Students’ Perception About the Role of Universities’ Online Informal Communication Platforms in Improving the Connections Between Students and Institutions

Abstract

AbstractFrom a simple channel through which people can communicate at a distance, the Internet has been transformed, evolved and slowly started to dominate different aspects of their lives. In this regard, people in general, and students and universities in particular, began using online platforms for different purposes. The aim of our paper is to examine students’ perception regarding the informal online platforms used in the name of Transilvania University of Brasov, in order to identify the way in which such platforms can influence the collaboration between students and the university. Students’ perception about the Facebook page entitled “Unitbv Crush” -a page created with the purpose of helping students interact and date with each other- were analyzed. A mixed method approach included interviews with 15 top fan students based on the Facebook algorithm of the same university as part of a pilot study and a questionnaire that was applied to 848 students. Results of the research showed that most students thought that the page was created with the purpose of posting fun content and of dating, and that they did not agree with the idea that the page should be administrated by the university. Therefore, the page managed to improve the collaboration between students, but by showing that students did not want for the page to be administrated by the university, the page has little to no influence on improving collaboration between the institution and its students. Universities could benefit from the results of this research, in the case in which they would like to take control over the Crush pages created by students.