ONLINE OPEN DAY AS PART OF PUBLIC RELATIONS OF A UNIVERSITY IN CONDITIONS OF DIGITALIZATION

Abstract

The article discusses the format of an online open day as a way to conduct a PR campaign for a higher education institution. The first mentions of open days in media discourse date back to the 1950s – confidently that from the second half of the twentieth century, universities began to hold meetings with applicants and their parents on their territory in order to visualize the learning process and introduce the future student to a communicative manner of professors. Open days became an integral part of the university’s PR campaign and were held mainly in person. The Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 raised the question of the need to hold an open day in an online format, and since 2020 most universities, the face-to-face format of interaction with applicants has been supplemented by correspondent format. However, as shown by the analysis of the open days of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics and a number of other universities, in current realities, an online open day means a film about a university of an advertising nature, including speeches by teachers, students and graduates. The article provides recommendations for improving this format and providing it with additional advantages.