Purpose

University selection in higher education is a complex task for aspirants from a decision-making perspective. This study first aims to understand the essential parameters that affect potential students' choice of higher education institutions. It then aims to explore how these parameters or priorities have changed given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Learning about the differences in priorities for university selection pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic might help higher education institutions focus on relevant parameters in the post-pandemic era.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a mixed-method approach, with primary and secondary data (university parameters from the website and LinkedIn Insights). We developed a university selector system by scraping LinkedIn education data of various universities and their alumni records. The final decision-making tool was hosted on the web to collect potential students' responses (primary data). Response data were analyzed via a multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) model. Portal-based data collection was conducted twice to understand the differences in university selection priorities pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic. A one-way MANOVA was performed to find the differences in priorities related to the university decision-making process pre- and post-COVID-19.

Findings

This study considered eight parameters of the university selection process. MANOVA demonstrated a significant change in decision-making priorities of potential students between the pre- and post-COVID-19 phases. Four out of eight parameters showed significant differences in ranking and priority. Respondents made significant changes in their selection criteria on four parameters: cost (went high), ranking (went low), presence of e-learning mode (went high) and student life (went low).

Originality/value

The current COVID-19 pandemic poses many uncertainties for educational institutions in terms of mode of delivery, student experience, campus life and others. The study sheds light on the differences in priorities resulting from the pandemic. It attempts to show how social priorities change over time and influence the choices students make.

中文翻译：

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高等教育大学选择的决策系统：COVID-19 前后优先事项的比较

目的

从决策的角度来看，高等教育中的大学选择对于有抱负的人来说是一项复杂的任务。本研究首先旨在了解影响潜在学生选择高等教育机构的基本参数。然后，它旨在探讨鉴于 COVID-19 大流行的影响，这些参数或优先事项如何发生变化。了解 COVID-19 大流行前后大学选择优先事项的差异可能有助于高等教育机构关注大流行后时代的相关参数。

设计/方法/方法

本研究使用混合方法，包括主要和次要数据（来自网站和 LinkedIn Insights 的大学参数）。我们通过抓取各个大学的 LinkedIn 教育数据及其校友记录，开发了一个大学选择系统。最终的决策工具托管在网络上，以收集潜在学生的反应（主要数据）。通过多标准决策 (MCDM) 模型分析响应数据。进行了两次基于门户的数据收集，以了解 COVID-19 大流行前后大学选择优先事项的差异。进行了单向 MANOVA，以找出与 COVID-19 前后的大学决策过程相关的优先事项的差异。

发现

本研究考虑了大学选择过程的八个参数。MANOVA 展示了在 COVID-19 前后阶段之间潜在学生的决策优先事项发生了重大变化。八个参数中有四个在排名和优先级上显示出显着差异。受访者在四个参数上的选择标准发生了重大变化：成本（高）、排名（低）、电子学习模式的存在（高）和学生生活（低）。

原创性/价值

当前的 COVID-19 大流行在交付方式、学生体验、校园生活等方面给教育机构带来了许多不确定性。该研究揭示了大流行导致的优先事项差异。它试图展示社会优先事项如何随着时间的推移而变化，并影响学生做出的选择。