The pie charts illustrate the distribution of students driven by different factors to study in a UK university over the 20-year period from 1987 to 2007.
Overall, it is apparent that suitable degree courses constituted the largest proportion throughout the period, whereas other factors lagged behind.
Turning to the most significant categories, the share of students choosing suitable degree courses accounted for the largest share in 1987 at 35%, increasing to 37% in 2007. Similarly, the proportion of students focusing on quality teaching saw a slight increase from 15% to 18% over the period. The most notable change occurred in the percentage of students prioritizing a location close to their parental home, which more than doubled from 10% in 1987 to 22% in 2007.
By contrast, there was a decrease of 4% in the percentage of learners choosing quality of resources falling from 21% to 17%, and a downward trend was also observed in good sports and social activities, which sharply fell from 19% to just 6% in 2007.
