CAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS ADAPT TO STUDENTS' PREFERENCES? A CASE STUDY AT THE CZECH STATE UNIVERSITY

Higher education institutions and their activities belong to the service sector, and it is therefore even more important to use marketing tools in the current competitive environment to meet the demands and needs of current and potential students. The article aims to identify students' reasons to study at a university and to evaluate students' preferences according to the demands placed on higher education institutions. The data were obtained using the questionnaire technique (n = 293) and evaluated by descriptive (x2 test; absolute and relative frequencies) and multivariate statistics (factor analysis). The results have shown that there is a statistical dependence between gender, age and reasons for studying at the university and the reasons can be categorised into personal preferences versus environment preferences. Case study findings can help higher education institutions to adapt their marketing activities to attract potential students as well as to retain the existing ones and to better understand their customers' needs.