Promosi Dan Pengurusan Pelajar Siswazah Antarabangsa USIM Pasca Covid-19

The spread of the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the landscape of varied communities around the world and disrupting their daily activities and impacting in various areas of services. In this case, the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) is also affected especially in the aspects of promotion, management and recruitment of international students. Therefore, this study will examine the views of prospective international postgraduate students at USIM towards their study journey. In addition, this study will identify suggestions for improvements to increase the promotion towards international postgraduate students’ admission during the Covid-19 outbreak. This study also suggests policies that need to be considered by universities to improve the effectiveness of post-Covid-19 promotion and management. A total of 122 prospective students completed a set of questionnaires distributed online. The results of the study found that they were satisfied with the procedure of admission process to USIM. They also suggested that USIM should update its online marketing promotion strategy more effectively. Other than that, the difficulties that they faced during the pandemic were analyzed and used as a basis of a guideline to formulate policy proposals for the management which regards to improve the promotional activities and management of international postgraduate students to attract more students in the future. Abstrak Penularan wabak Covid-19 telah mengubah lanskap kehidupan variasi masyarakat di seluruh dunia sehingga mengganggu kelancaran aktiviti seharian dan memberi impak dalam pelbagai bidang perkhidmatan. Tidak terkecuali menerima tempias adalah Institusi Pendidikan Tinggi (IPT) yang memberi kesan terutama kepada aspek promosi, pengurusan dan pengambilan pelajar antarabangsa. Oleh itu, kajian ini akan mengkaji pandangan bakal pelajar siswazah antarabangsa di USIM mengenai situasi pengajian mereka nanti. Selain itu, kajian ini akan mengenal pasti cadangan penambahbaikan terhadap promosi kemasukan pelajar antarabangsa ketika wabak Covid-19 dan mencadangkan dasar yang perlu diwujudkan oleh pihak universiti bagi meningkatkan keberkesanan promosi dan pengurusan pelajar pasca wabak Covid-19. Seramai 122 calon pelajar telah mengisi set soal selidik yang diedarkan secara dalam talian. Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa mereka berpuas hati mengenai tatacara proses kemasukan mereka ke USIM. Mereka juga mencadangkan agar USIM mengemaskini strategi promosi pemasaran dalam talian dengan lebih efektif. Pandangan mereka berkaitan kesukaran yang dihadapi ketika pandemik dianalisa dan dijadikan asas untuk merangka cadangan dasar pengurusan kategori pelajar ini bagi melancarkan aktiviti promosi dan pengurusan pelajar siswazah antarabangsa agar impaknya dalam jangka panjang akan menarik lebih ramai pelajar masa akan datang.