Businessman takes Plymouth University to standards authority over branding slogan

​A BUSINESSMAN has complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about the University of Plymouth, claiming its slogan 'the enterprise university' is misleading.

According to this week's Times Higher Education magazine, Ian Benson filed a complaint that the university is misleading both applicants and local firms.

The Times Higher Education magazine says that data obtained by Mr Benson under the Freedom of Information Act suggested that of the 10,000 students who graduated from Plymouth in 2008, only two went on to start a business with the university's support, and of 3,000 Plymouth staff, only one had formal expertise in enterprise.

The ASA did not uphold Mr Benson's complaint, ruling that "the enterprise university" tag was open to interpretation.

Responding to the complaint the University of Plymouth told the ASA it "...believed the term enterprise was difficult to measure and compare because it could be interpreted in different ways.

They believed that it could be argued that the strapline used in the ad was not capable of objective substantiation.

They stressed that they had not intended to claim, as the complainant believed, that Plymouth offered a higher standard of teaching or a more complete syllabus of courses relating to business and enterprise than other universities.

"The University of Plymouth nonetheless maintained that the enterprise university was a visionary and inspirational phrase, which reflected their mindset, culture and approach.

They said many universities recognised the importance of engaging with businesses and set up Research and Innovation or Enterprise divisions.

They said they had a long history of engagement in the field and were now undertaking to make being the enterprise university central to the universitys work. They also sent details of recent instances where, they maintained, the university had demonstrated and gained recognition for its innovation and enterprise focused activities."

The ASA "...noted the complainants objection that the claim related to the standard of teaching or quality of syllabus of the University of Plymouths courses related to business and enterprise. We considered, however, that readers were likely to interpret the claim merely as a generic statement of the universitys ethos and ambition. We therefore concluded that the ad was unlikely to mislead."

Mr Benson told the Times Higher Education magazine: "I think there is a distinct possibility that students could be attracted to Plymouth expecting a hotbed of new-venture creation, only to find a normal university with rather less enterprise activity than many others."

Jane Chafer, director of marketing at Plymouth, told the Times Higher Education magazine that the university saw its slogan as a "visionary, inspirational phrase" that reflected its mindset and culture.

In 2009, Plymouth was named the "most enterprising city" in the South West for the second year running, and the university has been asked to lead a project on managing enterprising universities by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, she said.

She said market research would now be carried out to assess how the university's brand was being received.

"We are currently finding out what our external audiences think of us, and it is on the basis of that evidence - and where we want to be in the future - that branding changes, if any, will be made," she said.