Analysis of lithuanian senior year high school students' intentions to enter universities and colleges: the aspect of expectations

This Bachelor’s thesis examines the expectations of Lithuanian finishing year high school students who intend to enroll at Lithuanian universities and colleges. Based on the higher education system massification, diversity and typology literature, official documents, and previous research, six hypotheses are formulated. Hypotheses state that students intending to enter universities and colleges will differ in their assessment of the importance of various study choice factors. The factors analyzed are closely related with the different missions of the two higher education sectors. Factors included are study prestige, easy entry, easy studying, reasonable duration of studies, opportunity to study close to home, expectations for gaining practical experience during studies. Study relies on the Government’s Strategic Analysis Center’s data from a representative high school student’s survey conducted in 2019. Research results confirmed the hypotheses about the differences between the reported importance of easy studying and the importance of opportunity to study close to home. Both factors were rated as having higher influence on the study choice of those intending to enter colleges. Other four hypotheses were not validated as there were no significant differences between the reported importance of study choice factors analyzed. Therefore, there is some discrepancy between the missions attributed to these two higher education sectors and the expectations of the students entering them. Thesis concludes with possible explanations of the research results and suggestions for future research