A good corporate reputation is extremely valuable, and confers substantial benefits to the organisation. In order to manage corporate reputation, companies need to align their corporate identity and corporate image. This study explores the phenomenon of corporate reputation management in university settings as this has not previously been extensively researched in a transitional economy context. It analyses corporate identity and image in the corporate reputation nexus. A qualitative research approach was adopted focusing on collecting primary data using an exploratory, phenomenological approach. Five in-depth interviews were conducted with corporate communications directors of five universities in Accra, who were selected through purposive and convenience sampling. We found that corporate communication directors in higher education in Ghana recognize the alignment of identity and image as critical to building corporate reputation. Corporate reputation is also found to be a tool for competitive advantage in higher education in Ghana.