Understanding the choice of undergraduates in less-prestigious universities to further their education : a case study of West Anhui University

Abstract

In the last decade, the expansion of Chinese graduate education is at an all-time high in speed and scale which is rare in the history of higher education worldwide (Guo,2015). This study aims at observing this phenomenon in micro-level, by probing into the students’ rationale of choice on furthering education. Comparatively, the fever for domestic graduate programs is more pronounced in less-prestigious universities, but individuals’ rationalities are under-explored. This research employs a small-scale, in-depth qualitative case study conducted in a public comprehensive mid-ranking university located in mid-China, endeavoring to understand why these university graduates further pursue master education.