Amid concerns about creating internationally recognized world-class universities in China, this study aims to explore the factors that influence the selection of two prestigious universities in China, namely Tsinghua and Beida, by high school students. In light of concerns surrounding the establishment of globally renowned universities in China,…

Education boosts any nation's economy. Sri Lankan higher education is competitive. Because only 15% of students who take the General Certificate Examination in Advanced Level (G.C.E A/L) are qualified to enter public universities, every student struggles to get into university. Some ineligible public college students attend private universities,…

How horizontal stratification in education influences marriage expectations is less known. Using data from the 2009 Beijing College Students Panel Survey and a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, this study examines whether university quality impacts students' intended age at marriage. Results show that attending a tier 1 university, relative…

Purpose: This study's purpose was to explore professional career paths into physical education teacher education. Methods: Participants included 27 physical education teacher educators with an average of 20.2 years of experience selected from among attendees at international conferences, using a combination of convenience and purposive sampling.…

Although the low level of tuition fees and the absence of other access barriers, Italy is characterized by low educational attainments at the university level. This work models the choice of young Italians to attend university or leave education and enter the labor market, by making use of an agent-based model that reproduces the Italian higher…

As marketization and privatization strategies become commonplace in higher education, it is essential for institutions to understand how students make decisions about college choice. Students as consumers engage in complex college choice decision-making that is often impacted by institutional and personal characteristics, such as cost, location,…

Recent research reveals that many students are "swirling," or transferring more than one time, and not always vertically. This rise in swirlers suggests that some students choose transfer institutions that do not fit their needs. Yet, very little research examines the choices students make as they seek to transfer from one school to…

Postgraduate students' university selection decisions are influenced not only by the students themselves or their families, but also by internal university factors. This study evaluated the reasons for pursuing postgraduate education and investigated how family's socioeconomic status and the university's internal environment factors influenced…

Purpose: This study intends to build up a thorough understanding of social factors that largely influence students' decision-making to opt institution for higher studies in India. Design/methodology/approach: This descriptive research follows two sequential phases consisting of the literature review to identify social factors and validate the…

Over the past forty years, scholars have been studying students' choice of higher education programmes to unravel the complexity of the choice process. Recent studies have shown that students may commit to a programme, i.e. they make a choice to enrol in that programme, when they find a programme that attunes well with their interests. Students…

Understanding students' college enrollment decisions is critical because the admission outcome can affect the school's quality and its reputation. In this paper, we study how students consider their relative academic ability compared to their potential peers. Drawing from social comparison theory, we posit that there are asymmetric effects due to…

In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic began to substantially disrupt the educational experiences of high school students. In addition to experiencing the pandemic disruption in high schools, students were also likely aware of disruptions in colleges and in the labor market. Fast-forward to the spring of 2023. The students who are now…

This paper draws on research conducted in four publicly funded secondary schools in the South-East of England that explored the higher education decision-making of prospective first-generation university entrants accessing school-based widening participation interventions. It begins by introducing an "ecology of intersecting influences"…

Tertiary education is a turning point in anybody's life. Students' choice of tertiary education is crucial for them, their family members, and the country. All parents would like to see their children reach the heights in education and develop many career prospects. In Sri Lanka, critical job profiles are limited to medical doctors, engineers,…

This study focused on Chinese doctoral recipients in social science disciplines in the U.S. and their decision making about returning to China upon graduation. In interviews of Chinese faculty who studied in the U.S. and Chinese PhD students currently in the U.S., we found that plans to return were associated with a blend of cultural, family, and…