Factors Influencing Students’ Choice of a Federal University: A Case Study of a Nigerian Federal University

Abstract

The factors affecting students' choice of higher education is essential for the university's management. Various research across the world has been carried out to understand how students select their preferred universities for tertiary study; however, there is a shortage of insight from an African perspective. Specifically focusing on a federal university in Nigeria, this study aims to explore factors influencing students' interest in the school and why they selected it as their study location. A structured questionnaire from 282 undergraduate students based on stratified random sampling was used to understand these choice factors. The study found that personal interest greatly influenced students' decisions, followed by parental influence, university reputation, university ranking, and fees. The results provide an understanding of students' choices for universities in a Nigerian context, which is a loose representation of the general influences of students' choice for study sites on the continent. This would enable stakeholders working in the Nigerian education sector including academics, administrators and practitioners and international collaborators to understand the most effective ways to reach out to prospective students and draw useful lessons for universities' marketing strategies, which could be recommended not only in Nigeria but in Africa at large.

The influence of sustainable branding and opinion leaders on international students’ intention to study: a case of Universiti Sains Malaysia

“…Furthermore, the results obtained in this research were in line with claims made by Bodycott (2009) and Adeyanju et al (2020), concerning the failure of past research to provide definitive empirical evidence of the strength and nature of the relationship between opinion leaders and the decision to choose a sustainable university. When making decisions, students normally trust the opinions of other persons who belong to their closest circle or their social interaction network compared to traditional marketing media (Zhang et al , 2018).…”

“…This finding is in contrast with those obtained by several researchers such as James-MacEachern and Yun (2017) about the role of opinion leaders, as they are considered as an established force in educational guidance, which can help determine the university of choice amongst students. Furthermore, the results obtained in this research were in line with claims made by Bodycott (2009) and Adeyanju et al (2020), concerning the failure of past research to provide definitive empirical evidence of the strength and nature of the relationship between opinion leaders and the decision to choose a sustainable university. When making decisions, students normally trust the opinions of other persons who belong to their closest circle or their social interaction network compared to traditional marketing media (Zhang et al, 2018).…”

“…Turcotte et al's (2015) work indicated that opinion leaders had the strongest influence on students' decision compared to other opinion influencers and information sources. This result is supported by Adeyanju et al (2020) in a study on students' intention at a federal university in Nigeria, whereby it was IJSHE 23,3 found that opinion leaders influenced the students' decision on the university, through dissemination of relevant information.…”

Factors Influencing Postgraduate Students’ University Choice in Nigeria

“…This suggests that a wide range of factors influence the decision of which university to apply. Though generally classified into two form -characteristics (and related factors) of universities and the information sources from which they seek advice and information (Le et al, 2019), many studies have made an effort to identify decision-making profiles of students who choose a Higher Education Institution (HEI) (Adeyanju, et al, 2019). Nevertheless, the lists of choice factors are diversified across studies.…”

A Study on the Relationship between Family Peer Group Media and Career Decision Making among Undergraduates in Nigeria

“…Choosing courses of study and subsequent career pathways can be a nightmare for prospective undergraduate students in most situations (Edomwonyi, 2018). Nigeria is Africa's most populous country, with over 180 million people, and it has significant issues in determining realistic career selections for its rapidly rising population (Adeyanju, Mogaji, Olusola, & Oyinlola, 2020). For an individual to have a wise and realistic career, he must understand his strengths and weaknesses.…”