Further and higher education have witnessed something of a paradigm shift in recent years. This article aims to examine the reasons behind, and the possible impact on, academic staff and students of one aspect of the so-called marketisation of education--namely, the increased importance of institutional marketing. Aspects of marketing theory are used to argue that gaps have developed in some cases between the marketing rhetoric and the experienced reality of staff and students. It is suggested that such gaps can create tensions and difficulties, that action needs to be taken to bridge any such gaps, and that there is a need to reaffirm some of the previously valued aspects of further and higher education.