Why do students choose their area of study? What goals do they want to achieve? How satisfied are they?

Did you know?

Selecting a course of study, profession, partner and a place to live are pivotal choices in which students shape their identity. If students make an autonomous choice of studies and aspire to intrinsic goals, they are more satisfied with their choice and more motivated in their studies than if their choice has a controlled motivation and they are aiming for extrinsic goals.

The overall study satisfaction of students is quite high:

  • 64% of students experience high study satisfaction
  • 34% reports moderate satisfaction.
  • 72% report a high autonomous motivation rather than a forced one for their choice of study.
  • 69% score moderately for growth-oriented (intrinsic) goals and 12% have a high score.

Study satisfaction is related to the reasons why students choose their studies and the goals they want to achieve through their studies. Students appear to be more focused on growth-oriented (intrinsic) goals than on materialistic goals.

Conclusions

  • In general, students seem to be satisfied with their studies. After all, they make their choice of studies for autonomous rather than forced reasons;
  • One in five students pursues materialistic aspirations in their studies rather than growth-oriented (intrinsic) goals;
  • Male students are less satisfied with their studies, are more likely to choose their studies for controlled reasons and to prioritise more materialistic aspirations.
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