Exploring the effectiveness of Instagram as a communication Tool for International Students' Enrollment: Perspectives from African Prospective students

This research is aimed at understanding the ways in which African students can be attracted to the scholarship offer of Indonesian universities through communication on Instagram. There has been a paradigm shift in marketing, and the marketing promotion of universities to international students is now done on Instagram. This research considers how African students consume and interact with Instagram content focusing on scholarship opportunities and investigates insights on the trustworthiness, relevance, engagement and accessibility for international student recruitment. The author conducted semi-structured interviews with 20 African students where half were on a scholarship in Indonesia, and half were on studies in search of study opportunities. The scope of the responses gives mixed positions about the platform. Primarily, the platform of Instagram is accepted as widely utilized, but engagement, content relevance, trust in marketing, low access due to poor internet among many others are some challenges affecting its usefulness. The study provides insights on how universities can enhance their Instagram promotion strategies to appeal to the specific cultural and contextual needs of African students.