Nowadays we live in a society surrounded by information, especially in a commercial society inundated with advertising information and “promotional culture” ( Frank & Wernick, 1993 ). Frank and Wernick (1993) explained that “Promotional culture is the ‘semiotic colonization’ of culture by commercial advertising”, which means the phenomenon of self-advertising in other areas of life. It emphasizes the importance of branding, image-building, and reputation management to attract and retain customers. Under the influence of promotional culture, the commercialization phenomenon has emerged in the field of higher education, that is, using marketing strategies to attract potential students. As a window for schools to provide information to potential students, the admissions prospectus is a way for schools to achieve self-promotion under the influence of promotional culture. Based on this, the paper analyzes the undergraduate admissions prospectuses of business schools at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), Hong Kong Shue Yan University (HKSYU), and Hang Seng University of Hong Kong (HSUHK). By using Fairclough’s three-dimensional framework theory, this paper explores how promotional culture influences the discourse practice in these five schools.

Due to the increasing influence of market forces on higher education, the commercialization of academic discourse as defined by Fairclough (1993) has become a popular research topic. In recent years, many scholars have used multimodal discourse analysis to analyze the commercialization of higher education in different countries and regions. Zhang and O’Halloran (2013) analyzed the commercialization process of the admission website of the National University of Singapore over 14 years; Shahnaz and Qadir (2022) analyzed the marketing role of school badges in Pakistan; Zhang (2017) analyzed the marketing strategy of “About Us” section of the homepage of the top five universities in China.

These studies primarily concentrated on the visual aspects of commercialization, such as images and color schemes, and were focused on public institutions. Building upon this body of research, the present study aims to expand the scope of investigation by examining the lexical and syntactic features of commercialization discourse within higher education. Additionally, this research seeks to compare and contrast the discourse practices of public and private universities in Hong Kong under the influence of promotional culture. By doing so, this study will contribute to filling the existing gaps in the literature and provide a foundation for further research about the commercialization of higher education.

Three-dimensional framework theory was raised by Fairclough (1993) as a method of critical discourse analysis. In Fairclough’s (1993) words, “Each discourse has three dimensions or facts: it is a spoken or written language text, it is an instance of discursive practice involving the production and interpretation of the text, and it is a piece of social practice”. So, this study analyzes text, discursive practice, and social practice in those prospectuses. In terms of the analysis of discursive practice, the theory of intertextuality is also used to show the generic intertextuality between the prospectuses and advertising discourse.

HKU, CUHK, and HKUST are chosen as research samples because these three colleges are the first-tier schools in Hong Kong and can represent the highest level of education in Hong Kong. HKSYU and HSUHK are chosen because they are two private universities in Hong Kong, which are generally more profit-oriented. The research objects of this paper include both public and private colleges in Hong Kong, which makes the research results more representative.

The analysis of text is form and meaning analysis, which includes the analysis of vocabulary, grammar, and relations between sentences ( Fairclough, 1993 ). In this paper, the research focuses on the use of personal pronouns, and the use of adjectives. As Fairclough (1992) contended, conversationalization is one of the most striking trends of discursive changes affected by the commodification of social practice. He further explained that “conversationalization means the simulation of private, face-to-face, person-to-person discourse in public mass media” ( Fairclough, 1992 ). In prospectuses, the use of personal pronouns can reflect the degree of conversationalization. Therefore, the research calculates the frequency of “we”, “you”, “the programme/the school” and “students/candidates” in the prospectuses to explore whether the colleges use the first-person and second-person pronouns to express closeness. At the same time, the study also summarizes the high-frequency adjectives that are used more than three times in the prospectuses.

The analysis of discursive practice is concerned with sociocognitive aspects of text production and interpretation ( Fairclough, 1993 ). In this part, the paper focuses on the generic intertextuality of the prospectuses which refers to the mixing and blending of different styles or genre features of a discourse ( Xin, 2009 ).

There is a generic intertextuality between the style of the prospectuses and advertisements. Generally speaking, advertisements will use short sentences with pictures related to the product so that consumers can get the important information in the shortest time. In these prospectuses, there are also sections with informative headings, which can help readers quickly grasp the information they need. For example, in Figure 1 , CUHK divides the complete sentence “Our vision is to develop global business leaders for the Asian Century” into two parts. This allows readers to quickly locate the content they are interested in through the subheadings. In Figure 2 , HKUST uses phrases instead of complete sentences to list the support that the business school will provide to its students. In Figure 3 , the section of the prospectus in HKU is even accompanied by relevant pictures. In this part, the text that mentions internships and the picture also show a person standing in an office, which easily reminds readers of getting internship opportunities after entering school. These strategies form generic intertext with advertising discourse, which allows readers to get more information they want in a short time. The combination of pictures and text also makes the school’s “career services” more visible. In Figure 4 , we can see an imperative sentence “For further more information please click here.” According to Askehave (2007) , “the imperative clause is an ‘attention-seeking’ advice known from promotional and advertising discourse.” The imperative sentence here can attract applicants to know more about the college. In addition, in Figure 5 , the study finds that most of the subheadings of the five prospectuses are in colors of the corresponding school emblem, which can further enhance the impression of potential applicants on these colleges. Combined with pictures, phrases, larger-sized titles, and colors, the admissions prospectuses are more like advertisements promoting their programs to students.

Social practices “mediate” the relationship between general and abstract social structures and particular and concrete social events; social fields, institutions, and organizations are constituted as networks of social practices ( Fairclough, 2013 ). In this part, this paper focuses on the special context provided by the social characteristics of Hong Kong. In the prospectuses of the five schools, the words “international” and “global” are their common high-frequency adjectives. For example, the sentence “CUHK Business School has blazed a trail for business education in Hong Kong and Asia since 1963, cultivating high-achieving graduates who steer and shape the global business landscape” shows the international influence of the graduates. The phrase “international best practice (HSUHK)” also shows that school education is in line with international standards. According to Ayoubi and Massoud (2007) , various areas of international collaboration are outlined in these sentences and phrases, such as teaching programs, partnerships, and student and staff exchanges. In the current globalized market, internationalization has become a good strategy enhancing market reputation ( Mazzarol, 1998 ). This is because it allows students to acquire professional knowledge and cross-cultural experience simultaneously ( Brown, 1997 ). Due to its history of being colonized, Hong Kong is a contact zone where traditional Chinese culture and Western culture meet, clash, and grapple with each other ( Pratt, 1991 ). Today, Hong Kong is positioned as an international city facing the world, with diverse cultures and extensive international exchanges. Therefore, the colleges in Hong Kong can provide their students with educational opportunities that are in line with global standards. The “international” and “global” education concepts and internship opportunities in the prospectus are the unique strengths of universities located in Hong Kong and they are also features to attract applicants.

Promotional culture has brought profound changes to various aspects of society, including higher education. As colleges pick out students from the pool of candidates, students are also choosing their ideal schools. In order to be more competitive in this process, universities have to promote themselves to win potential students. This paper explores the influence of promotional culture on discourse practice of higher education by analyzing the undergraduate admissions prospectuses of the business schools at HKU, CUHK, HKUST, HKSYU, and HSUHK. In terms of the use of personal pronouns, the prospectuses use “we” and “you” to build a closer relationship between the schools and potential students. In addition, the syntactic features of the prospectuses also have a generic intertextuality with advertising discourse. The use of short sentences and phrases in the prospectuses allows readers to quickly get more important information about the school. The combination of images texts and colors can also help schools better advertise their programs. Hong Kong’s historical background and geographical location also make its culture unique. This puts Hong Kong at the forefront of the world in intercultural communication and also makes “international” and “global” education become one of the major advantages of education in Hong Kong. Through analysis, the paper finds that the promotional culture permeates the admissions prospectuses of the universities in Hong Kong. College programs are promoting themselves through their prospectuses.