Özet:

In recent years, universities in Turkey have witnessed decreasing number of students in certain programmes. Just as in a few foundation universities, most state universities’ Political Science and International Relations (PSIR) undergraduate programmes, Nigde Omer Halisdemir University’s (NOHU) PSIR is negatively affected by the same fact. In this manner, the purposes of the study are to explore the causes of this phenomenon, to uncover positive or negative motivations behind the choices of PSIR students, and to propose solutions. For this purpose, the data, which is thought to reflect the characteristics of the PSIR department of NOHU in terms of both university’s city and placement rankings, is collected by semi-structured interviews from freshmen in PSIR undergraduate programmes with at least ten students who came from out of town to the city where their universities are located. Collected data were analysed by qualitative content analysis. At the end of the study, it is concluded that undergraduates prioritise image and geographical location of the city where their universities are located. Besides, courses and employment opportunities of the programme and family and social environment advices are other primary motivations. Qualifications of academic staff and foreign language opportunities are also other noteworthy determinants.

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