The pie charts illustrate the varied reasons which encouraged students to choose a college or an university in the U.K in the years 2008 and 2017
Overall, it is clear that the majority of students decide based on suitable degree courses and quality of teaching, while the minority of them rely heavily on reputation on the institution, sports and activities and proximity to parental home.
In 2008, the proportion of students who choose university or college based on suitable degree courses was 38%. The second most significant factor for choosing higher education was quality of teaching, with 30% of totel, followed by proximity to parental home in the third place. In contrast, the least common explanations why students choosing university were reputation on the intitution, and sports and activities, 7 and 8% respectively.
In 2017, despite experiencing downward trend, the proportion of top reasons that motivated students to choose university did not its dominance, including suitable degree courses and quality of teaching, accounting for 32 and 26% respectively. While “proximity to parental home” reason decresed to 13%, loosing its third place to sports and activities which stood at 17%. The least used reason to motivate students to choose university was reputation on the institution, despite increasing from 8 to 12%