Imagem e marca institucional na percepção de estudantes de graduação : estudo de caso em um campus do Instituto Federal de Educação.

Abstract

It is really important to study and know the features of image and brand that are used by students to evaluate a Higher Education Institution to, starting from this information, create strategies to bring new students. In this sense, a qualitative-quantitative research was carried, aiming to identify the determinant factors in the process of selecting a higher education institution, based on the perception of Instituto Federal Farroupilha Campus Jaguari students. The data collection took place in two different stages. For the first one, the critical incident technique was applied, targeting to collect information to validate the questionnaire making. In the second stage, a questionnaire was used, based on the data collected with the critical incident technique. A total of sixty questionnaires were fulfilled and received. The material was analyzed and interpreted through the Brand Equity Method, which basically considers four dimensions: truthfulness, knowledge, noticed quality and brand associations. By the analysis, it was realized that a significant portion was almost completely unaware of Instituto Federal Farroupilha before entering the institution. They got to know it mostly because of small talk conversations during the selection process, what leaded us to understand that these perceptions were almost absent. It was also verified that students feel like representatives of the institution, performing an important role not only in defense of the campus, but also in attracting new students, what puts more highlights on the Instituto Federal Farroupilha brand. Another aspect noticed is that truthfulness is linked to the teaching methodology of the campus. Concerning quality, there is a clear link to the highly qualified and committed faculty; as well as to the building facilities. About the identification of the features associated to the image and the brand when choosing a higher education institution, aspects related to tuition free and campus location were noticed as significant. This study leads to the conclusion that it is worthy for the institution managers to look forward to attach features such as tuition free, teaching methodology and student’s housing to the institutional image and brand, as a way to facilitate the catchment of students. As interesting as this strategy, it is adding to itself the use of media means such as radio and television, what can promote a significantly larger projection to the institutional image and brand. These considerations are valuable to IF Farroupilha, once they can amplify the results concerning the catchment of new students.