Undergraduate student aspirations, awareness and knowledge of postgraduate study options: a cross-institutional examination

A small body of research is building a picture of how undergraduate students view postgraduate study. This paper reports the extension of an earlier study on the awareness, knowledge and intentions for postgraduate study of undergraduate students. Subjects in this study were Bachelor of Business undergraduate students in a new outer-suburban metropolitan Australian university. Differences between what students know and intention levels were expected between universities. Results suggest differences may be attributable to four year scholarships available to high achieving students in one university, which may encourage students to pursue honours study. Results also demonstrate the generalisability of most of the key findings from early research. Similarities and other differences are highlighted and recommendations for faculty and administrators are given.