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Enrolling in an academic discipline or selecting the college major choice is a dynamic process. Very few studies examine this aspect in India. This paper makes a humble attempt to fill this gap using NSSO 71st round data on social consumption on education. The purpose of this paper is to use multinomial regression model to study the different factors that influence course choice in higher education. The different factors (given the availability of information) considered relate to ability, gender, cost of higher education, socio-economic and geographical location. The results indicate that gender polarization is apparent between humanities and engineering. The predicated probabilities bring out the dichotomy between the choice of courses and levels of living expressed through consumption expenditures in terms of professional and non-professional courses. Predicted probabilities of course choices bring in a clear distinction between south and west regions preferring engineering and other professional courses, whereas north, east and NES prefer humanities.

The present paper follows the same approach as that of Turner and Bowen (1999). The Multinomial regression is specified as P ( M i = j ) = ( exp ( β j × X i ) / ∑ j − 1 5 exp ( β j × X i ) ) , where P (M_i=j) denotes the probability of choosing outcome j, the particular course/major choice that categorizes different disciplines. This response variable is specified with five categories: such as medicine, engineering, other professional courses, science and humanities. The authors’ primary interest is to determine the factors governing an individual’s decision to choose a particular subject field as compared to humanities. In other words, to make the system identifiable in the MLR, humanities is treated as a reference category. The vector X_i includes the set of explanatory variables and β_j refers to the corresponding coefficients for each of the outcome j. From an aggregate perspective, the distribution of course choices is an important input to the skill (technical skills) composition of future workforce. In that sense, except humanities, the rest of the courses are technical-intensive courses; hence, humanities is treated as a reference category.

The results indicate that gender polarization is apparent between humanities and engineering. The predicated probabilities bring out the dichotomy between the choice of courses and levels of living expressed through consumption expenditures in terms of professional and non-professional courses. Predicted probabilities of course choices bring in a clear distinction between south and west regions preferring engineering and other professional courses, whereas north, east and NES prefer humanities.

Predicted probabilities of course choices bring in a clear distinction between south and west regions preferring engineering and other professional courses, whereas north, east and NES prefer humanities. This course and regional imbalance need to be worked with multi-pronged strategies of providing both access to education and employment opportunities in other states. But the predicted probabilities of medicine and science remain similar across the board. Very few research studies on the determinants of field choice in higher education prevail in India. Research studies on returns to education by field or course choices hardly exist in India. These evidences are particularly important to know which course choices can support student loans, which can be the future area of work.

The research evidence is particularly important to know which course choices can support student loans, which can be the future area of work, as well as how to address the gender bias in the course choices.

The paper has social implications in terms of giving insights into the course choices of students. These findings bring in implications for practice in their ability to predict the demand for course choices and their share of demand, not only in the labor market but also across regions. India has 36 states/UTs and each state/UT has a huge population size and large geographical areas. The choice of course has state-specific influence because of nature of state economy, society, culture and inherent education systems. Further, within the states, rural and urban variation has also a serious influence on the choice of courses.

The present study is a value addition on three counts. First, the choice of courses includes the recent trends in the preference over market-oriented/technical courses such as medicine, engineering and other professional courses (chartered accountancy and similar courses, courses from Industrial Training Institute, recognized vocational training institute, etc.). The choice of market-oriented courses has been examined in relation to the choice of conventional subjects. Second, the socio-economic background of students plays a significant role in the choice of courses. Third, the present paper uses the latest data on Social Consumption on Education.

Using Bourdieu‐inspired sociological literature, this paper aims to report on a study that examines the educational choices of new entrants in the three library and information science (LIS) schools operating in Greece at the undergraduate level, with reference to their socio‐cultural characteristics.

Data were obtained through a questionnaire, distributed to 187 LIS students, aiming to address the question of what attracted them to the LIS field.

Analysis reveals three distinctive student groups in the sample and shows that these differ in respect to the reasons attracting them to LIS. The first group, with restricted cultural resources at their disposal, is attracted only by extrinsic reasons, namely the prospect of immediate employment. The second group, of middle level parental education, is attracted by intrinsic reasons, most notably the qualitative characteristics of the field as a future profession. This group seems to use these qualities to preserve the belief in an upwards moving and successful educational career. Qualities attracting the students of the third group, when examined with reference to their socio‐cultural characteristics, indicate that the choice of subject made is linked to their socially acquired ability to recognise what may be promising regarding possible future LIS career paths. This is in contrast to students from low socio‐cultural backgrounds, who seem not to have access to the high cultural resources the LIS field requires for “decoding” and understanding its hidden possibilities.

This paper uses socio‐cultural explanations of students' choice of LIS as a field of study, contributing methodologically and substantively to this area of research.

This paper aims to make a contribution to the current lack of literature in the Australian context by reviewing qualitative feedback collected from students in five private higher education institutions. In particular, the paper seeks to examine factors influencing student choice to study at private higher education institutions and student perceptions of such institutions. Previous studies on this topic are mostly focussed on universities with lack of research with the booming private higher education sector.

This study draws data from five different private for-profit higher education institutions in Australia. It involved feedback from 120 students undertaking higher education courses in different discipline areas at different stages of study. The study involved 15 focus group interviews with eight students in a group. The selection of students was based on the representation of different characteristics of student such as: male/female, domestic/international, and discipline areas.

An analysis of the data collected from the students across these five institutions indicated that the main factors influencing student choice can be grouped in six domains. These are: student perception; access and opportunity; learning environments; quality of teachers; course design; and graduate success. This study reinforces that student perception of the private for-profit higher education institutions is an important factor in influencing student choice to study at the institution.

The limitation of the study was the ability to interview more students from larger colleges, across all discipline areas. However, the time and length of the focus group interviews was largely managed by the five institutions.

The private higher education sector has experienced consistent growth in the last few years in Australia. Currently, there is no qualitative research done in Australian private higher education on factors influencing student choice to study with private institutions. The rise of such providers require research on insights about student choice, student expectation and their experience.

It is considered a mystery by many people that, despite charging significantly higher fees when compared to public institutions, research has shown an increase in the demand and enrolments at private higher education institutions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical factors considered by students when deciding to make private higher education institutions their institution of choice.

The study uses a case study approach and draws data from all the six private higher education institutions in Zimbabwe. Self-administered questionnaires were given to students representing at least 5 per cent of the student enrolment and representing all gender, study disciplines and levels of study from each university.

Irrespective of gender, six main factors influencing student choice were identified to be, in order of priority: access and opportunity; promotional information and marketing; reference or influence by others; quality of teaching and learning; fees and cost structure, and finally academic reputation and recognition.

The research was focused on a case study of Zimbabwe.

The study has implications on the way private higher education institutions market, manage and sustain the quality of educational provision. The study therefore provides private institutions with useful and practical insights on what students want in their institution of choice. This will assist these institutions in strategising in order to sustain or gain competitive advantage and to maximise on the increasing demand for private education. Implications to government and public institutions are also given.

The study recognises the critical role played by private universities in improving access and recommends African Governments who face financial and resource constraints to fund and expand public universities to encourage private higher education as a meaningful and viable way to improve access and provide higher education opportunities to potential students.

The study contributes to the current dearth of literature on factors influencing student choice to study with private institutions.

The purpose of this paper is to establish the extent to which Porter’s five competitive forces (PFCF) framework, among other factors drive the choice of response strategies adopted by public universities in Kenya.

The study design was descriptive and utilized a cross-sectional survey of all the public universities in Kenya by administering a structured questionnaire to the top management team. Additional primary data were collected through observations and interviews. Secondary data were also collected in order to corroborate the data collected from the primary sources.

PFCF framework influenced the choice of response strategies adopted by the public universities “to a great extent”, the most influence being the threat from new entrants. The influence of the choice of response strategies by PFCF framework was independent of the age and category of the universities. Pressure from stakeholders, changes in government policies and regulations, reforms in higher education, unethical response strategies by some universities and university location also influenced the choice of response strategies.

The study collected data from the top management team only; however, other stakeholders could have given additional information not reported here. Further, the research only considered public universities and not all higher education institutions (HEIs) in Kenya, and was cross-sectional, hence generalization and application of the results over a long time, respectively, may be limited.

The value of this study lies in HEIs achieving a competitive advantage and shaping strategic policy direction in the face of changing environment and global commodification of higher education.

Current public universities in Kenya have adopted a business-like approach in their operations in view of changing environment and have adopted coping strategies. Therefore, understanding the factors that influence the choice of response strategies is important for improvement of quality, efficiency and effectiveness as well as in policy formulation and serve as a guide to strategic management.

This paper examines the link between parental income during adolescent years and higher education choices of the offspring at age 18. This study is the first to use a recent longitudinal data set from New Zealand (Christchurch Health and Development Surveys, CHDS), in the higher education context. The paper examines the impact of family income and other resources throughout adolescent years on later decisions to participate in higher education and the choice of type of tertiary education at age 18. A binary choice model of participation in education, and a multinomial choice model of the broader set of choices faced at age 18, of employment, university, or polytechnic participation are estimated. Among the features of the study are that it incorporates a number of variables, from birth to age 18, which allow us to control further than most earlier studies for ability heterogeneity, academic performance in secondary school, in addition to parental resources (e.g. childhood IQ, nationally comparable high school academic performance, peer effects, family size and family financial information over time). The results highlight useful features of intergenerational participation in higher education, and the effect of parental income on university education, in particular.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the trends of Cambodian government scholarship students’ choice of academic major; the significant association between family socioeconomic status (SES) and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) majors, and the patterns of STEM major choices across demographic and geographical characteristics.

Descriptive analysis and cross-tabulation statistical tests were employed to analyze the data of 1,000 students drawn from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport scholarships database of 2018. The study employed a correlational study design.

Findings revealed that the Cambodian government scholarship students were more inclined to major in social science than science and engineering-related fields. Findings also positioned that students’ choice of STEM majors was significantly associated with family SES, gender and locality. Students from families with higher SES, male students and students from the provinces were more likely to choose STEM majors than their counterparts.

These findings point to some practical considerations on how to maximize low SES students’ enrollment in STEM majors at a higher education of Cambodia.

The purpose of this paper is to systematically document, scrutinise and critically analyse the current research literature on higher education choice to: establish the scope of the studies; map the factors associated with choice; identify the key strengths and weaknesses in the research literature; critically analyse the extant research and make recommendations for further research in this field.

The authors conducted extensive searches of relevant and education and management databases. The search is limited to publications between 1992 and 2013 and is intended to cover national and international research. The review is based on 75 papers which focus on institutional choice, assembled on an Excel database (45 surveys, 13 secondary data studies, one experimental study, two longitudinal studies, 11 qualitative studies and three studies that use both qualitative and quantitative techniques).

Results are presented under thematic headings which emerged from the analysis: first, demographics and academic factors; second, factors which relate to the institution: quality, outcomes and benefits, facilities, and characteristics of institutions. Finally factors which affect both the institution and the students: price and price sensitivity, information and information sources, and travel and geographical factors are considered.

Comprehensive analysis of prior research in the field of institutional choice is long overdue. Theoretical models for future research are presented as a result of the findings.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate higher education faculty’s motivation to teach and to validate the Factors Influencing Teaching Choice (FIT-Choice) survey with this population.

Confirmatory factor analysis and t-tests on data from 101 higher education faculty and data from K-12 teachers show that the two samples fit the model similarly.

Results show that the similarities between the two groups are important to note as it suggests both the value of the FIT-Choice instrument as a research tool in higher education as well as the similarities in motivating factors between higher education faculty and in-service K-12 teachers.

This is one of the first studies to use the FIT-Choice scale with university education faculty.

How do institutional settings and their embedded policy principles affect gender-typed enrolment in educational programmes? Based on gender-sensitive theories on career choice, we hypothesised that gender segregation in education is higher with a wider range of offers of vocational programmes. By analysing youth survey and panel data, we tested this assumption for Germany, Norway and Canada, three countries whose educational systems represent a different mix of academic, vocational and universalistic education principles. We found that vocational programmes are considerably more gender-segregated than are academic (e.g. university) programmes. Men, more so than women, can avoid gender-typed programmes by passing on to a university education. This in turn means that as long as their secondary school achievement does not allow for a higher education career, they have a higher likelihood of being allocated to male-typed programmes in the vocational education and training (VET) system. In addition, social background and the age at which students have to choose educational offers impact on the transition to gendered educational programmes. Overall, gender segregation in education is highest in Germany and the lowest in Canada. We interpret the differences between these countries with respect to the constellations of educational principles and policies in the respective countries.