Factors influencing educational choices of Romanian rural youth

This paper attempts to identify the main factors influencing the decisions regarding educational choices of rural youth from Cluj county, Romania. In order to achieve this, data collected in three waves of survey, in 2007, 2011 and 2015, were combined. The three surveys used the same methodology, thus allowing us to test the stability of the outcomes over a period of eight years, to highlight the main changes occurring in this period and to test statistically the factors of influence on a larger sample. The results show that the share of those who intend to study further slightly increased in the period 2007-2015. Regression analysis lead us to five factors that have a statistically significant influence on continuing education: the parents’ attitude towards continuing education, the age, the number of siblings, the school performance and the computer skills of the respondents. Some other individual, family and locality-related variables also correlated significantly with the intention to study further. Based on the conclusions, some policy implications are discussed