Factors driving university choice: a principal component analysis on Italian institutions

When investigating students’ motivations to enrol in university, a wide range of elements related to the overall student experience should be taken into account. The current study moves from this point to analyse students’ choice factors from a survey completed by 27,504 students across 23 Italian institutions by means of a logistic principal component analysis. Results confirm the presence of multiple factors jointly influencing students’ choice, with geographical proximity, job opportunities in the region, university reputation and ease of access opposing one another. Aggregating results at the institutional level, students’ distribution proves to be highly heterogeneous across universities, which are selected for different contextual factors even within the same region. From this, a managerial tool is provided to position students’ population and derive strategic implications. This increases universities’ awareness and enables them to better focus on the main served population or to target a different one. Finally, policy considerations are reported.