Uppeldi og menntun - 01.01.2010, Side 178

Uppeldi og menntUn/icelandic JoUrnal of edUcation 19(1–2)/2010178
Hvað ræðUr vali á námSSviði og HáSKÓla?
the offer of distance education programmes as the main reason for their selection.
Women showed a stronger inclination than men towards selecting a university on the
basis of interesting course offerings. They were also more inclined to base their choice
on the university’s image and the quality of study programmes. More local students
select the University of Akureyri from the point of view of family residence, whereas
distance students are more likely to focus on peer selection of university, or distance
learning being offered by the institution in question. Nurses opted for the University
of Akureyri to a greater extent than other groups on the basis of interesting study, the
quality of study programmes and the university’s image. The distance mode of study
had a stronger appeal among business graduates and preschool teachers than was the
case with other groups.
The above conclusions provide various guidelines for the operation of UNAK
and other Icelandic universities offering practical subjects. Thus, interesting course
offerings appear to occupy a position of highest priority when selecting a university.
This suggests that a reduction in the study programmes offered by a university is to
be avoided as far as possible. Universities should also pay more attention to matters
relating to marketing and quality, for image and excellence appeal to students,
especially women who constitute the majority of university students. Finally, the
opportunity of distance learning is important to those who do not have access to
traditional education or are unable to take advantage of such facilities.
aBout tHE autHors
Ingi Rúnar Eðvarðsson (ire@unak.is) is professor in managment at the Faculty of Business
Administration at the University of Akureyri. He received his Ph. D. in Sociology from
the University of Lund, Sweden. His research and publications include: university
education, regional universities, distance education, knowledge and human resource
management, vocational education and Nordic labour markets.
Guðmundur Kristján Óskarsson (gko@unak.is) is a lecturer at the Faculty of Business
Administration at the University of Akureyri. He received his cand. scient. oecon
degree in mathematics-economics from Aarhus University, Denmark. His research
and publications include: economics, operation research and distance education.