Both departing rector Paul De Knop and his successor, Caroline Pauwels, are convinced of the need for the project. The recent qualitative and quantitative survey about VUB’s image, carried out among a wide public, made it clear that our qualities and strengths are not well enough known among the wider public and therefore among future students and their parents.
The rebranding dossier puts its finger on the problem. “In recent years, VUB has renewed itself with an ambitious vision for its education, developing the means to offer students a university education that goes far beyond just acquiring a degree. Though this may put it ahead of other Flemish universities, our leading role is not as well known among those not connected to the university.”
What does that actually mean?
VUB has emerged as a genuine growth university. We have more research groups with international appeal, more multidisciplinary research, and more outreach than ever. A number of patents and spin-offs have seen the light. Important building projects are under way to make VUB future-proof. We have a new ambitious vision for our education, which provides students with the qualities they will need in the future.
Yet despite all these achievements, VUB is often in the shade. Various sub-brands have emerged that stand in the way of VUB’s visibility in the society, meaning a rebranding strategy is necessary.
VUB must be clearer about the strong brand that it is: based on free thinking and research, with room for individuality and the flexibility to adapt to new trends and challenges, and linked to the opportunities afforded by Brussels, an international player. It will require practical measures, namely a corporate identity that promotes these strengths.
The university’s basic values must also be communicated more clearly, so people actively choose VUB, rather than – as some admitted in the survey – “coming to the U and then discovering and appreciating the V and the B”. With a firm link between the current VUB and its history as a pioneer in both science and society, it should remain important to those who have studied or worked here.
Growing competition between universities, changing regulations that put our education projects under pressure, and shrinking government funding all mean that marketing today is inextricably linked to the business of running a university.
The price tag has previously been a stumbling block. How high it will be depends to a large extent on the speed with which the different phases can be introduced. The money for the necessary changes – already budgeted for – must be immediately deployed, and the remaining cases dealt with in the coming years.
Liberalism 2.0 Ă la Jean Paul Van Bendegem already seems to be integrated in the student members of the university council, who have applied lateral thinking to the proposed rebranding. From the next academic year, the new corporate identity will be in evidence, and we will appeal to the VUB community to translate this to the campuses creatively.
Our promise - color
Our promise - eco-friendly print version
More information: marcom@vub.ac.be
Ann Van Driessche, director Marketing, Communication and Events