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Students' choice of courses: Determining factors, sources of information, and

relationship with the labour market demands in Nigeria

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DOI: 10.1080/18146627.2014.934997

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Students' choice of courses:

Determining factors, sources of
information, and relationship with the
labour market demands in Nigeria
a b
Oluyomi Susan Pitan & Segun Olugbenga Adedeji
a
Department of Educational Management, University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, Nigeria.
b
Department of Educational Management, University of Ibadan,
Ibadan, Nigeria
Published online: 29 Jul 2014.

To cite this article: Oluyomi Susan Pitan & Segun Olugbenga Adedeji (2014) Students' choice of
courses: Determining factors, sources of information, and relationship with the labour market
demands in Nigeria, Africa Education Review, 11:3, 445-458, DOI: 10.1080/18146627.2014.934997

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Students’ choice of courses: Determining

factors, sources of information, and
relationship with the labour market
demands in Nigeria
..........................................
Oluyomi Susan Pitan Segun Olugbenga Adedeji
Department of Educational Management, Department of Educational Management,
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
yomipitan@yahoo.com yomipitan@yahoo.com

Abstract
At the point of entryt, many prospective undergraduates believe that having a university
degree or certificate alone would necessarily guarantee employment. Eventually, a few find
employment, but many do not, possibly because the latter group chose courses that were
not labour market relevant. In this study, some of the graduates produced between 1996
and 2006 who found employment were tracked, and the factors that determined the choice
of their courses were investigated, as well as their sources of information on career choices.
The relationship between their courses of study and the demands of the labour market were
also determined. Results showed that the choice of courses by these graduates was largely
based on parents’ wishes (v = 2:68; SD = 0.99), while labour market relevance was
considered less important. Those that got information on career choice from secondary
school Guidance Counsellors were 35.6%, while 10.2% had no access to career
information. Incidentally, there was a positive relationship (r = 0.461; df = 1450;
P < 0.05) between course preferences and the demands of the labour market. This positive
relationship suggests that parents and Guidance Counsellors, from whom most of the
graduates obtained direction, were aware of labour market activities. Parents and
counsellors are therefore equally up-to-date with the happenings in the labour market,
and so can guide prospective students in the right direction.

Keywords: career choice, career information, course preferences, labour market, unem-
ployment, university students

ISSN 1814-6627 (print), 1753-5921 (online) Africa Education Review 11 (3)

DOI: 10.1080/18146627.2014.934997
University of South Africa Press pp. 445 – 458

445
 Oluyomi Susan Pitan and Segun Olugbenga Adedeji

Introduction
Although, higher education confers an advantage upon university graduates in
the labour market, it has been established that other important factors or
characteristics that influence the economic outcomes of higher education is the
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graduates’ course of study (Pitan, 2010). Students all over the world are usually
faced with the task of career decision-making (Moleke, 2004). The choice of
careers, subjects, and courses of study in schools and of subsequent paths to
follow, are always difficult problems facing prospective undergraduates. Career
selection is one of many important choices students will make in determining
their future plans. This decision will impact them throughout their lives. The
essence of who the student is will revolve around what the student wants to do
with their lifelong work.
Often, choosing the right subject combination leading to the right profession can
make the difference between enjoying and detesting the career in future.
Dedicating oneself to career choices that are unattainable leads to frustration.
Another major consequence of wrong choice of course among university
graduates is unemployment. Apart from representing an under-utilization of the
country’s human resources, unemployment is believed to have aggravated social
ills and delinquent behaviour among youths, especially armed robbery, political
thuggery and advance fee fraud, with the government spending a lot of money
on crime control. This represents a colossal waste of government investment on
university education (Akerele and Opatola, 2004; Pitan, 2010).
Choosing the wrong course could be as pitiable as reported by Moleke (2004),
in which graduates were asked if they would choose the same or different
course of study if they were to start again. In that study, 48.6% said they would
choose a different course of study, while 49% indicated that they would do the
same course again, and 22.3% of those who studied further after obtaining the
first degree changed their study field. This shows that the graduates made less
informed decisions on their choice of study. The author concluded that if they
had known their interest beforehand and had more information about the jobs
they wanted to do, they would have started their higher education in the relevant
fields. To some extent, this reflects the lack of preparedness of many students
before they enter higher education. This results in misallocation and a waste of
resources, as students often spend three to four years in higher education
studying something for which they will have little use for in their work life.

446
 Students’ choice of courses

Statement of the problem

The problem of uninformed choice of courses by university graduates was the
focus of this study. This becomes necessary when one considers the recent
increasing trend of unemployment and the non-employability of recent
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university graduates. These problems pose great challenges for the market-
relevance of university education and the measure of returns to public
investment in university education. The study delved into the factors that
determine the choice of courses by graduates, and the major ways in which they
got information about career guidance. The relationship between graduates’
courses of study and the needs of the labour market was also established.

Purpose of the study

The purpose of the study was to identify the important factors that the Nigerian
students used in deciding upon career choices, using those who graduated
between 1996 and 2006. Identification of these factors obtained through a
survey instrument will assist in the dissemination of information to potential
university undergraduates in Nigeria. It would also give parents, educators, and
industry an idea as to where students place most of their trust in the career
selection process.

Research questions

(1) What are the major factors determining the choice of courses by prospective
graduates?
(2) What are the major ways by which prospective undergraduates get
information about career guidance?

Hypothesis
There was no significant relationship between students’ choice of courses and
the needs of the labour market.

Literature review
The review of the literature showed that three areas of a student’s life affect the
career choices they make: environment, opportunity, and personality (Moleke,
2004). All three played varying roles in career outcomes. In Nigeria, it has been
speculated that many students go into unsuitable careers due to ignorance,

447
 Oluyomi Susan Pitan and Segun Olugbenga Adedeji

inexperience, peer pressure, advice from friends, parents and teachers or as a

result of the prestige attached to certain jobs without adequate vocational
guidance and career counselling (Salami, 1999). Agabi (1990) reported that
students’ choice of higher institutions and courses are mostly affected by
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secondary school orientation, parental influences, the high social and economic
benefits attached to certain courses, and secondarily by the desire for specific
professional training. Agabi found that many students were pursuing a type of
higher education which they neither perceive as satisfactory nor relevant to their
future job aspirations.
More empirical studies from other parts of the world showed that, the
environment in which students live, their personal aptitudes, and educational
attainment often have an effect on their career choices (Bandura, Barbaranelli,
Caprara and Pastorelli, 2001). The interests they have in certain courses or the
prospects of good employment opportunity and possibility of a wide choice of
future career after school are also reasons for their choices (Cosser, McGrath,
Badroodien and Maja, 2003). In more literate societies, students could offer to
pursue some courses if there are scholarships available (Sanyal, Perfecto, and
Arcelo, 1981) or prospects of gainful employment after school (Birch and
Calvert, 1977; Neave, 1976). In Australia, due to few universities available,
students choose any course available in order to gain admission, even if it is not
the first choice (Norton, 2000). A survey of first-year students by Norton
showed that 32% of students in Australia did not get onto their first choice
course, and of this group nearly a quarter received their fourth or fifth choice.
In the same study having to do with students’ personality (Norton, 2000), about
45% of prospective students adjusted their study preferences according to their
final year result expectations. For the students who were going to do only
moderately well, the relatively easy entrance requirements of the Arts was an
attraction, and so they ranked Arts highly if they wanted a university education.
Similarly, Adeyemo (1998) found that there was a bias towards social science
subjects among admission seekers. The reasons given for this bias included
financial (i.e. inability of sponsors to fund long term courses like Medicine,
Engineering, Law, Pharmacy, etc.), guardians’ wishes, and information about
employment opportunities. Many respondents in that study changed from their
desired course of study to Economics and Business Studies because of
admission regulations. Also, Dabalen, Oni and Adekola (2000) reported that
in 1996, Education and Social Sciences supplied 12,390 and 9,201 graduates,
respectively. The implication of this is that while there is a shortage of supply of

448
 Students’ choice of courses

manpower in the areas of Medicine, Pharmacy, Technology and others, there

seems to be over-production in the social sciences and business-related courses.
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Methodology
The study adopted purposive sampling techniques to select one cosmopolitan
town each from the six geo-political zones in the country. The selected cities
were: North Western Zone – Kano; North Eastern Zone – Maiduguri; North
Central – Abuja; South Western Zone – Lagos metropolis; South Eastern Zone –
Nnewi; and South Southern Zone – Port-Harcourt. The selection of the cities
was based largely on their economic characteristics which are relevant to the
study. The cities are the economic centers where the majority of business
activities in the zones are located. Also, many of the target respondents are
concentrated in these cities because of the usual influx of graduates from
different parts of the zones and beyond.
A questionnaire titled ‘Employees Questionnaire on Relevance of Training and
Employment’ (EQRETE) was utilized to elicit relevant information from 1800
graduate employees produced between 1996 and 2006 in 300 organizations
(from both private and public sectors). The questionnaire was divided into two
sections. The first section was on factors affecting students’ course preferences
(i.e. reasons for choice of courses, information on career possibilities, etc.),
while the second one was based on the demands of the present job and skills
acquired in school. Out of the 1800 administered questionnaire 1451 (80.6%)
were returned. The respondents comprised of 743 (51.2%) male and 708
(48.8%) female graduates. The face validity of the instrument was guaranteed
by subjecting it to thorough scrutiny by experts in relevant fields, while
Cronbach alpha method (Cronbach, 1951; Santos, 1999) was used to test its
reliability. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was 0.72, which made the
instrument reliable. There were two research questions that were answered and
one hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. Data were analysed
using descriptive statistics, ANOVA and simple regression analysis.

Ethical issues
The researcher obtained a letter of permission and attestation from the
Department of Educational Management, University of Ibadan, Nigeria. The
letter was distributed to the respondents – graduate employees (and their
employers/bosses) of the selected organizations to notify them in advance about
the visit by the researcher and research assistants. The researcher and six trained

449
 Oluyomi Susan Pitan and Segun Olugbenga Adedeji

research assistants administered the questionnaire. All participants were assured

that the information collected would be kept confidentially and only used for
purposes of the study.
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Results
Research Question 1: What are the major factors determining the choice of
courses by prospective graduates?
Table 1 shows a significantly higher number of graduates chose courses based
on their parents’ wishes, compared to other factors (mean = 2.68; SD = 0.99).
Although these other factors were not significant, ease of admission (mean =
2.42; SD =1.00), cost effectiveness of courses (mean = 2.36; SD = 0.99), course
popularity and prestige (mean = 2.06; SD = 0.94), they are vital. However,
Senior Secondary Certificate of Education (SSCE) subjects passed, future
career, personal interest and high demand in the labour market obtained low
mean values of between 1.77 and 1.96, indicating that they influenced the
graduates’ choice of the courses only slightly.
Research Question 2: What are the major ways in which prospective
undergraduates get information about career guidance?
Table 2 reveals that the greatest proportion (N = 516; 35.6%) of the graduates
got information on career possibilities through secondary school Guidance
Counsellors. This is followed by those who got the information through the
brochure of the higher institutions/Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination
(UTME) (N = 365; 25.2%). Over 60% of the graduates indicated that these two
sources were very effective at influencing the prospective students. Other
sources such as parents and relations (N =179; 12.3%), friends and other
students (N =154; 10.6%) and staff of education institutions (N = 89; 6.1%)
influenced a lesser proportion of the graduates. Indeed, 148 (10.2%) of the
graduates had no access to career information.
Hypothesis 1: There is no significant relationship between students’ course
preferences and the needs of the labour market.
Table 3 shows that the relationship between students’ course preferences and the
demands of the labour market was slightly strong, positive and significant (r =
0.461; df =1450; P < 0.05). Hence, hypothesis 1 was rejected. As the demands
of the labour market changed, the course preferences of the students also
changed to suit the needs of the labour market.

450
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Table 1: Factors determining the choice of courses by university graduates.

Very Less Not

Important Important Important Important
S/N Factor 4 3 2 1 Mean SD

1 Parent’s 257 (17.7%) 247 (17%) 654 (45.1%) 293 (20.2%) 2.7 1.0
choice
2 Ease of 357 (24.6%) 317 (21.8%) 583 (40.2%) 194 (13.4%) 2.4 1.0
admission
3 Popularity 486 (33.5%) 503 (34.7%) 353 (23.3%) 109 (7.5%) 2.1 0.9
and prestige
4 SSCE 487 (33.6%) 725 (50%) 174 (12%) 65 (4.5%) 1.9 0.8
subjects
passed
5 Future career 559 (38.5%) 654 (45.1%) 187 (12.9%) 51 (3.5%) 1.8 0.8
6 Personal 610 (42%) 593 (40.9%) 215 (14.8%) 33 (2.3%) 1.8 0.8
interest
7 Cost 339 (23.4%) 452 (31.2%) 457 (31.5%) 203 (14%) 2.4 1.0
effectiveness

Students’ choice of courses

8 High demand 516 (35.6%) 549 (37.8%) 319 (22%) 67 (4.6%) 1.0 0.9
in the labour
market
Notes. Weighted Average = 2.1; N = 1451; x ≥ 2.5 is important.
451
 Oluyomi Susan Pitan and Segun Olugbenga Adedeji

Table 2: Sources of information to the graduates on career possibilities.

S/N Sources Frequency %

1 Secondary school 516 35.6

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Guidance
Counsellor
2 UTME brochure 365 25.2
3 Parents/relatives 179 12.3
4 Staff in education 89 6.1
institutions
5 Friends and other 154 10.6
students
6 No access 148 10.2
Note. N = 1451.

Table 3: Relationship between students’ course preferences and the demands of the labour
market.

Variables Mean SD N R Df Sig.

Course 18.9 4.9 1451 0.5 1450 0.000*

preferences
Needs of the 18.9 4.5 1451
labour
market
Note. * Significant at P < 0.05.

Discussion
Answers to Research Question 1 (RQ1) on determinants of choice of courses by
prospective undergraduates in Table 1 indicated that parents’ wishes, ease of
admission and cost effectiveness of courses formed the major reasons students
chose their careers. Students whose choice of course was determined by these
factors are likely to end up studying courses that are not relevant to their
aspirations eventually. Such courses would not have any bearing with the labour
market demands since they were chosen based on circumstances beyond their
powers and interests.

452
 Students’ choice of courses

Another factor that determined students’ choice of course was popularity and
prestige of the course. Courses chosen based on this factor may not necessarily
be market-relevant, although they may be satisfactory to the students.
Unfortunately personal interests, future career and demand in the labour market
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obtained a very low mean. This implies that the percentage of students who
chose courses based on labour market considerations, aspirations and personal
interests and capabilities, which are supposed to be the major reasons for
selecting a course, is negligible. Similar determinant factors have been noted in
the previous reports of Agabi (1990), Adeyemo (1998) and Cosser et al. (2003).
Students’ choice of higher institutions and courses were reported to be mostly
affected by secondary school orientation, parental influences and the high social
and economic benefits attached to them (Agabi 1990). Agabi observed that
many students pursue a type of higher education which they neither perceive as
satisfactory nor relevant to their future job aspirations. To some youths,
becoming a graduate is the greatest priority and the course of study does not
really matter. Such youths ask for and pursue any course without considering its
market-relevance (Adeyemo, 1998). From the survey and personal interviews,
Adeyemo observed that the demand for education (and thus the subsequent
supply of it) has little or no link with the capacity of the labour market. In
contrast, the most important reason people go to the university in Britain is to
gain useful qualifications and to study for a career of the student’s choice
(Neave, 1976). Birch and Calvert (1977), where second-year university under-
graduates were used, found that 90% mentioned factors related in one way or
the other to their future occupations as one important consideration. In this
study, 72% felt that a degree would give access to a more interesting job, 51%
considered they would get a better paid job, 47% were encouraged by need for a
wider choice of occupations and about 24% were motivated by the need for
more secure employment.
Cosser et al. (2003) found out that 60% of students chose to study a course
because they were interested in it, and only 23% chose it because of the
employment opportunities. The implication of this is that future career and high
demand in the labour market do not inform students’ choice of courses to a
large extent. Such students would have gathered, from their time at university,
skills that are not required in the labour market thereby increasing the level of
structural unemployment. This finding by Cosser et al. (2003), that 60% of
students chose to study a course because they were interested in it, appeared to
be at odds with this study which found that personal interest was less important
in informing graduates’ choice of courses. This variance in observation may be
due to the location of Cosser et al.’s study which was South Africa. Youths in

453
 Oluyomi Susan Pitan and Segun Olugbenga Adedeji

more liberal societies are usually free to pursue their courses of interest and are
allowed to determine their future careers themselves without coercive sugges-
tions from parents, as in many developing countries of the world.
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However, in the Philippines it was found that the prospects of good employment
opportunity and possibility of a wide choice of future career after school were
indicated as the most important factors in choosing courses (Sanyal et al., 1981).
Factors such as social prestige, family and peer influence did not have a
significant impact on students’ choice of course. About 33% of students pursue
courses contrary to their parents’ choice. Sanyal et al. also discovered that better
employment opportunities and the desire to utilize scholarships were significant
factors.
Nevertheless, results obtained for RQ2 on sources of information to prospective
undergraduates on career guidance in Table 2 showed that secondary schools
Guidance Counsellors were very effective at reaching out to the students.
Therefore, counselling with students should be encouraged or made to be
mandatory before decisions are made on the courses of study. Weiler (1977)
opined that counsellors can draw career preferences to the forefront, in
reflecting on students’ preferences, clarifying career interests, summarizing,
and encouraging student career preferences. According to Weiler, counsellors
should not be engaged with the evaluation, for example telling the student what
they are or are not capable of doing. Counsellors should not moralize or tell the
student what they should do, what their motives should be, or persuade the
student to adopt a different point of view. Weiler considered career counsellors
ineffective if they try to dictate, judge, or decide the student’s values. And
finally, counsellors should not make predictions that go beyond the capability of
their training (Weiler, 1977; Borchert, 2002). Apart from these, counsellors need
to be in tune with events in the labour market in order to guide students in the
right direction.
It is quite shocking to know that 148 (10.2%) of the graduate respondents had
no access to career guidance. This may probably be due to inadequate number
of Guidance Counsellors in schools, the dormant attitude of some of them or
indifference of many students to counselling. Since UTME brochure, staff of
education institution and friends and other students, which accounted for the
highest source of career information in this study, may not necessarily provide
information on labour market demands, governments, heads of secondary
schools and parents must pay particular attention to ensuring that students are
well informed about a course before choosing it.

454
 Students’ choice of courses

O’Reilly (2002), while discussing the labour market for a new economy,
stressed the importance of detailed information about a programme of study and
the required skills to strategize for labour market success. Students should be
encouraged to call companies and ask for their hiring requirements; they can
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also ask recent graduates in their chosen field about their experiences in the
workplace after graduation. This is important because an informed consumer
would know ahead of time that a degree or certificate alone does not necessarily
guarantee employment. It is rather unfortunate that in Nigeria, students are not
properly counselled on the relevance of the courses they propose to study. There
is no indication for students to take certain courses and skills because parents
and students are not really aware of the economic opportunities in these
disciplines. In other words, there is no labour-market information system that
could help students in making career decisions. In the US for instance, the
government provides this kind of information by releasing a regular 10-year
forecast on potential labour demand vis-à-vis different careers in almost all
areas of specialization from teachers, engineers, journalists and doctors (Pitan
and Adedeji, 2012). The report, updated each year and posted on the Internet,
even provides estimates of the annual income that graduates would get if they
take a certain discipline. This could also be done in Nigeria; the government
could do it in collaboration with the private sector since most business
organizations in the country are members of chambers of commerce and
associations. Managers and Human Resources Officers in these companies
could expedite this job-market information system by regularly submitting their
staff requirements, from which their organizations could collate, analyze and
disseminate through media.
Surprisingly, Hypothesis 1 was rejected, meaning that there was a positive
significant relationship between students’ course preferences and the needs of
the labour market. This is contrary to Adeyemo (1998) who, from a survey and
personal interviews with undergraduates, observed that the demand for
education had little or no link with the requirements of the labour market.
Looking back at answers to RQ1 of this study, the needs of the labour market
were not one of the major determinants of the choice of course, parents’ wishes
topped the list. Putting these two observations together, it may be deduced that
parents considered the jobs that are in high demand before suggesting them to
their children. However, parents need to be very careful in doing this; the
personal interests of the students must also be taken into consideration when
guiding them on their course of study, and they must also keep abreast of the
latest development in the labour market.

455
 Oluyomi Susan Pitan and Segun Olugbenga Adedeji

From this study, university education output is clearly still driven by parents’
wishes, ease of admission and cost effectiveness of courses. As a result, little
attention is paid to the needs of the labour market. There is little or no guidance
given to students as they enter higher education. In the absence of labour market
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information on the likely prospects of different fields of study, career decisions

are likely to be arbitrary (Moleke, 2004). Such graduates find themselves later
having to change fields of study as the realities of opportunities and constraints
in the labour market become clear. Many do this only after spending three or
four years completing their first degree. Those who cannot afford to continue
with their studies would be faced with the harsh realities of unemployment and/
or underemployment (Moleke, 2004).

Summary of findings
. Parents’ wishes, ease of admission and cost effectiveness of courses formed
the major reasons the employed graduate respondents chose their courses of
study and their careers.
. Secondary School Guidance Counsellors and UTME brochure were very
effective sources of information to the employed graduates. But 10.2% of
the graduate respondents had no access to career information.
. The relationship between graduates’ course preferences and the needs of the
labour market was slightly strong, positive and significant. That is, as the
needs of the labour market changed, the graduates’ course preferences also
changed to suit the needs of the labour market.

Recommendations

(1) Since parents have a strong influence on their children’s choice of courses,
they should keep abreast of the latest development in the labour market in
order to guide their wards appropriately.
(2) In view of the fact that a larger percentage of the respondents obtained
career information from Guidance Counsellors, counsellors must be up-to-
date with events in the labour market so as to guide prospective students in
the right direction.
(3) Students should be encouraged to go for counselling before decisions are
made on the course of study. Students should also be made to understand

456
 Students’ choice of courses

their choice of course and not just opt for a course because it is their parents
wish or in order to leave home at all costs.
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Notes on contributors
Oluyomi Susan Pitan was a doctoral student of Economics of Education, in the
Department of Educational Management, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
She is an economics instructor at The International School, University of
Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Segun Olugbenga Adedeji is a professor of Economics of Education in the
Department of Educational Management, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.

References
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opportunities in Nigeria. In The dilemma of post-colonial universities, eds.
Y. Lebeau and M. Ogunsanya. Ibadan: Institute Francais de Recherche en
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