Navigating the Public–Private Nexus: Strategic Marketing and Competitive Sustainability in an Emerging Hybrid University Model

ABSTRACT As public universities worldwide adopt fee‐paying models, they increasingly operate as hybrid institutions that must reconcile public missions with market demands. This study investigates the role of strategic marketing (SM) in relation to perceived competitive sustainability (CS) within this contested space, using an explanatory sequential mixed‐methods survey of 70 faculty administrators in Egypt's emerging national civil universities (ENCUs). Quantitative analysis indicated a strong, positive correlation between perceived SM and CS ( r = 0.733, p < 0.01). Regression analysis further offered exploratory and indicative evidence that faculty perceptions of marketing are associated less with promotional activity than with tangible institutional achievements—specifically research productivity and resource stewardship—with the model accounting for 73.6% of the variance in perceived SM. Qualitative findings help interpret this pattern through an authentication loop: SM may support CS by aligning programs, reputation, and stakeholder relationships, while CS authenticates SM through visible academic and societal achievements. The study contributes the public–private nexus strategic marketing‐sustainability cycle and identifies an academic‐marketing schism that hybrid university leaders must address. The findings should be read as context‐bound and perception‐based rather than causal or broadly generalizable.