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What Encourages Longer Educational Careers in Tertiary Education? A Three-Level Approach for the Case of Romanian Universities

Author

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  • Ana-Maria Zamfir

    (Department of Education, Training and Labour Market, National Scientific Research Institute for Labour and Social Protection, 010643 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Cristina Mocanu

    (Department of Education, Training and Labour Market, National Scientific Research Institute for Labour and Social Protection, 010643 Bucharest, Romania)

  • Adriana AnaMaria Davidescu

    (Department of Education, Training and Labour Market, National Scientific Research Institute for Labour and Social Protection, 010643 Bucharest, Romania
    Department of Statistics and Econometrics, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania)

Abstract

Students’ commitment and engagement in the educational process are shaped by a dense combination of factors, with effects on educational attainment and on the length of their educational careers. Decisions of prolonging education by enrolling in master’s degrees are beneficial for both individuals and societies, as such programs provide higher levels of specialized skills Longer educational careers are favored by a mix of factors acting at the level of individual, university, or wider environment. We focus our study on exploring factors conducive for students’ intentions to pursue master’s degrees considering longer educational careers as desirable outcomes. Thus, this article investigates how the individual and environmental factors interplay and shape the predisposition of students to prolong their educational career by enrolling in master’s degrees. For this, we applied three-level logistic regression models for a sample of 502 students enrolled in their final year of bachelor studies grouped by universities and universities grouped by counties. The empirical results revealed that the final grade, the father level of education, the type of working contract, and job seniority are individual-level determinants influencing the decision of enrolment in a master’s program. At the university level, the type of university and the university performance score positively impact the students’ decision to enroll in a master’s program. At the county level, the empirical evidence pointed out the significance of determinants such as the proportion of students enrolled in bachelor studies; participation rate in education and training; employment level in high-technology sectors (HTC), total-knowledge intensive sectors (KIS), and knowledge-intensive high-technology sectors (KIS_HTC); proportion of persons with tertiary education employed in science and technology; proportion of scientists and engineers; local development; R&D expenditure, personnel, and researchers in the business sector; average gross earnings; density of active firms; birth rate of companies; proportion of innovative enterprises or those introducing product innovations on the decision to enroll in a master’s program.

Suggested Citation

  • Ana-Maria Zamfir & Cristina Mocanu & Adriana AnaMaria Davidescu, 2021. "What Encourages Longer Educational Careers in Tertiary Education? A Three-Level Approach for the Case of Romanian Universities," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-25, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:23:p:12864-:d:696396
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Laura W. Perna, 2004. "Understanding the Decision to Enroll in Graduate School: Sex and Racial/Ethnic Group Differences," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 75(5), pages 487-527, September.
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    1. Ana-Maria Zamfir & Adriana AnaMaria Davidescu & Cristina Mocanu, 2024. "Understanding the influence of business innovation context on intentions of enrolment in master education of STEM students: a multi-level choice model," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.

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