Doctoral thesis of Philosophy: An investigation of undergraduate choice behaviour of a preferred program, discipline and university: a conceptual model

This thesis investigates the choice behaviour of first year undergraduate students through proposing and testing a conceptual model. The psychological constructs of personal values, motivation, selection criteria, demographic and socioeconomic factors introduced as underlying drivers provide invaluable insight into the pathways of influence and relationships between student types and their preference towards a particular degree program at a particular university. Questionnaires from 304 first year undergraduate students from the three academic portfolios of Business, Science, Engineering and Technology and Design and Social Context were analysed.