported is 130, and the smallest just 4.

Q: How many other staff do you estimate have a communications, PR or marketing role?

Please include all staff working in academic departments or other administrative areas.

Sydney then has a very small number of total communicators outside central communications, across the

university, with only 10, compared to the average of 68 across the entire sample. The largest number is

300. This suggests a very centralized model with departments not getting involved in any communications

or marketing.





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SENIORITY OF COMMUNICATIONS

Q: Where is Communications / PR / External relations located within your university’s

management structure?

Universities were split as to whether Directors of Communications are part of, or report to, the senior

management team. Sydney was amongst 49% of universities whose marketing director is on SMT.





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STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR COMMUNICATIONS

Q: Does your university have a strategic plan for communications?

As per a slight minority of universities, 41%, Sydney does have an overarching communications strategy;

the slight majority, 59%, had a series of plans instead.

Q: Is there a clear relationship between the strategy for the University as a whole and the

communications strategy?

Sydney’s wider strategy and communications strategies only have some relationship, which was the same

for 28% of universities. A much larger group, 70% of the universities, declared a clear relationship.





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COMMUNICATIONS PRIORITIES

Q: What are currently your top communications priorities regarding communications at

your university? Please tick all the options that apply to you.

Ten of the 15 areas were identified as priorities for Sydney, including the majority of those identified as

priorities by large proportions of other global universities. The only notable differences were that Supporting

fundraising and raising the leader’s profile were more important to Sydney than to other universities, and

supporting community, media profile or attracting the best staff, were less important, although chosen as

high priorities by around half of other leading universities.





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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING

Q: Which best describes the relationship between communications and marketing in your

university?

There are many structural permutations for marketing and communications departments, but most

universities (63%) report integrated models (when we combine all variants of integrated). Sydney has an

integrated model with one director overseeing both the marketing and communications offices. The most

common individual structure was for marketing to be part of communications, at 31%.





21

BUDGETS AND FINANCE

IMPORTANCE AND RESOURCING OF COMMUNICATIONS

Q: Which best describes how important and well-resourced communications is in your

university?

The Director of Marketing and Communications at Sydney felt that communications is considered to be a

very important function of the University and well resourced. This is in line with 50% of universities.

FINANCES

All reported figures have been converted to euros for comparability and to retain anonymity of respondents.

Q: What is the total annual income of your University from all sources?

Sydney’s income at just over €1.3bn was above the overall average but somewhat lower than the largest

income of the global universities.





22

Q: What is the salary of the lead/senior communications professional?

The salary of the director was a little over the average, and far below the highest amount.

Q: What is the annual budget for university communications/marketing?

A) Total Budget

The Sydney communications and marketing budget was the highest reported of all world 100

universities, thus appearing to be very extensive. However, this may also be because Sydney has a

very integrated system, and there is very little marketing and communications being done at faculty level

across the whole university. It also appears that marketing has some involvement in recruitment, which

is often not true for other universities.





23

B) Operational Budget

The Sydney operational budget was the highest reported.

C) Staff Salary Budget

The staff budget was just below the highest reported elsewhere.





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D) Operational vs Salary Proportional Split

The operational versus salary split was very much in line with the average of two thirds salary to one

third operational.





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STAKEHOLDERS

Q: In terms of developing your university’s overall reputation, which of these stakeholder

groups do you think have the most influential opinions? Tick 5 most important influences

on public opinion in your home country and 5 most important on an international basis.

Sydney’s most important stakeholder group on an international basis is the same as other world-class

universities - i.e. academics in other universities. But they don’t priorite alumni, business leaders and staff

as much as others do, placing professional bodies and teachers higher than most.





26

Domestically Sydney agreed with the other universities about the top four most important stakeholder

groups – alumni and students, journalists and staff. It didn’t agree with the importance of business leaders,

which was chosen by over half of directors, but instead prioritizes prospective students, chosen by only 32%

of directors. This perhaps the smaller population of Australia, making recruitment more important than it is

for European, Asian or North American counterparts.





27

RANKINGS AND BENCHMARKING

GLOBAL RANKINGS

Q: There is a number of university rankings available to prospective students worldwide.

Leaving aside the debate about their methodologies, does your university promote its

position in university ranking tables or a rise in its ranking as a means of gaining a

reputation advantage?

Sydney promotes its rankings actively in line with 64% of other global universities.





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MEDIA BENCHMARKING

Q: Do you compare the amount and quality of media coverage achieved for your University

with that of rival peer institutions?

Sydney undertakes local and domestic benchmarking but not international, like half of the respondent

universities.





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EVALUATING OR BENCHMARKING COMMUNICATIONS

Q: Do you currently evaluate or benchmark your communications using the following

methods? Please tick all that apply

Evaluation. Sydney obtains social and media coverage, web data, and conversion data. It also runs

audience awareness audits, like most of the universities, but doesn’t look at audience knowledge of the

university, or use search engine performance metrics, which were the two most important monitoring

activities for other peers. Award programmes were also not popular with Sydney as a measure of

good communications, but nor were they for most directors.





30

SECONDARY WEBSITES

Q: Which secondary websites do you think are of the most importance for your university?

Please tick all that apply.

Sydney valued the same websites as other universities, although it didn’t value Instagram (favoured by

44%) or Wikipedia (favoured only by 17%).





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REPUTATION

CHARACTERISTICS FOR REPUTATION

Q: A good reputation is often regarded as the most important asset of a university. Which of

the characteristics do you think are the most important for a university's reputation? Please

select five characteristics from the list.

Three of the top five reputational factors for Sydney were in the top 5 for other global universities: academic

research, programmes and contribution to culture and society. They didn’t value Nobel Prizes as others. An

upward trend in rankings and student satisfaction were more important reputational assets to them

compared with others.





32

REPUTATIONAL BARRIERS

Q: What are the biggest challenges you face in terms of enhancing your university's

reputation? Please tick all that apply

Sydney didn’t select any challenges to reputation that were experienced as barriers by many other directors.

They instead added their own barrier: Lack of understanding of the value media coverage can play for

strategic purposes.





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ABOUT THE WORLD 100 REPUTATION NETWORK

THE NETWORK

The World 100 Reputation Network is a group of the world’s most prestigious universities undertaking

research that enhances reputation management, international relations and strategy.

The Network connects senior directors responsible for reputation in world-class institutions. It is the only

professional network for directors of communications, marketing and international. Although global in

outlook the Network offers members the opportunity to become part of ‘local’ community existing to share

good practice, transfer knowledge and overcome common challenges.

Membership is exclusive to universities ranked in the top 200 of the THE, QS SJT and US News rankings in

the last three years. Now comprising 47 members from all continents, we believe that our international

diversity is one of the reasons members find the Network so valuable.

ANNUAL RESEARCH

Each year the Network undertakes at least one major topical piece of research. To date we have covered

the following topics:

Website best practice for world-class universities

Structures, strategies and resources for reputational advancement

Rise and Fall: Managing reputation associated with significant world ranking change

Internal communications and staff engagement in world-class universities

How international PhD students choose top universities and interpret reputation and rankings

Choice factors in international Academic job change

Members of the Network can access reports for the above projects (limited to summaries for Discover

members) online at www.theworld100.com or email [email protected].

UPCOMING RESEARCH…

The annual research project for 2015/16 is The R-Word: Strategies and tactics for communicating research

excellence.

If you have topics of interest that you would like the Network to explore in the future, please contact Lisa

Bould, Research Manager at [email protected].

FIND OUT MORE

Full details of the Network, membership rates and benefits, research projects, events and more can be

found at www.theworld100.com or contact the Network Director, Louise Simpson directly at

[email protected].






Other research by the World 100 Reputation Network

Website best practice for world-class universities

Structures, strategies and resources for reputational advancement

Rise and Fall: Managing reputation associated with significant world ranking change

Internal communications and staff engagement in world-class universities

How international PhD students choose top universities and interpret reputation and rankings

Choice factors in international Academic job change

The World 100 Reputation Network

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Cambridge

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reputation management...measure of good communications, but nor were they for most directors. sydney...

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