Abstract:

Everyone working in higher education today does not need statistics to observe that recruiting and admissions has changed since COVID-19, and in all likelihood, it will be changed forever.

The Chronicle of Higher Education states that „just as much of our life — work, socializing, shopping — has shifted online during the pandemic, so, too, has international recruitment.” (Fischer, 2020)

The European University Association report from 2020 found that „the current crisis has already led to recruitment freezes or staff layoffs. Travel restrictions, reduced family income and continued health risks will result in falling international enrolment, at least for the next academic year, and massively affect university finances and operations”. (Thomas Estermann, 18 May 2020)

Similarly, the 2020 report of the Institute of International Education found that 84% of universities in USA had adopted new international recruitment strategies. (Martel, July 2020)

This paper aims to present some concepts of digital advertising for higher education institutions in the first part and then to introduce a web application that facilitates the process of developing partnerships with different people, influencers, alumni or other institutions. The online advertising industry for universities is a relatively new niche: it is closely linked to the trade industry and in recent years has experienced exponential growth.

With the amazing development of the Information Technology (IT), this process of developing partnerships has been able to branch out into other areas and has begun to influence the global higher-education market. Schools need to create multiple methods to increase revenue (tuition by attracting students, endowments, research grants, ...), therefore digital partnership programs have emerged in order to facilitate partners and universities develop win-win business relationships.

Keywords:

Higher education, electronic marketing, recruitment, digital advertising, partner management systems, web applications.