Factors Affecting Students’ Intention to Study at Higher Learning Institution of Technical and Vocational Education and Training

Abstract

Focus of Malaysia Higher Education Sector Blueprint 2015-2025 which was launched in April 2015 among others is to increase the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) enrolment from 250,000 to 650,000 by 2025. It is thus important to understand factors that influence students to choose TVET for their higher education. Extensive research has been conducted in this area involving public and private universities. However, past research has overlooked the TVET sector. This study was carried out at Universiti Kuala Lumpur (UniKL),none of the technical university in Malaysia, in two stages. Stage one involved conducting focus group interviews. Second stage involved developing questionnaire and sending out the questionnaires to 131 first year undergraduate students using purposive sampling. This study sought to explore (i) factors that influence students’ intention to study at UniKL; (ii) were the influencing factors affected by parents’ household income; (iii) were the influencing factors affected by students’ residential locations; and (iv) important sources of information to students in exploring tertiary education. Results showed that significant factors were the value of education; degree’s content and structure; physical aspects, facilities and resources; and information. Students coming from various family income levels differ significantly on the cost of education and information. The residential location of the respondents did not influence their intention to study at the university. Finally, the important sources of information were university website, counsellor and parents. Administrators of TVET Higher Learning Institutions are urged to focus on developing a prestige institutional reputation. Higher TVET institutions already have specialized programs. However, more work need to be done to intensify the promotion and spreading the information of the TVET programs to the public.