Influence of socioeconomic status and university’s internal environment factors on university-choice decisions of postgraduate students in Vietnam

Abstract

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 postgraduate students’ university choice decisions. The study surveyed 401 first-year postgraduate students across five member universities of Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City using a questionnaire and five semi-structured interviews. The empirical data revealed many reasons behind respondents’ decisions, with the mean value ranging from 3.49 to 4.14, including reasons such as the desire to continue to learn and progress professionally, to obtain an additional graduate degree, passion for the graduated field, to pursue their own profession, the opportunity to meet and socialize with new friends, to get a job or find a better one, and to change the course of life. In addition, factors such as socioeconomic status (such as family income) and the university's internal environment (such as curricula, facilities, admissions, marketing and communication, service attitude, and learning environment) have also have different positive and negative effects on their judgments about which universities to select. The study also discussed suggestions for higher education managers and other stakeholders.