Exploring Putative Factors Affective Prospective Students’ of the University for Development Students: A Case Study of the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Sciences, Nyankpala Campus-Ghana

Abstract

The expansion of the higher education industry has caused a tremendous increase in the number and type of colleges, polytechnics and universities offering similar academic programmes in Ghana. As a consequence, the competition in the higher education industry makes it critical for education leadership and managers to deploy strategies that would influence students’ choice of a higher education institution and programme selection. The paper is an exploratory study designed to identify the important factors that influence students’ choice of university and particularly the programme. Data was collected through telephone interviews with students who were offered admissions to pursue agricultural related courses in the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Consumer Sciences of the University for Development Studies. About 320 students were randomly selected from the 1280 students offered admission to the faculty in the 2021/20222 Academic Year. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented in graphs and tables. The study found that 53.75% of the respondents declined their admission to offer Agriculture related programs because that was not their choice of programme. It further identified that most of those who declined the offer had applied for health related programmes where they were sure after completion could easily be employed. The study therefore, recommends a programme to educate prospective students on the job prospects, opportunities and benefits of pursuing agricultural related programmes. Government should also put in place measures to attract the graduate youth into Agricultural entrepreneurship.