Identifying the Principal Factors Affecting the Selection of Higher Education Economical Studies in Greece

Odysseas Moschidis, Vassilis Kostoglou, Jason Papathanasiou

Abstract


This paper presents a study of the factors affecting the selections of university departments for undergraduate studies made by high school graduates in Greece; crucial decisions affecting both the vocational career of the individuals as well as the labor market at national level. It is therefore important for the economic development of a country to understand how people come early to decisions that have a significant effect in their career. The factors under consideration have been identified by the high school candidates for university introductory exams in Greece. A methodology is introduced based on correspondence analysis for estimating the importance of the factors affecting a certain outcome and a structured questionnaire has been designed for this purpose, covering several socioeconomic factors which were considered as important by the students in their decision making procedure. The methodology is then used to estimate the impact of 18 factors influencing the order of preference of 318 male and 454 female high school students in their final selection of economical university departments. The paper also reveals whether there is any differentiation or harmonization among groups of students, such as between the two genders, with respect to these factors.


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DOI: https://doi.org/10.5296/jmr.v5i2.2957

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