Bachelor of Commerce (Digital Marketing) - Postsecondary ...

Table 3. Preferred Institution by Student Groups
Current Students in the Human Resources and Accounting programs are more likely to consider
university as an option for a degree, likely due to their interest in completing a professional credential.
International students are less likely than their Canadian born counterparts to express interest in
applying to college only. High School students are more likely than those currently enrolled in a college
business program to be interested in applying to a college for a degree, suggesting perhaps a greater
receptivity to a college‐granted degree among the generation just graduating from high school (keeping
in mind that Prospective students in our sample were identified as having applied to colleges only or
both colleges and universities – a segment that is approximately 15% of Academica Group’s Panel).
Table 4. Preferred Institution by Subgroups
The argument that perceptions and attitudes about colleges and college‐granted degrees are shifting is
also supported by the responses to agreement statements asked in the surveys among Prospective
Students and Alumni. Approximately half of Prospective Students are “college supporters”. They prefer
the more applied learning approach of a college degree program in comparison to a university. They also
agree that the flexible options of a two‐, three‐ or four‐year completion are better suited to today’s
student and that a college degree offers a better skill set for the job market. A sizable proportion also
agrees that a college degree would be valued as highly by employers as a degree from a university. Of
significance is that fifty percent say that they would choose to go to college because university tuitions
are too expensive, seeing better value for the education dollar at a college than at a university. That
said, there is still a substantial group of Prospects (approximately one quarter to one‐third) that is
undecided in their opinions about the benefits of a college degree versus a university degree.
LKSB Degree Program Feasibility Study • 2011
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