Students' learning orientation

The main goal of the European Higher Education Area is to prepare students for the labour market, enable them to continue their education in order to acquire further qualifications. However, syllabus and curriculum restructuring has developed consumerist mechanisms, which on the surface seem to offer students greater choice and control over their learning. This could result in a loss of responsibility for learning and reduced tolerance for the expansion of knowledge beyond the routine and the predictable, which would consequently affect their disposition and motivation towards learning. This study aims to explore student motivation and to assess the educational process. For this purpose, the Learning Orientation Questionnaire was used, which identifies conative processes specific to the learning process. The results show that most students carefully plan out learning goals, strategies, and expected outcomes before beginning a learning task. Students generally perceive the ideal learning environment to imply a less hierarchical relation and more interaction between teachers and students. In terms of seeking and using additional information to help them learn more about new topics, two groups of students differentiated: the first is interested in receiving a diploma, whereas the other is more interested in receiving a quality education.