The charts break down the reasons by which students chose to purse higher education in the UK, and show how the shares of those changed from 2008 to 2017.
Overall, it is clear that majority of students choosing to study further according to various reasons witnessed a noticeable decline by 2017, while students who stated sports& activities and reputation of the institution as the reason demonstrated a reversed scenario, with the formal seeing the most significant change across all reasons. It is also worth noting that despite the reduction, suitable degree courses managed to keep maintenance in opting for higher education.
Focusing on students who chose study ar a particular college or university due to suitable degree courses first, a little bit decrease was recorded. The percentage of aforementioned students started at 38% in 2008, a figure that then dropped to 32% by 2017. The quality of teaching followed next, comprising 30% in 2008, and 26% in 2017, respectively. Similarly, 17% was made up of students preferring proximity to parental home to study further at first, after which they dipped to 13% by 2017.
By contrast, sports & activities and reputation on the institution were the reasons that ranked the lower places in choosing study at a college or university in both years, while there was an appreciable growth by 2017. Especially, the share of students selecting a university for being sports and activities more than doubled from 7% in 2008 to 17% in 2017, indicating more volatility as opposed to others. Likewise, while students basing reputation on the institution to study accounted for only 8% initially, by 2017, this figure increased by 4%.