1 Post Pandemic: How Private Higher Education Reshapes University Branding Totok Haryanto 1 , Nurohman Bimo Satrio 2 email: 1 feb.ump.th@gmail.com, 2 nurohmanbimo.s@gmail.com 1 2 Economic & Business Faculty 1 2 Universitas Muhammadiyah Purwokerto Abstract. The private higher education gets a challenge in sustaining from the onslaught of the pandemic. This article will be carried out from various sources to find out how the strategy must be carried out by the private higher education. The literature review from several sources and narrow survey in a private higher education showed that the pandemic become a crucial matter and caused the decreasing of new students. Furthermore, this study attempts to reveal the root cause of the condition, then the strategy of reshaping the university will be obtained. Keywords: private higher education, pandemic, university branding 1. Introduction The learning process at various levels of education has undergone very significant changes since the pandemic. This is marked by the emergence of various online media that are used as a means of learning. In the era of the digital media ecosystem, universities and higher education institutions use digital media platforms for self-branding [27]. Social media is one of the platforms that helps in influencing young consumers and which is the main target for universities and higher education institutions [26]. According to research studies, social media become an important role in the decision-making factors of prospective students to join with higher education and universities [24]. Branding at universities and other higher education institutions is carried out both by means of traditional and digital marketing. However, after the Covid-19 outbreak, branding in the education sector has moved more to digital media platforms. Marketing management in universities has made a lot of use of digital media, because now it has become a trend in all businesses around the world including other higher education institutions. Frequently, students use social media to find information about universities before getting the coveted university. The collaborative and engaging nature of social media provides an opportunity to stabilize educational control because the communication platform is built on the opinions and experiences of students and other stakeholders [28]. University branding using social media is one of the marketing tools, which will encourage and promote the image of universities and higher education institutions in this competitive era. Therefore, the current study will try to explain how private universities can continue to make efforts to improve the quality or quality of education for students. The results of research conducted by [37] show that during the Covid-19 pandemic there has been a change in the implementation of the learning process, which was originally carried out directly on campus, turned into online learning (on the network), including an increase in the use of technology. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it has had a proportional impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty and has also modified the way people do things and has changed the way they view certain things, especially in this case students are limited in their learning activities on campus. Factors such as consumer beliefs, perceptions, behaviors, and attitudes have been altered by the crisis during the pandemic. This has caused customers to be less enthusiastic about the trust factor among brands. This does not leave students unaffected by the crisis, as their studies, their planning and other schedules have been hampered due to the pandemic. For this aspect, universities or colleges have challenges to achieve the satisfaction and level of trust of students and other stakeholders, as well as loyalty to the university without direct interaction. Therefore, taking care of all the needs of these students through an online platform. In this way, social media platforms in particular, provide benefits for universities and higher education institutions to maintain their higher education performance, including in an effort to maintain and increase student satisfaction. Among all these student satisfaction is the initial factor for successful university brand performance [34]. The university follows various branding strategies through social media platforms which keeps the university interacting with customers/students and can maintain students' trust in them. Another factor that is responsible for building trust among which is the quality of service which can be described through Facebook and in return students can see the quality of services and facilities provided to them and will improve brand performance and brand image [34]. ICBAE 2022, August 10-11, Purwokerto, Indonesia Copyright © 2022 EAI DOI 10.4108/eai.10-8-2022.2320784