Assessment of the utilisation of social media in disseminating student recruitment information at the University of Education, Winneba

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine how effective the utilisation of social media was in disseminating student recruitment information by the University of Education, Winneba (UEW). The study used three research questions and two hypothesis which focused on the students’ level of awareness of the social media (SM) platforms, the types of information students searched for on these platforms and their perception of their effectiveness in enhancing the student recruitment efforts of the UEW. A cross-sectional descriptive sample survey was carried out using questionnaire. Data were analysed using frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviation, t-test and chi-squared tests. Stratified random sampling and the table of random numbers was used to select a sample of 364 from a population of 7124 fresh undergraduate students of the UEW. Results revealed that students were generally aware of the various channels used to disseminate student recruitment information at the UEW. However, the awareness of the use of SM platforms for such purposes was low. Facebook was the main SM used by students to search for the academic characteristics of UEW. T-test and chisquared analysis revealed that all students irrespective of gender and age search for different types of information concerning a university on social media. The study recommends that, UEW should endeavour to use variety of sources; both traditional and modern, to reach prospective students. Again, UEW should actively use SM engagement strategies and ensure that the content on its SM platforms are accurate and relevant to the needs of prospective students.