Awareness, knowledge and intentions for postgraduate study

Abstract

Many university administrators, academics and marketers expend time and financial resources promoting postgraduate study options, yet scant scholarly research has addressed students' attraction to postgraduate study. This study examines awareness and knowledge of, and intentions to pursue postgraduate study from the perspective of current undergraduate students. A survey of 340 first, second and third year business/management students revealed no statistically significant differences between the cohort years, revealing opportunities for universities to disseminate important aspects of postgraduate study at appropriate times. The significant link between the university's promotion of postgraduate study and students' intentions to progress to postgraduate study is demonstrated through structural equation modelling. Implications for practice are addressed.

keywords:

• career development
• decision making
• educational research
• management education
• student choice

Acknowledgements

The authors have relied upon data collected with the assistance of funding from the Graduate Management Admission Council® (GMAC) to conduct the independent research that forms the basis for the findings and conclusions stated by the authors in this article. These findings and conclusions are the opinion of the authors only, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of GMAC. The research for this paper was also supported by a LEAD grant from Macquarie University's Faculty of Business and Economics.

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