H ow D o Rural Students Choose Their H igher Education Institutions? Two Regional Australian Cases Wayne Binney and Chris Martin Abstract The aim of this study was to compare two groups of undergraduate students at regional university campuses and the factors they considered in their choice of university. The respondents were attending campuses in two rural locations: the Glenormiston campus of the University of Melbourne and the Whyalla campus of the University of South Australia. The major factor considered in their choice of university by both groups was career preparation. Following this factor, students at Whyalla campus placed importance on factors such as distance from home and the size of the campus. Students, however, at Glenormiston placed more emphasis on access to accommodation and the opportunity to do research. The students’ main sources of information were the respective State tertiary admission centre guides, school sources and their peer group. The authors recommend that university administrators use these findings to develop more effective marketing programs. Introduction Recent media reports have highlighted the increased competition for students between tertiary education institutions in Australia. The lowering of university scores by universities is one measure used by these institutions to “attract” students. However, such short sighted responses in some quarters has brought into question the overall strategic marketing efforts of higher education institutions. As Australia experiences the first signs of a hiccup in the expansion of higher education sector in the post-Dawkins era, more and more university administrators have turned their attention to the question of how they can attract new students, and retain those they already have. Nowhere has this been more evident than in the rural and regional areas of Australia which historically produce fewer matriculants per thousand head of population than urban areas (DEET, 1993). How rural based universities respond to the challenge will have an impact on their future role and effectiveness, It will be important to know the factors students consider in their choice of a university campus and which information sources are used in this decision process. This paper discusses the factors that first year, first-time students considered in their choice of university at two rural-based sites. The second aim was to identify their sources of information. The study was undertaken at Glenormiston campus (University of Melbourne) and Whyalla campus (University of South Australia). Glenormiston campus is 250 kilometres from Melbourne. It offers programs in rural management, equine management, and horticulture, The campus has an enrolment of approximately 600 in undergraduate and technical courses, 180 of these are full-time students. In 1996 it had an intake of 106 new enrolments in full-time study. The Whyalla campus of the University of South Australia is situated in the north-west of South Australia on the Eyre Peninsula some 370 kilometres from Adelaide. The campus also has approximately 600 enrolments covering accountancy, business, computing, engineering, applied science, nursing and social work. Literature Review For some time researchers in the higher education sector have urged the adoption market research paradigms to improve student enrolment practices (Kotler, 1979; Litten, 1980; Kotler and Murphy, 1981). Indeed, within the broader aegis of market research, researchers have attempted to refine models of the enrolment process of colleges and universities (Chapman, 1981; Litten, Sullivan and Brodigan, 1983; Zemsky, 1983; Hossler and Stage, 1984). This move has drawn attention to the image that higher education