So many factors affecting students’ choice of a federal university in Nigeria either help make for them the right choice or that they make for them at the end of the day the wrong choice; however we will looking into why some students in Nigeria choose some tertiary institutions of learning over others. There are of course copious factors.
Various research across the world has been carried out to understand how students select their preferred universities for tertiary study; however, there is a shortage of insight from an African perspective. Specifically focusing on a federal university in Nigeria, this study aims to explore factors influencing students’ interest in the school and why they selected it as their study location. A structured questionnaire from undergraduate students was used to understand these choice factors.
Factors Affecting Students’ Choice of a Federal University in Nigeria
The study found that personal interest greatly influenced students’ decisions, followed by parental influence, university reputation, university ranking, and fees. This would enable stakeholders working in the Nigerian education sector including academics, administrators and practitioners and international collaborators to understand the most effective ways to reach out to prospective students and draw useful lessons for universities’ marketing strategies, which could be recommended not only in Nigeria but in Africa at large.
Here are then some of the factors affecting students’ choice of a federal university in Nigeria as they will be better explained for you to comprehend and so find solutions to each of these problems in education.
Personal Interest
One of the many factors affecting students’ choice of a federal university in Nigeria is the personal interest of the student. A student may have had some dreams about what course to study and the only federal institution to provide that resource is the chosen university, so there is no choice to be picked other than the one who promises to fulfill his dreams.
Parental Influence
Oftentimes, parental influence can also be a part of the factors affecting students’ choice of a federal university in Nigeria. A parent may have had a certain school in mind probably for their prestige and the security. No doubt that such parent may want his child or ward to fare the place for both learning and inculcation of character.
University Reputation
Another very important one of the factors affecting students’ choice of a federal university in Nigeria is the amount of academic records a particular institution has won over the years. This reputation can make a student choose a certain university. Oftentimes, this could affect the question of whether the school has the needed course of study such students dream to take or not.
University Ranking
In the scheme of ranking academic institutions in Nigeria, the level at which a federal university is placed in this prestigious identification with academic quality can also determine whether a student will choose such school or not. For instance, students would rather they chose the University of Ibadan over any other school that may be far below the ranking position of UI.
Tuition Fee
This more often than not is one of the biggest factors affecting students’ choice of a federal university in Nigeria. As the economic reality of the society is consistently harsh and somewhat becoming unfavorable for many, the choice of federal university rather than state university is major. Even then, the choice of federal universities is also determined by their levels of affordability.
