Motivation to Study in Higher Education: A Comparison between Germany and Great Britain

Abstract

This article deals with reasons for the motivation to study in higher education. To find out about motives, around 200 A‐level students in Germany and Great Britain were asked about their plans for the time after completion of their A‐levels. Through socio‐demographic data the authors could deploy facts about social backgrounds and the affiliations to socio‐economic classes. There are some expected findings (e.g., British A‐level students are more likely to study than their German comrades) and some pretty unexpected results (e.g., social classes do not seem to divide students into choosing university or not).

Notes

¹ International Standard Classification of Education 1997

² For primary data collection one has to distinguish qualitative (i.e., exploratory) and quantitative (i.e., descriptive or causal) collection of data. Whereas qualitative data are usually collected through interviews or observations for a smaller group, quantitative data are typically collected through self‐completion or interviewer‐completed surveys or observations for a rather large amount of participants with the help of large‐scale surveys or even electronic databases (Hair et al., 2007, p. 192 et seq.).