Analysis of the Factors Influencing Students’ Option in Choosing a University

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to analyze factors influencing the behavior of high school students in Bucharest in choosing a university. Research is a quantitative, descriptive. For this they were developed and tested five hypotheses. The instrument used was the questionnaire that was administered to 134 respondents, students in the last year. They are the major beneficiaries of Romanian higher education. After analyzing the responses it was found that the most important factors in choosing a university are tradition and extent of absorption of graduates into the labor market. High school students have the main options areas economic, technical, and medical. Also, for most high school students, education is a priority to develop professionally and personally. This study may help universities in formulation of strategies for attracting students. Research is limited by the fact that it was achieved only in Bucharest, the most important university center in the country. The sample is not statistically representative, therefore it is necessary to expand the research and to other cities in Romania.

Keywords: Analysisfactorsbehaviorhigh school studentsBucharest

1.Introduction

This research offers an overall image of the preferences that the students have in their last year of

high school, when it is about continuing their studies at a university, about the means of information that

they have at their disposal and the involvement of the ones around, when taking a decision.

On the other hand, a university providing educational services, but it enjoys a special status and

prestige in the eyes of the direct beneficiary (the student). However, even in these circumstances of

prestigious academic status, meets user requirements and even negotiating some aspects of educational

with it is presented as an instrument of organizational success, proving a coherent and thoughtful strategy,

a good academic management and helping to attract students.

The university customers are not only the students (direct beneficiaries), but also the parents (who

expect the schools to convey knowledge to their children), the employers (who expect universities to

provide people with professional training appropriate to their needs).

The analysis of the factors that influence behavior of the high school students leads to adapting the

offer of higher education to meet the aspirations and needs of all those involved in the educational

process (Blythe, 1998).

2.Literature Review

The evolution of approaches consumer behavior is marked by achievements while on the plane of

human knowledge in general, consumer behavior is treated in terms of anthropological, sociological,

psychological or economic, which is reflected in an abundance of concepts and interpretations (Britt,

1970).

The consumer’s behavior, generally speaking, shows the characteristics of that consumer when

buying the products and services, as well as when consuming them. In a more specific approach, „the

consumer’s behavior can be defined as a concept through multidimensional excellency, as a specific

result of a dynamic relational system of the perception processes, together with the processes of

information, attitude, motivation and effective manifestation, which describes the integration of the

human being or of a certain group in a given open space by the whole system of products and services

that exist in the society at a certain time, through decisional individual or group acts” (Cătoiu &

Teodorescu, 2004). In his view Olteanu (2006) said: “all acts, buyer attitudes and decisions on the use of

part of its income to purchase services define the purchasing behavior of consumer services”.

The notion of the consumer cannot be understood only by looking at it in relation to its peers. The

circumstances in which the consumer or purchasing process often involves other people than the

consumer may depend decisively on their behavior (Wilkie, 1990). Before reaching the stage of making

decision, the individual is under the influence of personal factors such as needs, motivations, experiences,

attitudes, beliefs, perceptions (Kotler, Armstrong, Saunders, & Wong, 1999) and external factors (socio-

cultural information available about the product/service, the institution's image, positioning

product/service etc.), which induce buying motivations and brakes. Of these, cultural factors exert the

broadest and deepest influence. On another hand, the university services offer has to combine the

university services consumers’ expectations and the labor market requests with the missions of the

university. This can happen by promoting those specializations that provide the students higher chances

on the labor market, by ensuring the educational standards and not least, by focusing on the quality of

those services, on tested performances after the graduation (Manea, 2015).

The marketing strategies in the high level education can be developed only if the client’s needs are

understood. The relationship with universities involves not only purchase and use the product, but is

extended to a level of interaction product - consumer - supplier exceeding the norms and rules of

marketing (Svensson & Wood, 2007).

3.Methodology

The purpose of this research is studying the university educational services consumer´s behavior,

among the youth, students of high schools in Bucharest.

Objectives of the research are the following:

Q1. Determine the main reason that drive students to continue their studies in a university

Q2. Identifying the personal domain the students wish to follow and develop a future career

Q3. Determine the most important criteria in choosing a university/faculty

Q4. Identifying the most important sources to obtain information to choose a university/faculty.

Q5. Identifying the first university to take into account to continue the studies.

The Hypotheses of the research are:

H1. For most of the students (over 70%), the main reason for continuing studies is that they could

obtain a well-paid working place after the graduation.

H2. The most known domains and most targeted by the students are the economic, technical and

medical ones.

H3. For the most part of the students, the most important criterion is the prestige of the

university/faculty.

H4. Most of the respondents (over 60%) have as information sources mass media, colleagues/friends

and family.

H5. The first university taken into account by the respondent is from the domain studied during high

school.

The research stands on many variables categories: the main variables (the main reasons that are

taken into account when choosing a university), descriptive variables (age, sex), situational variables (the

financial situation of the respondents), independent variables and dependent variables (the perception

upon universities). The research was done among the students from the high schools in Bucharest, high

schools with economic, theoretic and technic, from the last year. The data collection happened throughout

month April, when students from 12th grade already knew what courses they will take for the university,

have gathered all the information needed for the selection and chose some possible faculties that they

would wish to follow for future studies. Obtaining the information was a process assisted by the

questionnaire, applied face to face.

The information obtained is primary, specially used for attaining the objectives of the research.

The observation unit is the person, the student from the 12th grade.

The way to gather all the information is the survey, and the instrument used to collect the data is

the questionnaire. The sample dimension used was 134 observation units, and the sampling method

chosen was the simple random method, which means that each member of the population had the chance

to be selected.

4.Results

The data analysis was done based on the information resulted from the 134 observation units.

Therefore, the unvaried analysis took into consideration each and every question, and the bivaried

analysis was used exactly where there were noticed relationships between the variables.

The first objective was accomplished through the answers to the question which are the reasons

that determine you to continue your studies at the end of your study year? The answers are displayed in

the table 1.

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The main reason why students from last year classes choose to continue their studies is that the

faculty helps them to find a better paid working place (59%). A percentage of 24% from respondents

consider that the superior studies offer them a certain status in the society, whereas only 0.5% wants to

improve their potential. Therefore, the hypothesis that the majority of the students (over 70%) the main

reason for continuing their studies is that they can obtain a better paid working place after the graduation,

disproves. The second question, “in which domain which you like to continue your studies?” had the next

answers: the main domain where respondents wish to continue their studies are the economic sciences,

with a percentage of 15%; the following domains chosen by the respondents are medicine,

automatics/computers/engineering with e percent of 11%; the domains that are least preferred by the

respondents are journalism, plastic arts and architecture with a percentage of 1%. This aspect shows that

the economic sciences are a priority, and maybe this occurs because once graduating a high school with

economic profile, you can take a job even during faculty.

Automatics and computers are a very coveted domain because of the fact that after graduating

faculty you have the opportunity to get a job with a higher salary. The hypothesis that the most known

and targeted domains by the students are economical, technical and medical, confirms.

The third objective was achieved through the analysis of the respondents’ answers: Which are the

most important criteria that lead to choosing a faculty/university. Therefore, there were marks given,

ranging from 1 (least important) to 5 (most important) for each criterion taken separately. The frequency

of the answers can be seen in table 2.

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After analyzing the answers, it can be noticed that the most important criterion when choosing the

university is the possibility to find a better paid working place when graduating with an average of 4.24

that is followed by the prestige of the university/faculty with an average of 3.75 and available seats paid

by the state with an average of 3.56. From here we can highlight the following conclusions: the superior

studies help the graduates to find a better paid working place. In addition to that, the prestige of the

university/faculty is important when choosing a place where to study, but this is not the most important.

The fact that there are available seats paid by the state is on the third place as criteria importance, can

mean that the graduated faculty does not even matter, as long as the seat for study is paid by the state. On

the other hand, there is the home proximity. It can be seen that this criterion is the least important when

choosing a faculty. Therefore, the hypothesis that For the most part of the students, the most important

criterion is the prestige of the university/faculty disproves. Another objective of the research is

determining the measure in which the students from the last years of high school gather information about

the universities/faculties offer. To accomplish this objective, the students have answered the question

“Which are the sources of information when choosing a university/faculty?”.

In figure 1 it can be seen that 38% of the students have as sources of information mass-media

(here I have taken into consideration newspapers, magazines and internet). The site of the

universities/faculties is one of the most appreciated information sources. Also, family and professors are

one of the most important sources for future students. From here, derives the fact that more than 60% of

the respondents have as information sources: mass-media, family and colleagues/friends. Thus, the

hypothesis that the majority of the respondents (over 60%) have as sources of information mass media,

colleagues/friends and family confirms.

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The last objective of this research is identifying the first university to be taken into account when

continuing the studies. The data are presented in table 3.

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The University of Bucharest is the institution most frequently met in the preferences of the

respondents with a percentage of 21%. Close percentage, taken into consideration the number of the

respondents, belongs to the University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest (18%), the Academy of Economic

Studies (17%) and the University of Pharmacy and Medicine “Carol Davila” (15%). It can be seen that

the first three universities that appear in this top, can be found also in the top 5 universities in Romania,

according to University Web Ranking (2016). These data confirm the fact that the students have chosen

university depending on the high school profile that they are in. Therefore, the hypothesis is a fact that the

first university taken into account by the respondents is from the domain studied throughout the high

school. We can see that very few students are willing to change their field of study in high school, and

those who do this have a solid base of information that can help. After the evaluation of the answers

provided by the respondents, I have found out that the chances to find a better paid working place, is the

main reason to continue studies in a higher level study institution. The main domain areas are: economic,

technic and medical, as were in the previous years.

As far as the information sources among the students are concerned, mass-media represent the

main information source, followed by the family and professors.

5.Discusions

After analyzing factors that influence the Bucharest high school students behavior in choosing a

university, we can say that the main reason why pupils terminals choose to continue their studies is that

faculty help them to find a better paid job. This is the opinion of students before receiving the services

provided by universities, but in practice it is not. May be unemployed educated people who no longer find

a job because the question is not sought on the labor market.

The most popular areas and targeted by students are economic, technical and medical fields.

Graduates in economics can find work easier, because businesses will always need specialists in

economics. Also technical field is targeted by students, especially the IT, where wages are very high right

after graduation. It is true that many specialists who complete their studies in Romania go abroad to offer

their services. The same thing happens in medicine. Many students prefer to study medicine just because

it offers opportunities after graduation.

Data analysis shows that the prestige of the university/faculty is not the most important criterion in

choosing the university/faculty in vision of the high school students. Probably they’re only interested in

obtaining a degree, no matter where they obtained the university diploma.

Respondents receive information from the media, colleagues/friends and family. The media is an

important factor in choosing universities, especially students finding information in the virtual

environment, forums and faculties websites. Also, family and friends are sources of information for

students, but also may influence their choice for a particular faculty/university based on experiences with

it.

6.Conclusions

After analyzing the responses of respondents, we have found that the chances of finding a better

paid job are the main reason to continue their studies at a higher education institution. Key areas of study

remain the economic, technical, and medical fields, as in previous years, because it provides most jobs.

Still there is demand for IT field, although the number of graduates is increasing every year.

As regards the sources of information among high school students, the media is the main source of

information, followed by family and teachers. It is recognized that the information is knowledge. The

information helps high school students to know the university before becoming their students.

After the analysis of university selection, we can see that the majority of the students that wish to

pursue their studies at the Academy of Economic Studies are from a high school with economic profile,

most of the students that wish to pursue their studies and the University of Bucharest are from a literature

and soft arts profile high school, and those who wish to study at the University POLITEHNICA of

Bucharest are from a high school with more technical profile. It is important that the students that choose

to study relate to the field of study in high school, because they ensure a minimum level of knowledge

during college. Lack of knowledge in the field could hold graduation.

As a conclusion, we can draw a line and say that the majority of the students when they finish high

school they still have as a priority to continue studies at a university and it is highly important for their

professional development. Also, factors considered by the high school students are important for the

universities because they can use them to adapt supply to market requirements.

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