DUBAI // Dubai universities are stepping up recruitment efforts now high school exam results are out - and many are turning to the airwaves to reach a wider audience.
With 53 universities in the emirate, competition for students is fierce.
Farhanah Raza, the marketing and public relations manager at Murdoch University's Dubai campus, said radio was one of the most expensive advertising mediums and commonly takes up 25 to 30 per cent of the marketing budget.
"As a university, it's important for us to cover a wide range of audiences, including parents, young school leavers and business professionals," she said.
The university maintains a presence on English, Hindi and Arabic channels to reach the widest audience possible.
"In addition to advertising, we run live campaigns, whereby DJs endorse our scholarships and the student experience. We also ensure that our faculty are regular features on [stations such as] Dubai Eye, so consumers know about us before meeting us."
Ms Raza said the university would always supplement advertising with a live campaign and that even with the rise of social media, radio was still a priority.
"This is much more important than a simple brand campaign," she added. "It is extremely important to have a radio presence as almost everyone listens to the radio and it's very easy to use social media tactics to drive people towards the radio. Both have to work together for impact.
"Social media is still growing and the objectives for the use of each differ. Neither can be compared."
Naheed Malik, the head of marketing at the University of Wollongong in Dubai, said this year about 20 per cent of their marketing budget would be spent on radio advertising.
"Radio is truly mass media," she said. "Everyone listens to the radio at some point in the day and if you cover radio channels that cater to different target audiences, it's good value for dirhams invested."
Ms Malik said a variety of channels was crucial in reaching out to a wide audience, advertising a range of things, from scholarships to courses.
"We usually cover different languages and demographics, so we'll do Virgin for undergraduates and 99.3 for postgraduates, a Hindi channel to cover the south Asian potential students, an Arabic and, at times even radio channels in Persian, and Russian," she said.
Dr Kathy O'Sullivan, the head of English programmes at the Canadian University in Dubai, hopes to be the beneficiary of the university's current radio campaign, which advertises its new degree in English translation.
"From my experience, students listen to the radio and are more interested in the internet more than they watch TV," she said. "Many seem to listen to radio chat and advice shows."
Spencer Semple, the university's promotion manager, said that while Facebook and Twitter had increasingly been used in the last year, radio remained a powerful tool, with as many as seven stations covered at any one time.
"Radio has been a great tool for us because we find that the station demographics are clear-cut, and it offers a very good return on marketing investment in this region," he said. "For marketing a new programme we first take into consideration the target demographics, then from there we usually lay out our plan."
Manipal University's Dubai campus has always invested in radio advertising, said its marketing manager, Vaibhav Anand, but this year they have become more creative, asking the local Indian radio station, Radio Spice, to broadcast from campus too.
In Dubai, Manipal competes with two other large Indian branch campuses, Bits Pilani and Amity. They are advertising courses for the coming academic year across four stations, including Virgin and Indian stations, accounting for about 15 per cent of its budget.
"On the Indian channels we know that's where our target audience is but with the likes of Virgin, that's where the youth are spending their time," Mr Anand said. "It's a very effective medium to reach a large target audience."
mswan@thenational.ae
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Gran Gala del Calcio 2019 winners
Best Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Best Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta)
Best Referee: Gianluca Rocchi
Best Goal: Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria vs Napoli)
Best Team: Atalanta
Best XI: Samir Handanovic (Inter); Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Joao Cancelo (Juventus*); Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), Josip Ilicic (Atalanta), Nicolo Barella (Cagliari*); Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Duvan Zapata (Atalanta)
Serie B Best Young Player: Sandro Tonali (Brescia)
Best Women’s Goal: Thaisa (Milan vs Juventus)
Best Women’s Player: Manuela Giugliano (Milan)
Best Women’s XI: Laura Giuliani (Milan); Alia Guagni (Fiorentina), Sara Gama (Juventus), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus), Elisa Bartoli (Roma); Aurora Galli (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus); Valentina Giacinti (Milan), Ilaria Mauro (Fiorentina), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 247hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 370Nm from 1,500-3,500rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 7.8L/100km
Price: from Dh94,900
On sale: now
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How to help
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2289 - Dh10
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Profile of Tamatem
Date started: March 2013
Founder: Hussam Hammo
Based: Amman, Jordan
Employees: 55
Funding: $6m
Funders: Wamda Capital, Modern Electronics (part of Al Falaisah Group) and North Base Media
The%20specs
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (c), Chamani Senevirathne (vc), Subha Srinivasan, NIsha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Esha Oza, Ishani Senevirathne, Heena Hotchandani, Keveesha Kumari, Judith Cleetus, Chavi Bhatt, Namita D’Souza.
Tuesday's fixtures
Kyrgyzstan v Qatar, 5.45pm
