EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ABOUT INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION SOURCES IN THE UNIVERSITY SELECTION PROCESS

The information and communication sources are essential to complete a right education decision, and it is a killer application in the university election process. In a decision-making, the choice of university information sources used by students can be grouped as empirical, interpersonal, independent and commercial. Other classifications can be raised by combining the personal and impersonal factor and source control.
The weight of the information and documentation services at the university as a choosing determinant factor of students to enter university has been little studied. However, it is essential to determine the policies of higher education marketing. In this paper we analyze the formulas (references, visits, media) that follow the pre-university students to get information.
The empirical study conducted from the University Abat Oliba CEU (Barcelona, Spain) to a sample of high school students to analyze the sources of student information for college choice. It uses the following multiple choice closed question: What source/s you have used or plan to use for information on the different existing universities? The proposals are divided into three sections, which bring together the various sources analyzed in the theoretical framework: references, visits and media (some are made with an open and spontaneous response item).
Throughout the research we have applied the statistical xhi quadrat (chi square), so that, beyond significant differences explainable in terms of overall error margin (+2,0%), when the resulting value in a junction is significantly different depending on the distance from the statistically expected a priori value is indicated with a ">" or "<" in front of the cell in question, as the value is significantly above or below, a distance (significant) than the expected frequency. We propose three hypotheses: the study centers are the main sources of reference, the open days are the empirical visit more entrenched formula, and the Internet is the most widely used media as a resource for information and documentation. The obtained results collaborate to implement better research and innovation strategies in education.