Choosing studies in higher education: First results of an Italian pilot study

In recent years, the guidance activities for high school students have tried to answer the demand for information concerning study programs available in higher education, leading to the application to a university program. To give the necessary support for orientation in a more comprehensive, differentiated and targeted way to a wide range of students, it is of primary importance to know in depth the decision-making process of study choice, with the ultimate aim of improving the effectiveness of guidance activities. This paper presents the main results of the Pilot Project on Study Choice, carried out in 2009 on a nonprobabilistic sample of final year high school students in the province of Como. The project is based on the Study Choice Task Inventory, whose Italian version has been tested on this occasion. Its application has shed light on some important aspects of study choice in higher education.