Attitudes and beliefs of future applicants regarding the quality of Chilean universities. Actitudes y creencias de futuros postulantes respecto de la calidad de las universidades chilenas.

Abstract

During years 2008 and 2009 two different investigations were carried out in an attempt to identify, firstly, -in each of them- the main attributes that last year High School students tied to the concept of quality in Universities in general and, secondly, to establish what were the attitudes and beliefs of the study group regarding CRUCH ́s Universities (2008) and Private Universities (2009) of the V Region, Valparaíso, Chile. Using the same quality-quantitative design in both studies, a total of 88 in-depth interviews and 993 questionnaires were applied. Based on those studies, this paper reports a meta-study comparing attitudes and beliefs of the indicated study group regarding the primary shared attributes they believed paramount when talking about the quality of the university institutions. The attributes investigated in the referred studies, related to attitudes and beliefs sustained and expressed by the study group referred to 1) academic level demand, 2) infrastructure, 3) financing, 4) institutional prestige, 5) Faculty quality, 6) future employability, 7) agreeable institution environment. Beyond some different beliefs and attitude that favored the traditional universities, there were cases where said differences decreased and even, in some cases, inverted and favored private universities, depending on the students of the sub-study group: private, subsidized or public