STUDENTS’ CHOICE OF HIGHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTES; ANALYSIS OF FACTORS IN THE SRI LANKAN CONTEXT

Abstract

Over the years national university intake in Sri Lanka has become increasingly competitive due to the increasing demand for higher education. Successive governments have tried to almost annually increase the number of national universities and the student intake but failed to cater to this demand. Therefore, those who fail to obtain access to state university education and those who complete the advanced level in the British curriculum have to seek admission to Fee Levying Higher Education Institutes (FLHEIs) in Sri Lanka due to the high cost of overseas education. Fee Levying Higher Education Institutes (FLHEIs) affiliated to foreign universities realizing the need to compete with each other offer international degrees in order to attract students. So the decision making process has become even more complex for the students. Data for this study was randomly collected from 1000 numbers of current students of Fee Levying Higher Education Institutes (FLHEIs) in the Western Province, Sri Lanka. A questionnaire was administered. The questions were categorized according to the conceptual framework developed based on the literature review. The data was analyzed using computer-based software packages. The results of this study can be helpful to Sri Lankan Fee Levying Higher Education Institutes (FLHEIs) in optimizing student intake.