Attityd till högre utbildning på universitet/högskola och studieengagemang bland gymnasieelever på bruksort

Sammanfattning: The present study examined high school students’ attitudes to higher education at university/college and their study engagement in an industrial town in klarälvdalen in the county of Värmland. The main research question was whether there are any differences between students in vocational and theoretically oriented programs regarding their attitude to higher education and study engagement. The results was also compared with a study with the same research question conducted in Countryside town in fryksdalen, Värmland county to see whether attitude and student engagement differ between high school students in different parts of Värmland. The method used was quantitative with data collected by using questionnaires. The sample consisted of 107 upper secondary students where 55 students studied in the theory-based programs and 52 students were students in vocational programs. The results show that it is different in attitude factor 1(Views on likelihood of attending university), 2 (Likelihood of friends attending university) and 3 (Family attending university) between the vocational program and theoretically driven program. In study engagement differs factor 4 (aspirations and goal) between the two approaches. In the comparison between the regions there is a difference in attitude factor 2 (Likelihood of friends attending university) and factor 3 (Family attending university). Conclusions that can to be drawn using the results of the study which were that vocational high school students in each city in the klarälvdalen and fryksdalen estimated lower factors for attitude and engagement that these students' engagement could possibly be strengthened in order to achieve a desirable attitude to higher education at university / college.