An investigation into factors influencing students' choice to enrol at private higher education institutions in Botswana

Abstract

The aim of this quantitative, descriptive and co-relational study was to analyze the factors affecting students‟ choice to enrol at private higher education institutions in Botswana. The three specific objectives of the study included, to identify the factors influencing students‟ choice to enrol at private higher education institutions, to predict students‟ intention to enrol at private higher education institutions and, to determine the differences in factors influencing students‟ choice among private higher education institutions. Data was collected using a valid and reliable questionnaire through a survey of 560 stratified randomly sampled first year students from four of the higher education institutions in Botswana. Data collection was done through survey using a valid and reliable questionnaire constructed based on the information gathered from the literature review. A five point Likert‟s scale was adopted to measure the students‟ choice of institution and, intention to enrol at private higher education institution. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, principal component analysis, multiple regression analysis and analysis of variance. Principal component analysis revealed thirteen factors affecting students‟ choice to enrol at private higher education institutions. Multiple regression analysis revealed that out of the thirteen factors, only seven factors were found to be significant predictors of students‟ intention to enrol at private higher education institutions. These seven factors were characteristics of programs and course offered, campus life, criteria, procedure and policies for admission, quality of teaching and learning resources, physical characteristics of campus, person based outreach and, electronic based outreach. Analysis of variance and Post Hoc Test determined that only seven factors were significantly different among the four institutions in the study. These seven factors included advice seeking, employment prospects, campus life, quality of teaching and learning resources, person based institutional outreach, electronic based institutional outreach and, policies and procedures for admission. Based on the findings, implications for policy and practice were discussed and appropriate recommendations were made.