Abstract:

The transition to university and the first year of study play a significant role in determining students' academic success and their ability to complete their degrees. Students have diverse motivations for pursuing university studies, and these reasons have been identified as crucial factors in their academic achievement and academic persistence. Research shows that students who pursue university education for personal and intellectual reasons tend to have higher grades and greater confidence in achieving their degree goals compared to those who have extrinsic motivations.
The main aim of the present study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Students’ Motivations for Attending University Questionnaire (Côté & Levine, 2000). The participants are first-year students from two universities covering all fundamental domains, engineering, sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities, medicine, physical education, and sports.
The Romanian version of the Students’ Motivations for Attending University Questionnaire (Cote & Levine, 1997, 2000), was used in data collection. Dropout intention was also measured through a one-item scale.
A factual questionnaire was also used to collect data about the educational background: profile of the high school, baccalaureate mean grade, previous degrees or diplomas, the elapsed time from high school graduation, range of admission to the study program applied (first choice, second choice etc), and previous university enrolments.
The results showed that the translated version of the questionnaire has good psychometric properties, the factor structure of the scale being similar to the original version and covering 66% of the total variance. The highest loadings were obtained for personal-intellectual development motives and default motivates dimensions. The instrument is invariant across gender and domain of study. Significant correlations were also obtained between motivations for attending university, academic performances and dropout intention, personal-intellectual development motives predicting positively performances and negatively dropout, while default motives predicted negatively academic performances and positively dropout intention.
This study highlights the significance of students' motivations for attending university and emphasize the need to consider them during the admission process and throughout their studies.

Keywords:

Motivations for attending university, academic adjustment, dropout intention, personal-intellectual development motives, lack of motivation.