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This study explores the factors influencing final-year undergraduate students’ intentions to pursue advanced degrees through the lens of social cognitive theory (SCT). In addition, it investigates the moderating effect of sex on the causal pathways in the proposed model. Using a quantitative cross-sectional survey design, 578 final-year undergraduate students from various degree programs participated in an online survey. The results revealed that outcome expectations and social support are significant predictors of intention, while intention itself predicts the implementation of intentions to pursue an advanced degree. However, self-efficacy was not found to influence intention, and sex did not moderate the hypothesized paths in the model. These findings suggest that SCT provides a useful and robust framework for understanding the factors shaping undergraduate students’ intentions to pursue advanced degrees, as evidenced by the high explanatory power of the structural model. The study also offers practical and theoretical implications, along with suggestions for future research.

With the declining number of students interested in pursuing STEM courses such as Bachelor’s Degree in Biology as evidenced by low enrollment, HEIs currently offering and those which intend to offer the academic degree program are competing and looking for ways to increase their competitiveness. Hence, several efforts have been made in response to it, including investigating what attracts students to choose the HEI and the course it offers. In this regard, this study aims to evaluate the factors influencing students’ intention to enroll Bachelor of Science (BS) in Biology at Cebu Technological University using an extended Chapman’s Model of Student College Choice. Using a quantitative cross-sectional survey design, 416 senior high-school students from Cebu Province in the Philippines participated in an online survey. The survey aimed to test the influence of student characteristics, influence of significant people, marketing factor, fixed university characteristics, university image, perceived program quality, and perceived career opportunities on students’ intention to enroll in BS Biology. The findings of structural equation modelling suggest that only student characteristics influences students’ intention to enroll the academic degree program. Irrespective of the disassociation of six other proposed hypotheses, the offering of the course is still deemed feasible as supported by students’ responses in their intention to enroll it. In conclusion, this study reveals the model’s usefulness in understanding one of the factors influencing students’ intention to enroll in the course. Consequently, the results offer managerial and theoretical implications to further strategize institutional student recruitment techniques.

The instrument that assesses teachers’ competence on AR methodology is limited. Thus, it is one of the issues concerning evaluating the effectiveness of a professional development program on designing AR projects. It is difficult to determine how much and what teachers have learned in a course or training. Thus, this cross-sectional study aimed to evaluate further the validity and reliability of the Teacher’s Competence in Action Research Questionnaire, a seven-factor instrument previously proposed by Cortes, Pineda, and Geverola (2020). This self-report scale was not subjected to confirmatory factor analysis, had less sample size, and had homogenous participants. In the present study, 450 participants, both pre- and in-service teachers and from different teaching specializations, answered the survey. The data were analyzed using the confirmatory factor analysis method through the Maximum Likelihood approach. Four model fit indices recorded satisfactory results (CFI = 0.890; TLI = 0.884; RMSEA = 0.072; SRMR = 0.039), thus, supporting the seven-factor scale. The standardized factor loading, composite reliability, average variance extracted, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient/s of the entire scale and within subscales also provide evidence of the convergent validity and reliability of the scale. There may be an issue in the discriminant validity of the scale, but the conceptual distinctions of each factor as supported by theoretical foundation and arguments provide a principal reason for retaining all the items and factors.

With the declining number of students interested in pursuing STEM courses such as Bachelor's Degree in Biology as evidenced by low enrollment, HEIs currently offering and those which intend to offer the academic degree program are competing and looking for ways to increase their competitiveness. Hence, several efforts have been made in response to it, including investigating what attracts students to choose the HEI and the course it offers. In this regard, this study aims to evaluate the factors influencing students' intention to enroll Bachelor of Science (BS) in Biology at Cebu Technological University using an extended Chapman's Model of Student College Choice. Using a quantitative cross-sectional survey design, 416 senior high-school students from Cebu Province in the Philippines participated in an online survey. The survey aimed to test the influence of student characteristics, influence of significant people, marketing factor, fixed university characteristics, university image, perceived program quality, and perceived career opportunities on students' intention to enroll in BS Biology. The findings of structural equation modelling suggest that only student characteristics influences students' intention to enroll the academic degree program. Irrespective of the disassociation of six other proposed hypotheses, the offering of the course is still deemed feasible as supported by students' responses in their intention to enroll it. In conclusion, this study reveals the model's usefulness in understanding one of the factors influencing students' intention to enroll in the course. Consequently, the results offer managerial and theoretical implications to further strategize institutional student recruitment techniques.