In this chapter we examine the relative importance of particular influences on prospective students according to their field of study preferences. We concentrate on six fields of study in which the respondent numbers were adequate to permit analysis:

• Arts (286 responses)
• Business/Administration/Economics (159)
• Education (85)
• Engineering (84)
• Health Sciences (159)
• Science (71)

There are clear differences between applicants’ responses according to their preferred fields of study. Applicants for courses in the Business field stand out in terms of the relatively strong influence they attribute to considerations associated with a vocational, instrumentalist view of education. In choosing an institution, they are also more likely than applicants in other fields to be concerned to find study conditions that will fit in with their work commitments.

At the other end of the spectrum, Arts applicants indicate relatively low levels of concern with these employment-related considerations, and place higher emphasis on their interest in exploring areas of knowledge. However, it must be kept in mind that these are only relative differences. As we have discussed in the previous chapters, intrinsic interest, the desire for interesting and rewarding careers and an assessment of one’s own talents and abilities are clearly the most important considerations for applicant in all fields.

Applicants’ field of study interests do not appear to be related to the importance they attach to teaching-related issues. Few discernible differences are apparent between the applicant subgroups in the emphasis they place on approaches to teaching in the field concerned, or the approaches to teaching and the quality of teaching in the particular course they have chosen.

8.1 Influences on choice of field of study

Business and Engineering applicants are far more likely than those in other fields to be strongly influenced by employment rates and starting salaries of graduates in their fields (Table 8.1). The prestige of the field is another relatively important consideration for Business applicants, and mature-age Business applicants place more emphasis on the desire for a career change.

Table 8.1 Influences on field of study preference, selected item means and frequencies by applicants’ preferred field of study

Arts, Science and Health applicants indicate that interest in exploring knowledge is a relatively stronger influence on their choice of field, and mature-age Arts applicants are also more influenced than others by the desire for a career change.

Rather disturbingly, Education applicants score lower than any other group on the ‘interest in exploring the area of knowledge’ and ‘opportunities for interesting and rewarding careers’ items, and also on the items dealing with starting salaries and prestige. While their mean scores on the personal interest items are still high (above 4.0), these patterns overall may suggest relatively lower expectations among this group of prospective students. The only consideration in this section on which they place more emphasis than other groups is ‘Advice from teachers’.

An interesting finding is that the level of HECS fees is not an important consideration for any of these field of study sub-groups (with means clustered in a narrow range from 1.93 to 2.08), despite the introduction of differential HECS rates.

8.2 Influences on choice of course

The patterns of responses to this section of the questionnaire mirror those in the field of study section. Here too, it is the Business and Engineering applicants who attribute a relatively stronger influence to employment rates of graduates from the preferred course, and again Arts and Science applicants are less concerned with this consideration (Table 8.2).

Business and Engineering applicants part company, however, on the importance of opportunities for flexible study, with 26 per cent of the former rating this as a strong or very strong influence and only 8 per cent of the latter doing so.

Table 8.2 Influences on course preference, selected item means and frequencies by applicants’ preferred field of study

Business applicants are also relatively more concerned with the reputation of the course among employers, with 71 per cent indicating that this is a strong or very strong influence, compared with 49 per cent of Science students at the other end of the spectrum.

Education applicants have a relatively high mean score (3.47) on the possible influence of ‘Your belief that your school results are likely to get you in comfortably’, which may reflect the comparatively low entry scores currently required in this field. Health applicants nominate the satisfaction of graduates from the course as a relatively more important consideration than do other groups, which may point to more effective word-of-mouth channels of communication in this area.

8.3 Influences on choice of institution

In their choice of institution, Business applicants report more influence from more considerations than other applicants (Table 8.3). They have markedly higher mean ratings of influence than all or most other groups on the following items:

• employment rates from the preferred university;
• starting salaries of graduates;
• the prestige of the university;
• its image;
• opportunities for higher degree study;
• international character; and
• opportunities for flexible study.

Mature-age Business applicants also place more emphasis than other groups on:

• their employers’ views;
• the availability of classes outside working hours; and
• how easy it is to get to the university from work.

In comparative terms, Arts applicants give a relatively low rating of influence to many of these considerations, including employment rates, starting salaries and (among mature-age applicants) employers’ views and availability of classes outside working hours. This pattern confirms the expectation that the respective mature-age sub-groups are very different in their aims, interests and situations. Arts applicants also seem relatively uninterested in sporting and recreational facilities, with only 18 per cent indicating this was a strong or very strong consideration, compared with 36 per cent of Health applicants.

The general impression from these findings is that Arts applicants are less focused on institutional characteristics than some other groups of applicants, though many are still influenced by institutional prestige and image. Overall, arts applicants do not rate any influence very highly in relation to applicants in other areas. The nearest they come to doing so is on the item ‘international character of the university’, where their mean score of 2.76 is high in comparison with a mean for Education applicants of 2.28, but they are ‘outscored’ by Business applicants, with a mean of 2.89.

Table 8.3 Influences on university preference, selected item means and frequencies by applicants’ preferred field of study

Again in comparative terms, Education and Health applicants also do not appear to be very influenced by specific institutional characteristics. Education applicants report a stronger influence than other groups only on the item ‘Teachers’ recommendations’, in keeping with the reported influence of their teachers on choice of field. Compared with all other groups, Health applicants report a relatively high influence from the consideration of opportunities for higher degree study.

The Science applicants show a predictably distinctive profile, in giving greater emphasis to the research reputation of the university and the opportunities for higher degree study.

Engineering applicants maintain a consistent emphasis on vocational outcomes, with relatively high means on the items dealing with employment rates, starting salaries and institutional prestige. Interestingly, they stand out in their indication that the use of information technology in teaching is an important influence on their choice of university (a mean of 3.56, compared with the next highest mean of 3.07 for Science applicants and 2.90 for Business/Administration/Economics applicants).

8.4 Summary

Overall, there are striking differences between field of study sub-groups in the matters they consider important in their higher education decision-making. Generally the patterns of difference are highly predictable, with an anticipated division largely on the lines of vocational and non-vocational interests and preferences. This is an important reminder nonetheless that applicants differ substantially in their priorities and that field of study preferences are perhaps the most reliable predictors of the particular considerations that applicants are likely to take into account. The clear implication is that policies designed to expand and enhance the information base on which prospective students make their decisions must take into account the diverse interests, values and emphases outlined in this chapter.

Contents
Acknowledgments
Executive summary
1. Introduction
2. Understanding student decision-making
3. The method
4.  Applicants’ general intentions and sources of information
5.  The influences on school-leaver applicants
6.  The influences on mature-age applicants
7.  Subgroup differences: The effects of gender, socioeconomic status, and location
8.  Influences by field of study preference
9.  Influences according to the type of university chosen
10. Diversity and uncertainty: Applicant case studies
11. Decisions at the time of offer
12. The higher education choice process: A summary of findings and conclusions
Appendix 1 Definition of applicant subgroups
Appendix 2 Details of factor analyses
References

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