Abstract:

Demographic development is one of the most important factors that have a consequent impact on the economy of universities across the world. In the Slovak Republic, as well as in other European countries, it is possible to observe a drop in the total number of students in recent years. This trend is caused precisely by this demographic changes. It is assumed, that overall demographic development will continue to stagnate, which means that even the number of students will decrease. The offer of study programs of higher education institutions currently exceeds the demand of graduates of secondary schools as applicants for higher education. If a university wants to maintain its position on the market, it needs to adapt to these demographic changes and manage its activities in order to ensure its attractiveness and thus gain interest of potential applicants for study. For the university it is therefore necessary to ensure effective marketing communication through which it would inform potential prospective students adequately about the possibilities of studying and at the same time raised interest in study. The University of Žilina (UNIZA) is not an exception among universities. The Department of Communications, which is part of UNIZA also faces a declining trend of filing of applications for study. Therefore, focused its attention on the area of managing a continuous process of improving the recruitment of applicants for studies using new technologies and developing marketing communication using diverse forms, methods and innovative solutions. As a part of this process, it was necessary to define the criteria for selecting a college from the point of view of potential applicants for study and identify the sources of information that are critical in choosing a university for the students of secondary school and last but not least, to identify students preferences regarding marketing communication tools. For this purpose, the survey was conducted, the results of which are presented in this paper.