Aspirational Limitations and good marketing by the University of Auckland

The NZ Herald online has a piece about the University of Auckland setting limits on student numbers, so that there is no longer open entry to the B.A., and limited entry into other programmes.

The article, at least insofar as the Herald quotes details, seem to suggest that the cap is largely cosmetic, indeed, somewhat aspirational. The limits seem to all be set at numbers higher than current student enrolment. There's a word for that : Marketing.

The University market is highly competitive, with a plethora of billboard campaigns, TV advertisement and bus stop signs trying to attract students.

Limiting numbers is a way for Auckland to claim prestige, and high standards (particularly necessary in the wake of the bad publicity the University got last year, when a lecturer's e-mails to a post-graduate international student with poor writing abilities were made public.)

I should declare an interest: I'm a University of Canterbury Alumni (B.Com, LL.B ), both degrees which had restricted entry to all or some of the courses back when I did them (graduating 1994).

What Auckland is doing isn't new, but it is clever. When I enrolled at Canterbury I pre-enrolled for Law, and also for Economics. I didn't really expect to study Economics, but I wanted to keep my options open, but it was one of the few courses with limited entry, and pre-enrolment was essential.

When I arrived at University, the whole first-year experience was quite overwhelming, and I stuck with what I'd pre-enrolled for.

I had no background in Economics because I'd done Physics at school instead (we had an excellent Physics teacher). I found when I started it that it was for me. I loved microeconomics in particular (maths! graphs!), and still enjoy reading economic topics today - Freakonomics a case in point. I'm glad I took it. (not only because I got an A+, and the letter from Head of Department Frank Tay inviting me to do the economics honours courses - another piece of good departmental marketing)

Auckland's new "caps" which seem to be more aspirational than effective are a good move, because of the perceived prestige that scarcity brings, and because students who enrol "just in case" to keep their options open, will be captured, and go with the easy option.

Clever.