Analysis on the Positioning of Private Higher Education Institutions Based on Fields of Science

The growth of colleges in Indonesia increases every year, especially private Higher Education Institution (PTS). The higher the number of PTS is, the more intense the competition in getting prospective students is. The purposes of this study are: 1) to determine the position of each PTS among competitors’ positions; 2) to determine the variability of the fields of science that are favored by students; 3) to determine the characteristics of each PTS based on the fields of science. This research was conducted by analyzing secondary data from PDDIKTI (Higher Education Data Base) reports. The analysis technique was bi-plot analysis. The results show that PTS in the form of an academy is in a specific position of a group of certain fields of science, but PTS in the form of a university is in a quite various position of a group of fields of science. Based on the observations on eight fields of science, the analysis result shows that the most demanded fields are health science and computer science. The least interested field is social study, whereas the interest of students to the fields of Jurisprudence, Agriculture science, Economics, Engineering, and Education is relatively balanced. The characteristics of each PTS are shown by the closeness to the fields of science. The results could be used by the PTS for collecting information on market segment and as consideration for determining an effective marketing strategy in gaining prospective students.