Factors that Influence Undergraduate Students’ Choice of a University: A Case of Botho University in Botswana

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine factors that influenced decisions of undergraduate students’ choice of a university to study at. Botho University was used as a case study. Studies show that universities are currently confronted with both the decrease in student enrolments and high competition for those students between institutions. As a result of these twin challenges, it is of critical importance that factors that influence students’ choices of universities are investigated to enable effective planning of student recruitment strategies. The study employed a descriptive survey design that employed a structured questionnaire for data collection. Simple random sampling procedure was used to select a sample of 300 participants from a population of 1240 Botho University undergraduate students. Collected data was analysed using SPSS version 22. Results of the study showed that factors that include academic programmes offered, image and reputation of the institution, advertising, career fairs, quality of staff, employment prospects of graduates from the institution had a very high influence on the decision by students to choose Botho University as an institution to study at. Factors such as tuition fees, chance of getting scholarships and campus visits did not have a very high influence.