Zainteresowania, kariera zawodowa czy…? Motywy wyboru kierunku studiów studentów Instytutu Socjologii Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego
Interests, Professional Career or ....? Reasons for the Choice of the Field of Study Given by Students of the Institute of Sociology at the University of Wrocław

Summary/Abstract: The system transformation in Poland generated a range of changes — one of them was the issue of the importance and social recognition of education and de facto efforts made by Poles to gain better education. The discourse of the transformation period pointed to the importance of a higher degree in the context of attractive job offerts, high income, and “protection” against unemployment. The increasing mass of university graduates however, resulted in a diploma itself being no longer a gateway to an attractive professional career and income. The opening up of the European Union’s educational markets, media messages and politicians’ statements belittling the value of studies that do not guarantee work, demographic decline, and other factors caused a decreased interest in the studying the humanities and social sciences. This stimulated, and even forced universities to create an attractive educational offer, introduce new fields of study, and consider how to attract new students. This paper presents the results of quantitative empirical studies involving undergraduate students at the Institute of Sociology of the University of Wrocław: in the fields of Sociology, Social Work, and Sociology of Dispositional Groups. These studies enabled to identify main determinants underling young people’s decisions. While interests dominated among the determinants,an equally important role was played by issues connected with prospects of a professionalcareer, attractiveness of the field of study and possibilities of acquiring useful skills over the course of studies. Sometimes, however, the choice of the field of study at the Institute of Sociology of the University of Wrocław was determined by a negative result of recruitment for a different field of study.

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