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Procedia Economics and Finance 32 (2015) 850 – 854

Emerging Markets Queries in Finance and Business

The main factors that influence the decision in choosing a path

in Tertiary Education
Emilia ği‫܊‬anª, Andreea Ardelean ª*, Daniela Maneaª,b,
Cristina Bobocª,b, Burciu Andreeaª
a
The Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Bucharest, postal code: 010374, Romania
b
Institute of National Economy, Bucharet, postal code: 50731, Romania

Abstract

Choosing a college may be a difficult and sometimes an unpredictable process, but it is mainly seen from one
perspective. We can find a lot of articles that give advice on how to make the best decision, but we do not
know exactly the final result: what made a person choose a college over another one. So, a college can also be
seen as a product. It is important to know the candidate’s expectation and to determine his / her motivation.
Many would say that the main influence is the passion for a particular field, but there are few who know
exactly what they want to become when they graduate High cchool which lead us into thinking that there are
other significant motives. Therefore the purpose of this study is to determine the most important
characteristics which take part in the process of the decision. In order to understand how people make choices
between universities, a survey was conducted (collecting the quantitative information from young Romanian
citizens) from which we extracted the ideal profile of a college and the satisfaction concerning the choices
made by students. The results give a general view on what the candidates / students expect from the
universities.

© 2015 Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the Emerging Markets Queries in Finance and Business
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Asociatia Grupul Roman de Cercetari in Finante Corporatiste
local organization.

Keywords: survey, tertiary education, statistical techniques, market research

* Corresponding author:
E-mail address: ardelean.andreea@yahoo.com

2212-5671 © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of Asociatia Grupul Roman de Cercetari in Finante Corporatiste
doi:10.1016/S2212-5671(15)01531-2
 Emilia Ţițan et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 32 (2015) 850 – 854 851

1. Introduction

The aim of this paper is to present college as a product. Although choosing one can be hard, we should also
take into consideration which one would be popular based on people’s opinions. There are plenty of articles
that serve as a guide, but many don’t have an important research background on how things really are.
In 2007, a study called “Choosing a faculty: social conditioning or rationality” approached this subject, but
in a different manner. The purpose of the survey was to reveal the importance high school students pay to
education and to present sources of information when deciding a particular college. The social analysis
determined the fact that higher education is correlated with economic status of their families and with the level
of education of their parents. The teenagers chose something between what suited them and what had good
prospects, according to what their families, friends or teachers suggested, in the absence of professional
counseling programs. In order to determine the decision-making process, the ‘funnel of causality’ model was
used.
Our paper goes a little further than the other one and tries to capture people’s preferences regarding to
faculty choices. We tried to determine how tertiary education is perceived and we made delimitation between
private universities and public ones, because we wanted to make a comparison. We also created a criteria list
which would identify the most popular profile for a college.

2. Data and Methods

The market research took place in Bucharest and Constanta in June-July 2013 by direct interview or by
sending emails. To define the population we used information provided by the website of the National
Institute of Statistics. We took into account the population over 18 years of Bucharest and Constanta which is
approximately 1.8 million people, without omitting the proportion, focusing more on young people that
haven’t yet finished college.
The main statistical technique used is conjoint analysis. It determines how people value different features
of a product or service. The objective is to establish what combination of limited number of attributes is most
significative on decision making. So, a controlled set of products or services is displayed to respondents and
by examining their preferences, the implicit appreciation of the outlines making up the product or service can
be defined. A research using this method usually needs a minimum of 40 respondents, so the current research
is conducted as any traditional conjoint research, however surpassing a bit the number with a total of 84
people. Of these 59.5% were women and 40.5% men.
At the development of the questionnaire we used the presentation process of the questions and we took
into consideration the general principles of drafting such a tool for gathering information. We used specific
questions to draw up a conjoint questionnaire, so that combinations of attributes and questions to capture the
subtle differences of opinion or attitude.
Statistical data processing was conducted using SPSS software.

3. Results and discussion

This research aims to determine people's preferences in choosing a college based on the most important
criteria. First we tried to establish the main objectives: information on people's attitude or appreciation about
852 Emilia Ţițan et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 32 (2015) 850 – 854

Romanian higher education and satisfaction, as well as various influences and classifications regarding faculty
and portray ideal choice.
Most people believe that higher education is necessary for getting a job in Romania. Yet there was a fair
percentage of about 23 % to consider otherwise. Most of them had high incomes.
In assessing the quality of Romanian higher education public universities have achieved an average of
7.13, while private universities an average of 5.7. Clearly, in Romania, public universities are better rated,
with a higher confidence level. Then we tried to determine whether those with higher grades at the
Baccalaureate Examination were influenced to better assess public universities and vice versa. After applying
a simple regression, it was observed that there was no relevant link between the two variables. The correlation
coefficient (R) had a very low value of 0.139.
The highest percentage was recorded at those who chose to study in another city than the one in which they
live (56%). 41.7% of respondents chose to study in their hometown and only 2.4% in another country. The
percentage was higher in men choose to learn outside native town.
Most people (57.1%) were not influenced by anyone when they chose college. Of those who took into
account the opinions of others, the family had the greatest influence with a percentage of 23.8%.
Table 1. Influence * Gender Crosstabulation
Count

Gender
When choosing college: F M Total
Influence from family 11.9 11.9 23.8%
friends 6.0 3.6 9.5%
teachers 4.8 2.4 7.1%
nobody 35.7 21.4 57.1%
others 0 1.2 1.2%

unresponsive 1.2 0 1.2%

Total 59.5% 40.5% 100%

For most people college reputation mattered in their choice, with a high percentage of 72.6% and almost all
(94%) had some information about the chosen college before admission.
The desire to find out about the influence of certain factors on candidate preference, we chose:
• type of admission (exam or file)
• type of university (public or private)
• field (sciences or humanities fields)
• motivation (driven by passion or by higher chances of employment after graduation)
 Emilia Ţițan et al. / Procedia Economics and Finance 32 (2015) 850 – 854 853

Table 2. Card List

Card ID Admission University Field Motivation
1 File Public Humanities Demand on labour market
2 Exam Private Humanities Passion
3 File Public Humanities Passion
4 File Private Sciences Passion
5 Exam Private Humanities Demand on labour market
6 Exam Public Sciences Passion
7 File Private Sciences Demand on labour market
8 Exam Public Sciences Demand on labour market

The 8 cards containing product profiles are ranked by the subjects. Most preferred product gets rank 1, the
least preferred product gets rank 8. As shown in table 2, most subjects prefer a public university in the
humanities fields with admission based on file, being motivated by market demand. Second choice is a private
university also in the humanities fields, but with admission based on exam, motivation being passion. The
least preferred is public university in sciences track with admission based on exam, motivated by market
demand.
If we take the criteria separately, then the results will be completely different. Most (77.4%) prefer to give
exam and public universities are more desirable than private ones with a percentage of 78.6%. The preferred
domain is on sciences track, while the most powerful motivation is the passion for that field, with a
percentage of 59.5%. Those with higher grades at the Baccalaureate examination had the tendency to choose
exam over admission based on file, while income did not influence in choosing mainly public universities.
Women had the tendency to choose humanities fields, while men choose especially the sciences track.
Motivation made women to mainly choose according to their passion, while men were more balanced, with
approximately equal percentages.
When asked if they are pleased with the chosen college, most were satisfied with the choice. Taking gender
into consideration, women were less satisfied with their option.

Table 3. Satisfaction with chosen college

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Very dissatisfied 5 6.0 6.0 6.0
Dissatisfied 10 11.9 11.9 17.9
Satisfied 54 64.3 64.3 82.1
Valid
Very satisfied 10 11.9 11.9 94.0
Unresponsive 5 6.0 6.0 100.0
Total 84 100.0 100.0
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Most of the respondents (67.9%) considered equally important attendance at course and seminar. But we
should also take into consideration the percentage of those who chose only seminars. 25% it’s a bit high. Most
complained that the course can be too abstract or difficult to understand, while the seminar is based more on
real examples, applicable in everyday life.
Table 4. Attendance
Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative
Percent
Course 3 3.6 3.6 3.6
Seminar / Laboratory 21 25.0 25.0 28.6
Both 57 67.9 67.9 96.4
Valid
None 2 2.4 2.4 98.8
Unresponsive 1 1.2 1.2 100.0
Total 84 100.0 100.0

4. Conclusions

The results of the study indicate that in Romania people still confide in public universities and that many
still prefer the hard way that consists in taking an exam. Private universities should reconsider changing some
policies for people to take them more seriously. Many still make choices based on what they like, not by what
the labor market requires. Yet they are more inclined to follow sciences track.
Romanians seem a little disappointed of what Romanian education can provide, though they do not lose
hope that in the near future both courses and seminars will be more practical and interactive.

Acknowledgement

This work was cofinanced from the European Social Fund through Sectorial Operational Programme
Human Resources Development 2007-2013, project number POSDRU/159/1.5/S/132406.

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