Increasing De Montfort University’s Distance Learning Market: SWOT Analysis And Objectives

Effects of e-learning system service quality and users’ acceptance on organizational learning

E-Commerce can be defined as any kind of business transaction, which includes sharing of information through internet (Wang, Wang and Liu 2016). This study is concerned about De Montfort University, which is willing to increase its distance learning programs in more numbers of international countries. The study will undertake SWOT analysis and Porter’s Five Force analysis for assessing the scope of the university to increase its distance learning market in e-Learning industry. The study will also set some objectives for the university and measure these objectives with critical success factors and key performance indicators. Furthermore, the study will suggest the website design of the University for addressing culture and trust issue and online communication tools for reaching potential target audiences.

De Montfort University has high level of academic reputation to both national as well as international students. The quality of education and academic reputation of the university will help it in attracting the international students to adopt their distance learning courses (Chang 2016). Furthermore, the diversity of educational programs offered by the university will definitely meet the every academic need of the international students (Bystrova et al. 2015). Apart from that, the university has adopted advanced technology, which will definitely help it in offering distance learning education to the internationals students.

De Montfort University is being affected by having limited resources for effective faculty and staff development. Moreover, the faculties and professors are often incapable of changing their teaching pattern with the changing dynamics of higher education. Apart from that, the university is going to face high level of competition in the international distance learning market.

The academic reputation of De Montfort University in the international countries can help it to gain success in international distance learning education market. Increased inclination of international students to have distance education will help the university to gather more numbers of international students for its distance learning model (Dmu.ac.uk 2018). Furthermore, global technological development can assist the university to provide effective distance learning education to the international students.

Economic uncertainty of the developing countries can hamper the financial ability of the international students to pursue foreign distance learning courses. Apart from that, the negative perception of the students regarding foreign distance learning mode can hamper the success of the university in international distance learning market (De-Marcos et al. 2014).

Figure 1: SWOT of De Montfort University

(Source: Arkorful and Abaidoo 2015)

The high level of national and international academic reputation of De Montfort University can help it in gaining international success in the field of distance learning mode. The international students can avail high quality of education and diverse educational programs through the distance learning courses of this university. Hence, the university will be highly capable of attracting huge numbers of international students to pursue its distance learning courses. Furthermore, the university is equipped with highly advanced and modern technology, which can definitely help it in offering effective distance learning courses to the international students. However, the faculties of the university are often incapable of changing their educational pattern as per the changing dynamics of educational syllabus. On the other hand, the university can also face high level of competitive pressure in the international distance learning market from the reputed university.

Modeling factors affecting student’s usage behaviour of e-learning systems in Lebanon

The global technological development can help the university to get easy access to the international students and provide them excellent distance learning programs. Furthermore, the global academic reputation can help the university to easily capture the international market for distance learning programs. Over the world, most of the international students are highly inclined to have a foreign university degree beyond their national university degree. Such tendencies of the international students can help the university to attract them easily for pursuing distance learning programs. However, the negative perception of some international students to have foreign distance learning course can hamper the success of the university in their field of distance learning programs.

• De Montfort University should adopt effective training program for developing the teaching pattern of the faculties as per changing educational pattern
• It should provide diverse and high quality education for gaining competitive advantage over the rivals
• The university should offer affordable distance learning programs for the students with economic uncertainty
• It should build proper virtual faculty student relationship for gaining the trust of the international students over distance learning

Porter’s Five Force for e-Commerce/E-learning
THREATS OF NEW ENTRANTS	· The new-entrants can face extreme challenges in providing comprehensive e-learning solution in e-learning industry · The new universities often face huge pressure from the reputed e-learning providing universities like De Montfort University · Less threats from new entrants
THREATS OF SUBSTITUTES	· e-Learning universities face tough competitive pressure from the substitutes like extended and campus offerings of major universities · Campus learning cannot compete much with e-learning courses in case of offering education to international students · Moderate threats of substitutes
COMPETITIVE RIVALRY	· Tough competitive pressure from the major domestic e-learning universities like The University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University  and many more · High competitive rivalry
BARGAINING POWER OF BUYERS	· Huge availability of major global e-learning universities has increased the option for the student to choose their e-learning universities · Quality of education of the reputed university like DMU attract the international students to pursue its distance learning course · Moderate bargaining power of buyers
BARGAINING POWER OF SUPPLIERS	· The suppliers for providing talented professor are hard to find, which impose high bargaining power · The suppliers for provide hardware and software technology for e-learning platform are easy to find · Moderate bargaining power of suppliers

Table 1: Porter’s Competitive Force for e-Commerce/e-Learning Industry

(Source: Martínez-Caro, Cegarra-Navarro and Cepeda-Carrión 2015)

• To increasing the graduate rate of the university by 25% within 1 year
• To initiate quality enhance plan for providing high quality distance education
• To spend 25% of financial capital in professional development expenditure within 1 year
• To enhance retained enrollment of students by 40% within 2 years

Critical Success Factor	Explanation	Key Performance Indicator	Explanation	Measurement of Objectives
Graduate Rate	Rate of graduation will measure the success of University.	Rate of Graduation	Graduation rate of DMU has been increased by 10% than the previous year	The objective of increasing graduate rate was being met partially
Quality Improvement	Enhancement of educational quality will increase the student satisfaction.	Quality Enhancement	60% of the DMU students have been placed into reputed corporate organization	The objective of quality enhancement plan was being met effectively
Faculty Development	The level of faculty development with measure the quality education provided to the student	Development of professional faculty	Last year, DMU has spent 12.5% of financial capital to improve skills of the faculty	The objective of spending in faculty development was being met partially
Retained Enrollment	Retained enrollment will prove the ability of university to provide effective education	Increased Retained Enrollment	The retained enrollment of students has been increased by 15% in DMU	The objective of increasing retained enrollment has started to meet

Table 2: Measurement of Objectives

(Source: Created by Author)

Cultural context of the international students will differ from the one country to others. The institutional factors of cultural context highly affect the process of e-Learning process (Wong and Huang 2015). Moreover, the students from international countries may face issues of trust in the different cultural dimension of DMU University. Hence, the university should design its websites based on the cultural context of different countries. There should be a separate section for the international students in the website of the university, where they can select their own countries and get customized education based on their cultural context. On the other hand, the website should have online chat option, where the faculties can directly chat with the international students for understanding their cultural perspective and gain their trust on e-Learning education.

Online communication tools can be extremely effective for DMU to reach out mass section potential international students for attracting them to pursue distance learning courses (Tarhini, Mohammed and Maqableh 2016). Moreover, the university can use digital media and social media for reaching out potential target students in international countries (Mohammadyari and Singh 2015). DMU should use SEO advertisement for increasing the amount of visitors to its website by having high ranking in search engine. On the other hand, the university should use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram advertisement for increasing its exposure to the new generation students in international countries. Furthermore, the university can also use YouTube for posting attractive videos regarding its learning process for attracting the potential students in international countries.

Conclusion

While concluding the student, it can be said that diverse educational programs and international educational reputation can help De Montfort University to increase its distance learning market in international countries. However, lack of faculty development can hinder the ability of the university to provide effective distance education. Hence, the organization should take the objective of educational development and enhance the graduate rate of the students.

Reference List

Arkorful, V. and Abaidoo, N., 2015. The role of e-learning, advantages and disadvantages of its adoption in higher education. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 12(1), pp.29-42.

Bystrova, T.Y., Larionova, V.A., Osborne, M. and Platonov, A.M., 2015. Introduction of open e-learning system as a factor of regional development. R-Economy. 2015. Vol. 1. Iss. 4, 1(4), pp.587-596.

Chang, V., 2016. Review and discussion: E-learning for academia and industry. International Journal of Information Management, 36(3), pp.476-485.

De-Marcos, L., Domínguez, A., Saenz-de-Navarrete, J. and Pagés, C., 2014. An empirical study comparing gamification and social networking on e-learning. Computers & Education, 75, pp.82-91.

Dmu.ac.uk. 2018. De Montfort University – Leicester, UK. [online] Available at: https://www.dmu.ac.uk/

Martínez-Caro, E., Cegarra-Navarro, J.G. and Cepeda-Carrión, G., 2015. An application of the performance-evaluation model for e-learning quality in higher education. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 26(5-6), pp.632-647.

Mohammadyari, S. and Singh, H., 2015. Understanding the effect of e-learning on individual performance: The role of digital literacy. Computers & Education, 82, pp.11-25.

Tarhini, A., Mohammed, A.B. and Maqableh, M., 2016. Modeling factors affecting student’s usage behaviour of e-learning systems in Lebanon. International Journal of Business and Management, 11(2), p.299.

Wang, W.T., Wang, Y.S. and Liu, E.R., 2016. The stickiness intention of group-buying websites: The integration of the commitment–trust theory and e-commerce success model. Information & Management, 53(5), pp.625-642.

Wong, W.T. and Huang, N.T.N., 2015. The effects of e-learning system service quality and users’ acceptance on organizational learning. International Journal of Business and Information, 6(2).