1415Choosing and funding a university educationKey reasons stated for going to universityAt a time of economic uncertainty, it might be expected that young people would be particularly drawn to university as somewhere they can develop their skills and broaden their career prospects while waiting out the economic storm. This seems to be borne out by the survey's findings, with by far the largest proportion of students (74%) saying that a key reason for going to university was to improve their job opportunities. This was slightly up on the last survey, and was a marginally more important factor for female respondents (it was for 75%) than for male (73%). As in 2010, the students most swayed by career concerns were those studying business and management (83% were), but this was also a key concern for 72% of those doing arts and humanities degrees and 79% of those studying social sciences. Improving job prospects was of least interest to medical students (59% said this was a key factor in their decision), though this may reflect the fact that they tend to feel relatively assured of a good job once they finish their degree. detailed findings

1617The second most-cited factor was more idealistic: to improve knowledge in an area of interest (which was mentioned by 64%). This was a particularly strong motivation for arts and humanities students (71%), but less so for those taking vocational degrees such as law (49%). Third was improving salary prospects (cited by 62%), which was of greater importance to men (64%) than women (60%) and - perhaps surprisingly - to those studying at traditional universities (67%) than at new institutions (57%). Other factors included a degree being essential to students' chosen profession (47% said it was, up from 44% in the last survey), and the fact that it was 'the obvious next step' (40% cited this as a factor, though the proportion may fall when tuition fees rise).Academics wanting to teach independent, motivated students who are alert at 9am lectures may also be relieved to hear that a lower proportion of students went to university to enjoy a good social life (26% mentioned this), because their parents expected them to (also 26%) or because they did not know what else to do (which was given as a reason by 18% of respondents).One main reason for going to universityWhen they were asked to narrow down their motivations, the pragmatic nature of most students' choices became clear. Whereas in 2010 the top reason was improving career prospects, this time it was that a degree is essential to the students' chosen profession (24% said this was their primary motivation). Top three reasons for going to universityTo improve job opportunitiesTo improve job opportunitiesTo improve job opportunitiesTo improve job opportunitiesTo improve job opportunitiesTo improve job opportunitiesTo improve job opportunitiesTo improve job opportunitiesTo improve knowledge in an area of interestTo improve knowledge in an area of interestTo improve knowledge in an area of interestTo improve knowledge in an area of interestTo improve knowledge in an area of interestTo improve knowledge in an area of interestTo improve knowledge in an area of interestTo improve knowledge in an area of interestOverall Humanities and artsSocial sciencesScience and engineeringMaths/computing and technologyBusiness and managementLawMedicine and allied subjectsTo improve salary prospects To improve salary prospects To improve salary prospects To improve salary prospects To improve salary prospects To improve salary prospects To improve salary prospects To improve salary prospects 61%72%79%79%75%83%77%59%64%71%66%69%65%54%49%49%62%51%65%73%67%73%62%53%