Analysing the determinants of students’ loyalty in the higher education context: The Catalan University system case

The aim of this paper is twofold: (i) identify the determinants of students’ loyalty, and ii) characterise the profile of the recently graduate students within the Catalan University system. The empirical evidence is collected through the Satisfaction Graduate Survey promoted by the Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency. The analysis presented corresponds to the 2013 edition. Concretely, the survey was launched in October of 2013, and 2,557 questionnaires were collected, from which 2,337 were fully completed. The sample is mainly composed by women (62,9%) between 21 and 24 years old born in Catalonia. The main reason for choosing their studies are the preference for the study (62,3%) and job opportunities (15,1%). Moreover, most of the graduates combined learning and work (57,8%) and only 20,7% joined a mobility program during their studies. In terms of loyalty, 68,8% of the students would chose the same degree again, and 77,7% of them would remain at the same university. In fact, 62,3% of the sample are satisfied or very satisfied with the studied degree. Related to the determinants of students’ loyalty, our results show that higher is the loyalty of the student as higher is his/her satisfaction with the degree and the better the previous academic records of the student. However, results are inconclusive in terms of balancing study and work, engaging in mobility programs or getting involved in university associations. Female students are also shown to display higher levels of loyalty. As for the second research objective, students are grouped into three main groups: loyal and satisfied but not first choice of studies (cluster 1); unsatisfied (cluster 2); and loyal and satisfied (cluster 3).