Students’ motives for enrolling on business degrees in a post‐1992 university

A total of 284 first‐year undergraduate business studies students in a post‐1992 university in Greater London completed a questionnaire regarding their motives for deciding to participate in higher education. The questionnaire also queried whether the decision to enrol had been “marginal”, or was something about which they had never had any doubts or reservations. An amended version of the questionnaire was filled in by 139 second‐year BTEC and GNVQ students in two further education colleges in the catchment area of the university hosting the main investigation. This modified questionnaire asked the respondents whether they did or did not intend going to university, and examined their motives for wanting or not wanting to become undergraduates. It emerged that “goal orientation”, “learning orientation”, financial pressures and parental encouragement to enter university represented major motivational factors among both groups of students. Certain personality traits that previous research has found to influence HE enrolment decisions did not appear to explain the behaviour of the undergraduates; although academic self‐concept and self‐esteem did affect the decisions of the FE college students in the anticipated manner. In the case of the university students, self‐esteem and academic self‐concept significantly moderated the impact of a “financial pressure” variable on the decision to go to university. Other findings were generally in accord with the conclusions of prior empirical literature in the field.