FACTORS INFLUENCING STUDENTS’ SELECTION OF UNIVERSITIES: THE CASE OF OMAN
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23887/jere.v2i2.13694Keywords:
Oman, University, College, StudentsAbstract
The main purpose of the study was to examine the factors that mostly influence students’ selection of the universities where they enrolled, in the Omani context. The study used mean values to rank the factors based on the students’ responses. The study covered a sample of 384 respondents from various Omani regions and used the mean value to examine the factors that influence students’ selection of their respective universities. The findings revealed that the main factor for university selection is the university reputation, followed by completion time, academic quality, as well as the academic staff qualifications. These findings have significant contributions to the Omani universities, as well universities in similar contexts. Particularly, it provides the universities with insights on the main dimensions and characteristics to emphasize in order to enhance their overall performance.References
Agrey, L. and Lampadan, N. (2014), “Determinant factors contributing to students’ choice in selecting a university”, Journal of Education and Human Development, Vol. 3 No. 2, pp. 391-404.
Dahari, Z. and Abduh, M. (2011), “Factors influencing international students’ choice towards universities in Malaysia”, African Journal of Business Management, Vol. 5 No. 26, pp. 10615-10620.
Hair, J.F., Black, W.C., Babin, B.J. and Anderson, R.E. (2010), Multivariate data analysis, seventh edition, Upper saddle river. N. J: Prentice Hall.
Jafari, P. and Aliesmaili, A. (2013), “Factors influencing the selection of a university by high school students”, Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 696-703.
Kruss, G., McGrath, S., Peterson, I. and Gastrow, M. (2015), “Higher education and economic development: The importance of building technological capabilities”, International Journal of Educational Development, Vol. 43 No. 1, pp. 22-31.
Maniu, I. and Maniu, G.C. (2014), “Educational marketing: Factors influencing the selection of a university”, SEA-Practical Application of Science, Vol. 3 No. 5, pp. 37-42.
Md. Sidin, S., Hussin, S.R. and Soon, T.H. (2003), “An exploratory study of factors influencing the college choice decision of undergraduate students in Malaysia”, Asia Pacific Management Review, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 259-280.
Mehboob, F., Shah, S.M.M. and Bhutto, N.A. (2012), “Factors influencing student’s enrollment decisions in selection of higher education institutions (HEI’s)”, Interdisciplinary Journal of Contemporary Research in Business, Vol. 4 No. 5, pp. 558-568.
Misran, N., Abd. Aziz, N., Arsad, N., Hussain, H., Wan Zaki, W.M.D. and Sahuri, S.N.S. (2012), “Influencing students for matriculation students in selecting university and program of study”, Procedia-Social and Behavioural Sciences, Vol. 60 No. 1, pp. 567-574.
Ramalu, J.C.D., Abu Bakar, N. and Nijar, N.N. (2013), “Factors that determine students’ preferences in selecting higher learning institution”, Infrastructure University Kuala Lumpur Research Journal, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 27-38.
Winn, P., Leach, L.F., Erwin, S. and Benedict, L. (2014), “Factors that influence student selection of educational leadership Master’s programs at regional universities”, Administrative Issues Journal: Education Practice and Research, Vol. 4 No. 1, pp. 74-86.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with the Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education (JERE) agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY-SA 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. (See The Effect of Open Access)
