Attracting the right students to University courses

Abstract

Getting accurate course information in university prospectuses is crucial. Here, we argue that if the prospectus descriptions about a particular course do not match the actual experiences of students on that course then they may feel demotivated and perhaps even drop out, at considerable cost to the department. Our study shows that when applicants decide whether to study their discipline at a particular institution, they consider how the information presented in the prospectuses matches their personal goals for study. We found that the way a course is described in a prospectus has an important influence on the choices of the student. Finally, we suggest how prospectus entries can be improved so that descriptions of course information match actual student experiences on a course. Geology is used as a focus discipline for part of this study.