Enrolment Choices in Portuguese Higher Education: Do Students Behave as Rational Consumers?

Autor/inn/en	Tavares, Orlanda; Cardoso, Sónia
Titel	Enrolment Choices in Portuguese Higher Education: Do Students Behave as Rational Consumers?
Quelle	In: Higher Education: The International Journal of Higher Education and Educational Planning, 66 (2013) 3, S.297-309 (13 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0018-1560
DOI	10.1007/s10734-012-9605-5
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; College Students; College Choice; Enrollment; Student Behavior; Consumer Economics; Qualitative Research; College Programs; Preferences; Socialization; Portugal + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Collegestudent; Studienortwahl; Einschulung; Student behaviour; Schülerverhalten; Konsumökonomie; Qualitative Forschung; Studienprogramm; Socialisation; Sozialisation
Abstract	As part of a progressive change occurring in the way public sector beneficiaries are conceived, higher education students started to be more and more perceived as clients or consumers. This implies assuming them as rational and conscious actors aware of what to expect from higher education attendance and of its returns. Framed by the metaphor of students as consumers, this paper aims to discuss whether students behave as rational consumers when choosing to enrol in higher education. Based on the findings of a qualitative study analysing Portuguese students' choices it is possible to conclude that they tend to behave as rational consumers when they decide to attend higher education and when they choose a given institution, but not when they decide on attending a specific study programme. In this last case, instead of comparing the diverse study programmes and collecting information before forming their preference, students first formed this preference and, only then, gathered information. Student socialisation process emerged as a key element in shaping the preference for the study programme and in the vocation to choose it. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10