Marketing of education is a phenomenon which has been developed throughout the increasing competition within the educational sector. The focus of this paper is the marketing made by upper secondary schools (grade 10-12) in Stockholm. The competition in this area is increasing partly due to the growing number of private schools. However, this is a phenomenon seen only in larger cities with several schools available. There are over 170 upper secondary schools in Stockholm and the students freely can choose among these. This fact is another contribution to the highly competitive market where the schools act.

The purpose of this paper is to study in which way schools in the educational sector use communication strategies to communicate a message to their target audience. The study highlights the communication between the school and the student. The method for the research is both qualitative and quantitative. Data has been collected from interviews with marketing managers at the schools and from surveys with students. A group- interview has also been made with students in secondary schools (grade 9) just before their upper secondaryschool choice.

The conclusions of the research are that all of the schools in the study actively work with marketing and are aware of the importance of marketing for their organisation. The schools examined in the study have all different communication processes, mainly because of thedifferent assets in terms of competence and marketing budget. The student’s attitudes towards the schools do most often correspond to the message the schools want to communicate. The paper shows that none personal communications, like advertising, direct commercials and radio commercials do not affect the student’s choice of school to any high extent. The factorsthat do affect the student’s choice are their plans for future profession, available programs on the school, geographical location and reputation.