Virtual Tour as Digital Branding Tool in the Political Economy of Higher Education: Case of Virtual Tour 360 UPNVJT

In the growing trends of digitalization and increasing use of the Internet of Things (IoT), online branding and marketing are necessities in any form of industry. Even the Higher Education industries have this same outlook to succeed, even more so in the era of globalization where competition expands in the international arena. Universities are required to obtain some degree of internationalization in their daily operations. University's ranking and accreditation system, both domestically and globally, requires international students in the institution's teaching and learning activities. Therefore, the ability to promote globally is essential for higher education institutions. This paper thus attempts to analyze the correlation between a university's digital branding and internationalization in attracting international students. The ability to attract international students is crucial to university's non-monetary competition, making them leaders in the intellectual achievement's competition. Furthermore, this paper briefly attempts to analyze one of UPNVJT's online promotion tools, the VTour 360 UPNVJT, and how it is used as UPNVJT's means of global branding and marketing. This paper will be using a quantitative method, combined with the methodology of branding and marketing in its correlation with international students' enrollment. References on the use of Virtual Tours as a means of branding and marketing for higher education institutions are still minimal. We expect this research could complement what little of the said topic is and could further emphasize the urgency of using Virtual Tour as a means of higher education internationalization and tools of the political economy of higher education institutions.