Branding the Higher Education: Identity Construction of Universities through Logos, Mottos and Slogans

Abstract

Branding of higher education has become a common phenomenon nowadays. The universities are adopting various branding strategies to distinguish themselves in the competitive environment. This study, therefore, aims to examine the identity construction of universities through logos and mottos. The researcher divided the Pakistani universities into three major groups i.e. five pre-70 public sector universities, five post-70 public sector universities and five private sector universities to find variations in university logos, mottos and slogans due to their diverse background. Incorporating Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) with Kress and van Leeuwen’s (2004) model, the researcher analyzed how the universities represent a corporate identity through innovative logos, mottos and slogans to get recognized instantly. The logos use a combination of various geometric shapes, Mottos and colors to be more attractive, unique and memorable. The researcher also found that the universities provide direction and invoke a promise of change through their logos and mottos. It is also observed that the public sector universities promote an Islamic ideology by taking their mottos from the Holy Quran and the Hadith while majority of the private sector universities either don’t provide them or invent their own slogans.