SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths:
PU provides a full range of subjects (line 2) which
helps attract both local and overseas students.
PU has an emphasis on meeting the needs of 21st
century society.
PU has strong IT, business, electronics, medicine,
engineering and media faculties (lines 4-5)
The growth in research into artificial intelligence and
medicine at PU has been particularly impressive (line
7). These research developments have enabled the
university to compete effectively with older, more
established universities (lines 7-9).
In October 2019, PU was one of the most popular
universities in the country, with five applicants for
each available student place (lines 9-10) meaning
the university has a good reputation.
Measures of student satisfaction were very high in
a January 2020 survey (lines 10-11).
PU’s achievements both in research and teaching
(line 63), the university has high achievements in both
research and teaching.
PU has competitive fees (line 64), which would make
the university more attractive to students.
The standard of teaching at PU nearly returned to its
earlier high quality (line 65), meaning there’s a high
standard for the level of teaching at PU.
Increased training improved IT skills for some
lecturers (line 79), signifying that the university
invests in training its staff.
PU strives to uphold its corporate social
responsibilities (CSR), such as ecological
sustainability (line 119) through:
Weaknesses:
PU provides a full range of subjects (line 2), which
could lead PU to lack a unique selling point as a
university in Country A.
The academic year runs from October to July (lines
13-14), meaning there are no students from August to
September. Hence, the university is likely to suffer
from negative cash flow during these months.
Unlike other universities that haven’t been affected by
the catastrophic accident, many of PU’s facilities lack
functionality due to the damage caused to student
accommodation, lecture theaters, and other university
buildings (lines 20-21).
PU does not have sufficient IT equipment for the
lecturers (line 30) and many of the lecturers do not
have adequate IT skills to prepare and deliver
high-quality online courses (line 31), which can have
detrimental impacts on the university's reputation.
Many lecturers found it very difficult to teach without
face-to-face contact (line 32)
Many students lacked the necessary IT
equipment or internet connection to
attend online lectures (line 33).
Applications for student places at PU for the new
academic year in 2022/23 remains low (line 78).
Some of the research at PU’s teaching campus was
suspended until the end of the 2021/2022 academic
year (lines 41-42), which is detrimental to its
operations and reputation.
Many of the teaching facilities are still unusable (due
to the accident in September 2021) for at least two
more years (lines 23-24). This is a weakness for the
university as rival establishments may be able to
attract students away from PU.
● Having equality policies in the workplace (line
94)
● Having a mission statement based on
inclusivity, social responsibility, excellence,
perseverance, commitment, resilience,
ambition and creativity. (lines 102-103)
● The articles governing the university include
transparency, freedom of speech and
tolerance. (lines 103-104)
PU's cash flow position is problematic (line 57).
Some international students had to return to their
home countries (lines 35-36), due to their
accommodation having been damaged, so will not be
expected to pay any rent to the university during this
time.
Many local students have decided to postpone their
studies for a year, many international students will not
return to complete their courses, and fewer new
international students will enroll (lines 52-54).
PU's revenue fell in 2021/22 (line 56), due to the
ongoing issues since the accident at the nearby
chemical plant. To make matters worse, PU still has to
pay employees, maintain its buildings, and pay
general expenses (lines 56 - 57).
Adriana made 10% of teaching staff and support staff
redundant, while 20% of staff were moved to
part-time employment (lines 58-59). This severely
limits PU’s functionality and its appeal to students.
There are shortages of equipment, particularly for
economically disadvantaged students.
There was low staff morale in some areas of PU (line
92), including:
● Anxiety among the teaching staff and some of
the research staff who were not involved in
front-line research (line 68).
● Anger at how Patricia Hughes had been
dismissed (line 92)
● Fear about further redundancies (line 93)
● Some sexist and racist attitudes flourishing (line
93)
● Staff in Jim Summerfield’s were rarely
consulted (lines 95-96).
● Staff turnover in the Faculty of History is high
(line 87), this is detrimental to the faculty's
productivity and the university's reputation, as
well as being unsettling for students.
● Many of the staff in the Faculty of History have
resigned (line 87).

Opportunities:
Plans for an improved pay structure for lecturers
(line 50) can help the university to improve the
level of staff motivation, especially given the
recent job redundancies and the ongoing human
resource issues in the Faculty of History.
The Faculty of Medicine's research into
medicines is proving positive following testing
on the public (lines 72-73), which could
create future commercial opportunities for
PU. If the medicines get approval from the
authorities, there could be opportunities to
secure financial support from I
pharmaceutical companies for commercial
production of the medicines (lines 73 - 74).
Similarly, the Faculty of IT has produced
prototype equipment that uses Al to detect
and identify contamination (lines 75 - 76),
which could also provide commercial
opportunities for PU. There are further
opportunities to work with external parties,
such as the government and computer
manufacturers who have helped to provide IT
equipment for PU's students and employees
(lines 81 - 82). This helps to improve the
university's operations without incurring
additional costs.
All of PU's electricity now comes from solar
panels installed on some unused land near its
research facilities (lines 124-125). This
creates opportunities for PU to fulfill its
commitment to ecological sustainability (line
119) as well as creating opportunities to
reduce its costs in the long term.
PU's financial accounts are a cause for concern (line
134), likely due to unnecessary expenses such as
lecturers often traveling around the world to attend
conferences (line 144).
Threats:
The lack of revenue streams during the summer
months of August and September can threaten the
university’s operations.
Throughout 2020/21 there was an economic
recession in the country (Country A), and it may
continue for several years (lines 17-18).
In September 2021 there was a catastrophic
accident at a nearby chemical plant which has
continued to threaten PU’s finances and operations
(lines 18-19).
Many of the teaching facilities have become
contaminated by harmful chemicals (lines 21-22),
this could negatively harm PU’s reputation. Many
staff and students could become apprehensive
about this due to health and safety concerns.
Many students at PU lack the necessary IT
equipment or internet connection to attend online
lectures (lines 33-34), this will limit the extent to
which the university can deliver high quality
educational services to its students.
For the academic year 2022/23, student numbers
are predicted to be much lower than originally
expected (lines 51-52).
PU’s cash flow problems worsened in January of
2022 (line 69), and there’s likely to be cash flow
problems in the next academic year due to:
Patricia Hughes is taking PU to court, claiming that
she was unfairly dismissed because she had
complained to the university newspaper about the
There are further growth and investment
opportunities certain areas of the university's
activities:
● Building a new lecture theater and a
new building for the Faculty of Music
(lines 48-49).
● Grow PU’s teaching provision (line
136).
● Refurbish teaching facilities that were
damaged by the accident (line 138)
● Open a campus in Country B (line 139)
Few job vacancies in the domestic economy (line
88) could stop staff from leaving PU for other
jobs/universities.
Revising/improving employment contracts to try to
restore morale (line 140-141).
Expanding PU’s IT training programmes and
adapting new ways of working (lines 141-142).
The opportunity of discontinuing the provision of
History and International Languages at PU, given the
decline of the number of students in these subjects
and instead using the subsequent savings to expand
further provisions to the Faculties of Medicine and IT
(lines 149-150).
management in the faculty (lines 89-91). This could
severely damage the university’s reputation.
PU has failed to achieve some of the articles that
govern the operation of the university. This has
been exposed on social media and national
newspapers (lines 105-106). Without major crisis
management, this could pose a major threat to
the university.
Di is a director of a multinational computer company
that is funding some of PU’s IT research. She’s been
causing controversy as political activists have
discovered that Di is descended from a family that
used slaves on their sugar plantation in the 19th
century and are demanding that she’s removed from
her role (lines 107-110)
The student Politics Society has invited a guest
speaker who, in the past, has been accused of
expressing antisemitic views in one of his books. The
society is arguing that freedom of speech should be
upheld, while other groups, including students and
lecturers, say that the university should not be a
platform for intolerant views (lines 111-114). This
conflict needs to be handled carefully to prevent a
crisis from occurring.
One of the companies funding medical research at
the university has been accused of exploiting
least developed countries (LDCs) by overpricing
medicine in those countries and selling medicines
that have not been approved in the European
Union or the United States (lines 115-116). Being
associated with unethical business can cause long
term damage to the university and its reputation.