Changes in students’ choice determinants in Poland: a comparative study of tertiary business education between 2008 and 2013

Abstract

For the last 20 years Polish education faced turbulent changes, first experiencing a rapid increase in the number of students and the dynamic growth of educational institutions, and then facing the reverse trend of decreasing number of students and universities being closed down or facing serious financial problems. Furthermore, forecasts for the next 10 years predict that most of the non-public universities in Poland will experience serious problems to survive in the market. Facing new challenges, universities changed the way they think about their students and the customer-oriented approach became the dominant management imperative for most of them. Ability to understand the reasons behind students tertiary education decisions emerged as a key issue in increasing enrollments. Predicting students choice determinants may be however more difficult than expected as those choices are dynamic and might change over time. While the literature on the university choice factors is growing, still little is evidenced with regard to the dynamism of the tertiary education decision making process and this article is aimed to contribute to filling this gap. We identified that both aspects of students decision making process-pursuing tertiary education and the choice of the particular university-are a subject of change over time and might be conditioned on economic, social and demographic changes of the given market.

“Don't try to teach me, I got nothing to learn”: Management students' perceptions of business ethics teaching

“…The Polish higher education sector is under constant change, with universities trying to adapt new curricula to adjust the teaching process to the expectations of different stakeholder groups—students, employers, educators, government, European Commission, etc (Bates & Godoń, ; Popowska, ). Besides, the Polish society is strongly influenced by culturally embedded traditional moral and ethical values (e.g., Catholic Church, Communist past) that may to some extent impact students' basic assumptions and prior knowledge (Sojkin, Bartkowiak, & Skuza, ). These two contrasting realities (Westernization of education and traditional cultural values) offer a novel and stimulating investigation setting.…”

Social influence and student choice of higher education institution

“…Student related factors refer to the student, and the student's family, demographics, socioeconomic characteristics, academic abilities and practical determinants that stem from the student's background (Avery, & Hoxby, 2004;DesJardins, Ahlburg, & McCall, 2006;Perna, & Titus, 2004), and cost related factors (Ivy, 2008;Maringe, 2006;Sojkin, Bartkowiak, & Skuza, 2014). Recently, Jane Hemsley-Brown and Izhar Oplatka (2015) conducted a systematic review of literature on the topic of student choice published between 1992 and 2013, and identi ed ve distinct groups of student related factors: family income, parental education, gender, age and racial group, socioeconomic status, geographical considerations, and price sensitivity that covers costs, availability of nancial aid and affordability.…”

The Compatibility Student Choice of University Majoring; A Preliminary Studies

“…Keberhasilan siswa dalam proses pembelajaran di perguruan tinggi merupakan salah satu bentuk suksesnya penataan sistem pendidikan tinggi yang juga ditunjang oleh berbagai faktor pendukungnya. Kondisi aktivitas belajar merupakan salah satu faktor kuat yang menunjang kesuksesan belajar mahasiswa (Kim & Hwang, 2014;Kutty, 2014;Nyamwange, 2016;Sojkin, Bartkowiak, & Skuza, 2015). Lebih jauh, aktivitas belajar mahasiswa dimaksud akan sangat dipengaruhi oleh berminat atau tidaknya mahasiswa dengan jurusan yang saat ini mereka tempati (Albert & Garcı´a-Serrano, 2010;Daharnis dkk, 2011;Elliot, Kratochwill, Littlefield, & Travers, 1996;Erlamsyah dkk, 2011;Klein & Washburn, 2012;Kutty, 2014;Mupemhi, 2013;Pablolerchundi, Núñez-del-Río, & González-Tirados, 2015;Tereza, 2013;Timothy, 2010).…”