Marketing Continuing Education Programmes: Meeting the Needs of Professionals

There is a growing need for professionals to 'keep up' and learn new skills in areas not covered in their initial training. This must be achieved in tougher economic climates and with increased pressure for mandatory continuing education. After collecting the interests and needs of students as they enquire about courses, this paper examines the success in taking continuing professional education programmes to the marketplace. In particular it discusses the marketing of the television broadcast mode of delivery and contrasts it with attended workshops, and the delivery of courses at the workplace. The information has been collected in a major survey of institutional and individual users. Results indicate a shift in preference to distance learning and mixed mode approaches.