University and course choice

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -Higher education environments have become increasingly competitive and institutions have to compete for students in the recruitment markets. With the introduction of student fees, it is hypothesised that potential applicants to HE will increasingly become consumerist. The research upon which this paper was based was aimed at finding out the factors students consider important in their decision making related to choice of university and courses of study. Design/methodology/approach -Five sixth form schools and colleges in the Southampton University Partnership Scheme participated in the study. Three hundred and eighty seven students (186 male and 201 female) voluntarily participated. The study involved a survey questionnaire based on a 10 point Likert scale and included 35 university choice factors which students were to rank accordingly. It also included 10 items similarly ranked to identify factors influencing university subject or course choice. Simple descriptive statistics were used to identify the factors students consider most important in their choice and decision making. Findings -Two key signals have been identified. First is that, students seem to be adopting a consumerist approach to their HE decision making. The importance attached to labour market motives in terms of employment and career prospects significantly outweigh those related to pursuing HE on the basis of subject interest and a love for the subject. Second is that as a result of this, students consider programme and price related issues as more important than other elements of universities marketing mix. Research limitations/implications -There are no claims for generalisability of findings from this research on account of the small sample of participants and the use of convenience sampling employed in the study. However, the findings generally support what is already known about factors influencing university choice and go beyond to show signals of change within the undergraduate recruitment market. Practical implications -The findings have implications for university positioning in a diversifying recruitment market, and for a reconsideration of marketing and recruitment strategy at institutiona...

School Choice of Computing Students: A Comparative Perspective from Two Universities

“…Hu and Hossler (2000) found out that tuition fee was directly related to the preference of students in choosing a school. Fee, a component of price, was one of the factors in choosing a school in England (Maringe, 2006). The studies of Jackson (1980) and Pereda et al (2007) also had similar findings.…”

“…The studies of Jackson (1980) and Pereda et al (2007) also had similar findings. Flexibility of tuition fee payment was also considered (Maringe, 2006). Salahuddin et al (2008) also confirmed through factor analysis that flexibility of tuition fee payment was found to be one of the important factors in choosing a private university.…”

When do changes in consumer preferences make forecasts from choice-based conjoint models unreliable?

“…The choice experiment was based on convenience sampling, in line with and Yu and Cooper (1983), Chiu et al (2005) and Maringe (2006). Although convenience sampling might be subject to some biases, the aim of our study was to uncover variation in preferences.…”

A Formação Superior para o Secretariado na Perspectiva Luso-Brasileira

“…A atenção sobre o mercado para a sua futura profissão "[...] está presente nos jovens, não só durante os últimos anos do curso mas também no momento em que estes escolhem a instituição e o curso (Valle & Rebelo, 2001 como citado em Ribeiro, 2008, p. 72). Constata-se, então, que as oportunidades que uma carreira possa oferecer exercem forte influência na escolha de uma formação, implicando planejamento das ofertas pelas instituições de ensino (Maringe, 2006).…”