THE NEW ROLE OF SIGNALING IN EDUCATION: STUDENT PERSPECTIVE

Today there is a belief that much of higher education in our society is «signalling». The brand of the university serves as a sign of a prestigious educational institution in the eyes of the applicant. Unfortunately, the university brand does little to improve students’ skills. Mismatch between skills and jobs lead to companies’ commitment to prioritize skills over degrees. Therefore, the students are no longer motivated by the university brand for fear of sending a negative signal. The extent to which education acts as a signal and how reliable it could be for students is still unknown. The purpose of the study: is to consider how to reduce waste in the education system and how we might go about limiting its negative signals. The research objectives are to consider the recent studies on the field of higher education (HE) about student choice of universities and identify benefits and drawbacks of signalling in the education system from the student perspective. Authors also suggest recommendations of how to generate alternative positive signals that influence the applicants’ choice of the university. The university brand is no longer the dominant signal of quality for students, there are more alternative ones. We believe that universities may benefit from marketing with the focus on future career impact, forms of study and comfort learning environment.