| 4. Applicants’ general
intentions and sources of information
The majority of applicants surveyed held a very strong ambition to go to university. Over 80 per cent of the applicants in the sample were definite in their plans to attend university in 1999 or enrol, then defer, for a year, compared with 4 per cent who were still considering whether to either look for work or continue in their present employment and not study. Despite the generally strong commitment to pursuing higher education within this group of prospective students, a sizeable number of them perceive barriers or inhibitors. In a finding similar to that of our research into the attitudes of secondary school students (James et al. 1999), roughly one in seven (14 per cent) of the applicants hoping to go to university believed that they might not be able to do so. Most applicants were intending to enrol full-time (91 per cent for on-campus study (99 per cent), though 23 per cent of the sample had at some stage considered distance education. Fourteen per cent of the sample were applying for a university outside the state of their home postcode. This figure includes those applicants who live near state borders and those who are focused on a particular university in another state. There was a high level of certainty amongst the applicants that the course they had chosen was appropriate for their needs. Overall, 76 per cent of the respondents were sure or very sure that the course of their first preference would be the right one for them. Only 5 per cent of the group indicated a large degree of uncertainty on this question. Despite the apparent high level of confidence in the appropriateness of the chosen course, one-quarter of the sample (26 per cent) were not at all confident, or only a little confident, of being offered the course of their first preference. Only 11 per cent were very confident of being offered their first preference. Applicants were asked to indicate how long ago they had first come to their present decision about a field of study. For a large group of applicants the process of choosing a field had begun a few years ago, but for over half the decision did not begin in earnest until the year of application. Forty-three per cent of the respondents had settled on a preferred field of study several or more years ago. A sizeable proportion, 56 per cent, only came to the decision within the year leading up to the application. We also asked applicants a similar question about how long ago they chose their preferred course and institution. The course–institution decision is a much later one for many applicants: three-quarters of the respondents made this decision within the year leading up to the application; 17 per cent did so only when they began seriously thinking about making their application. At the time of initial application, respondents’ plans for the event of not being offered their first preference (Table 4.1) reveal just how strongly field of study interests dominate their thinking. Presented with a range of possible options, including enrolling in a TAFE course or looking for work, well over half of the respondents (55 per cent) indicated they would probably seek a course in a similar field of study at another university. The applicants in this group are clearly focused foremost on the field that interests them. By comparison, a considerably smaller proportion, 20 per cent, reported that they would probably seek a course at the same university as that of their original preference, but in another field of study. By the time of offer in 1999, the actual paths chosen by applicants differed somewhat from their earlier intentions, but were broadly along the same lines: of those not offered their first preference, 47 per cent accepted a course in a similar field at another university, and 24 per cent accepted a course in a different field at the same university. These findings provide a broadbrush indicator of the proportion of applicants, roughly one-quarter to one-third, whose preference for attending a particular university may take precedence over, or at least be of equal importance to, their field of study aspirations. However, as is discussed in Chapter 11, this estimate may exaggerate the number of applicants whose thinking is dominated by a preference for a particular university. Many respondents indicated that their second or third preference courses at the same university were almost equally desirable to them, for they were aware of the opportunity for later year entry to the course of their original preference. We can conclude from this that some applicants who are unsuccessful with their first preferences and opt for courses in alternative fields of study at the same university may still be expressing their original course preference, though indirectly. Table 4.1 Applicants’ plans at time of application if not offered course of first preference
5=strong influence to 1=little or no influence at all. ‘Reasonably strong influence’ represents % of respondents at points 5 or 4 on the scale, ‘small influence or no influence’ is % of respondents at points 2 or 1. University web sites were consulted by 44 per cent of applicants overall, with mature-age applicants showing a slightly higher (47 per cent) tendency to have visited them. Newspaper supplements were consulted by 35 per cent of the sample. All other sources of information, including newspaper advertisements, were used by only a quarter to one-third of applicants. In the school-leaver group, materials distributed by careers teachers provided information for 84 per cent and school visits to universities were a source for 45 per cent. These patterns are reflected in the responses indicating extent of influence, with the Tertiary Admission Centre guides, open days, material from careers teachers, and school visits having considerably more influence than other sources of information. Respondents indicated quite emphatically overall that a number of these sources had little or no influence (60 per cent said this of newspaper advertisements placed by universities, 49 per cent of regional information fairs, and 46 per cent of newspaper articles and supplements). Commercial guides seem to have had comparatively little direct impact on tertiary applicants, with only 28 per cent consulting them and 41 per cent of these stating that they had only a small influence in their decision—one-third said they had little or no influence at all. However, it is conceivable that they may work indirectly by influencing careers advisers. |
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Contents Any comments or queries should be sent to: highered@detya.gov.au |
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