Factors influencing South African undergraduate students choice of a university: Mangosuthu University as a case study.

The main purpose of this research was to investigate the factors influencing South African undergraduate students' choice of a university, using Mangosuthu University as a case study. A survey of 290 first year students was carried out at two DUT student hostels at South Beach, Durban. Convenient sampling was employed to collect the relevant information from respondents. SPSS software was used to analyze the data, utilizing basic descriptive statistics like frequency counts, percentages, and mean analysis. The results of the study showed that all seven constructs, as identified from the literature review, are important in influencing students' university choice. However, the constructs differ in the degree to which they influence students' university choice. The most important factors influencing undergraduate university choice are the reputation of the institution, the cost of education, influence of family, friends, and peers, and institutional infrastructure. The least important factors are location, programmes offered, and institutional information. Based on the findings, it is recommended that universities must focus their energies on building good reputation, excellent institutional infrastructure, awarding more scholarships, and influencing relevant third parties in order to attract undergraduate students.