Factors Affecting Career Choice For Higher Education In Mongolia

Abstract

Undergraduate enrollment in universities across Mongolia has experienced troubling fluctuations in recent years. According to the National Statistics Office, university enrollment in Mongolia declined by 7.2 percent from 2022, resulting in a low of 26.3 thousand students. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have also seen a decrease in freshmen enrollment, leading many leaders to focus on ensuring the sustainability of these institutions. On the one hand, this is a characteristic of the behavior of adolescents. This paper proposes a two-fold study: (1) to identify the factors influencing Mongolian high school students' choices of HEIs and academic degree programs, and (2) to explore the factors affecting behavioral intentions. A web-based questionnaire was used to collect data from a sample of 707 senior high school students in Mongolia who participated in an online survey. The survey aimed to examine the influence of various factors, including university characteristics, the impact of significant individuals, student characteristics on students’ decision to enroll in HEIs. The findings from structural equation modeling indicate that student characteristics significantly influence students’ decision to enroll university. In conclusion, this study highlights the model's effectiveness in understanding the factors that influence students’ decisions to enroll in university. The results also provide managerial implications to enhance institutional student recruitment strategies.