Introspection into Portuguese universities attractiveness: a focus on industrial engineering and management students

Résumé En

Industrial Engineering and Management (IEM), combining management techniques with engineering background, was introduced in Portuguese universities at the beginning of '90. Currently, it occupies a high position in terms of students’ preferences, when choosing their university. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate what are the factors influencing IEM students’ choice of their universities in Portugal.A quantitative survey was conducted (n=304) with the participation of ESTIEM (European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management), at Bachelor’s and Master’s levels, from five Portuguese universities (Porto, Minho, Aveiro, Coimbra and Lisbon). We carried out preliminary statistical analysis of the data.The findings show that, when choosing a university to study at, the most important factor for students is the prestige of the institution. There are also other relevant factors, such as the city of the university, the companies’ recognition and the employability rate. IEM students seem to be future oriented, as they give the highest importance to the job opportunities offered after graduation. However, they associate lower relevance on everyday factors of their academic experience, such as the evaluation methods, the support given by professors and the teachingmethodologies utilized.Findings from this study allow universities to have a better understanding about the most valued factors in the students’ decision-making process for choosing their university, as well as to adapt their recruitment strategy to this demand to attract good students for their programmes.