Rebranding an Institution of Higher Education in Botswana

The issue of rebranding institutions of higher education has attracted little attention in
scholarly publications. However, intense competition in the higher education market has
forced institutions to modify elements of their brands. The current study seeks to shed light
on the challenges of undertaking a rebranding exercise in an institution of higher education in
Botswana, a context which is under researched. The purpose of the current study is to
establish the perceptions of students of the University of Botswana regarding its brand equity
following the rebranding exercise. A structured questionnaire was administered to a sample
of 336 University students majoring in business. Overall, the results showed that the brand
equity of the new logo was lower than that of the old logo. The results of the paired t-tests
revealed that students tend to recall and recognize the old logo more than the new logo.
Students are also attracted, affectionate and attached to the old logo more than the new one.
Since rebranding can erode some of the important aspects of an existing brand, it has to be
implemented cautiously. Importantly, effective communication is critical to inspire students
to embrace the new logo and their perceptions need to be tracked periodically in order to
establish whether the desired brand image has been generated.