The purpose of the master's thesis is to make the connection between the opinions of students, career advisers and the management of the faculties of social sciences studies of the University of Ljubljana on the further enrollment of students in higher education. In doing so, I was interested in the reason why students enrolled in higher studies; whether it is the desire for knowledge, the desire for an easier transition to the labour market, or simply taking advantage of the student status benefits. In the case of opportunistic or virtual enrollment, how does the faculties' management address this problem; whether they monitor the number of virtual enrollments and, with the aim of reducing virtual enrollments, create prevention mechanisms or not. I think the strong connection between faculty and students can be established through the activities of the career center. In the thesis, I was especially interested in the research of the role of career counselling at the faculty in reducing virtual enrollment.
In the theoretical part of the thesis, I relied on the theory of higher education and mass enrollment, the process of student transition to the labour market and the concept of prolonging the transition to adulthood.
In the research I included the second and third-degree students of social sciences at the University of Ljubljana, the Vice-deans for study matters and the career advisers of these faculties. I collected the data through an online survey and three survey questionnaires.
The main findings of the presented study are that students enroll to the higher degrees of studies mainly to increase their employability, which points on the lack of validity of the first degree of Bologna study. The second reason why young people decide to continue their studies at an advanced level is the desire to gain knowledge and the third is to take extra time to reflect on one's future. Students want to receive more support during their studies to ease their transition to the labour market and at the same time prefer a focused study process to increase their competitiveness. Faculty executives and career counsellors estimate that there is no opportunistic enrollment in the studies in their faculties or that it is practically negligible. In their opinion, the responsibility for facilitating the transition of students to the labour market lies in the co-responsibility of the educational institution and the student. The employability of young people in the social sciences could be improved by enhancing the connection between the labour market and the study process, regulating and organizing internships, emphasizing knowledge and the importance of information and communication technologies, and by the students' engagement and initiative in the study process.
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