Assessment of the factors affecting admissions in HEI's: a two-phase approach.

Education is one of the most important service-oriented sectors with a significant number of clients. In India, the population of students pursuing higher education is enormous, and the number of Higher education institutes (HEI) is significantly higher, resulting in fierce competition among HEIs. The sustainability of private HEIs has become extremely difficult due to intense competition. Their survival is mainly determined by the number of students enrolled each year. To combat competition and increase enrolments, institutions must enhance the elements influencing college choice decisions by students. This study employs a two-phased strategy to understand the perceptions of both stakeholders and administrators. The Best–Worst method (BWM) is used in the first phase, followed by the Two-Way assessment technique in the second phase. Results are validated using real-life data sets collected from the HEIs in Delhi NCR. The research results show that out of nine factors, Placement, tuition fee and travelling time, distance and boarding facility are the top priority for college choice admissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]