Attracting doctoral students: case of Baltic universities
International Journal of Educational Management
ISSN: 0951-354X
Article publication date: 11 September 2017
Abstract
Purpose
In the context of falling demand for higher education and, in particular, doctoral studies, it is important to understand how to attract new students. The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of the decision-making process the PhD students of Baltic universities followed when choosing whether to continue their education at doctoral level and in which institution to do it.
Design/methodology/approach
It uses the data gathered in 2014 from all major Baltic universities providing access to higher education at doctoral level.
Findings
At macro-level, the three Baltic countries (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) are rather different in the supply of doctoral programmes and the level and dynamics of the popularity of doctoral-level studies in the population. Besides, strong country-specific effects on the goals students pursued when they enrolled in a doctoral programme and the information about the university or the programme they found useful are observed at micro-level. The main result is related to systematic differences in the perceptions students have about the benefits they will get from a doctoral degree across the current (at doctoral level) and previous (at Bachelor’s and Master’s levels) fields of study, as well as depending on labour-market experience and family and social circle.
Practical implications
These findings suggest that Baltic higher education institutions should employ different marketing communication strategies when attracting new doctoral students, depending on the field of study and the country they operate in.
Originality/value
This is the first comprehensive study on the motivation of enrolment at doctoral level in the Baltic countries. It gives the management of Baltic universities a general picture of the motivation to get a PhD degree and factors affecting the choice of university, which can be readily incorporated into universities’ strategy.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank all doctoral students who participated in the surveys and the members of the administration of the participating higher education institutions who provided support in distributing the survey to their students. Financial support was provided by European Social Fund Project No. 2009/0138/1DP/1.1.2.1.2/09/IPIA/VIAA/004. Previous versions of the paper were presented at World in Change: from Consumption to Sustainability, from Competition to Collaboration, from Hierarchy to Networks, from Being Good to Doing Good conference (SYLFF and University of Latvia, May 2014) and LEER Workshop on Education Economics (KU Leuven, April 2015). The author thanks the participants of both events and an anonymous referee for suggestions.
Citation
Tarvid, A. (2017), "Attracting doctoral students: case of Baltic universities", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 31 No. 7, pp. 1017-1041. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-07-2015-0093
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited