The changing facets of the Malaysian highereducation created market-based competition among highereducation institutions. With increasing competition in thehigher education environment, a clearer understanding ofwhy and how students choose universities is more impor-tant to help universities develop their marketing strategies.This paper investigates the reasons for pursuing highereducation and the key factors influencing their decision tostudy at university. This paper also considers the issue ofwhether the lower fees and reputation of a premier uni-versity is adequate to attract the best students. The datafrom a sample of 1st-year undergraduate students enrolledin various courses at the University of Malaya were ana-lysed using coherence analysis and logistic regression. Thestudy infers latent factors affecting university choice anduses a model that allows the interaction of these multiplefactors. The findings suggest that career prospects andreputation of the University and its programmes were themost important factors in the students’ decision of a placeto further studies. Significant others in the life of the stu-dent as well as the student’s own desire for personaldevelopment are strong influences that lead the student toconsider reputation of the University. While the reputationof the University of Malaya is extremely important, thelower fee structure plays an important role in universitychoice. The university needs to be proactive in recruitingstudents. The marketing of educational services is impor-tant, both to create a favourable image and as well tosuccessfully recruit the best students

• Does Reputation Matter? Case Study of Undergraduate Choiceat a Premier University