Internationalisation as an alternative strategy for a university development; case study of Poznan University College of Business and Foreign Languages (PUC) strategy 2005 - 2009

Abstract

The case study presented in the paper was prepared based on Poznan University College of Business and Foreign Languages case study, and will be useful mostly for students of strategic management, but also for managers involved in the education sector. The main problem in the case is: how to survive on the very competitive market when rules of the market game change and are not clear; what strategy should a non-public school implement to fight with public giants supported by government; and the last but the most important question, is “internationalisation” the best solution for domestic competition? In post-communist period, Polish education market became very attractive. A lot of people did not have a high school degree, labour market needed well educated employees, so “education” on different levels became a very profitable sector of business. After first years of the “boom”, market of education in Poland evaluated and became one of the most competitive in the whole Polish sector of economy. In this paper, the author presented strategic analysis of the non-public university college adaptation process to environmental changes and described advantages and disadvantages of internationalisation strategy. The case study presents situation in 2005, when the strategy of the PUC has been planned and implemented.