University attractiveness and the creation of an improved ranking model:

Abstract: As the university sector turns into a more highly competitive industry and as the amount of university rankings is growing, the need for good information increases: how to more efficiently attract students and what is the relevance of the comparisons between the universities in form of university rankings? In this thesis we address these issues by studying university attractiveness in a university-ranking context. More specifically, we firstly examine the underlying dimensions that influence university attractiveness from the student perspective. To do this we have collected and analyzed survey responses from more than 15,000 Swedish students through mainly factor analysis and multiple linear regressions. As a measure for university attractiveness we argue for a combined index of attitude and purchase intention, which should be based only on evaluations of universities that the students don't study at. The results show that university attractiveness can be explained by seven factors: facilities and practical values, students, social values, education, reputation, location and academic values. In addition, there is provided evidence that rankings have significant and positive impact on university attractiveness. Secondly, we also propose a university ranking that is based on how much the factors found influence university attractiveness. The proposed model avoids common criticism of rankings by having a clear perspective and a non-subjective choice of variables and weights.