Awareness, Perception, and Factors Influencing Higher Secondary Students' Interest in Pursuing the Four-Year Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) Programme under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54741/MJAR/6.3.2026.318Keywords:
national education policy 2020, four-year BBA programme, higher secondary students, awareness, perception, interest, influencing factors, structural equation modelling, higher education, management educationAbstract
The implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has introduced significant reforms in India's higher education system, including restructuring undergraduate programmes into flexible three- and four-year degree pathways. Among these reforms, the introduction of the four-year Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) programme offers students enhanced opportunities for multidisciplinary learning, research, internships, industry engagement, and multiple entry and exit options. Despite these policy changes, limited empirical evidence exists regarding the awareness, perception, and factors influencing Higher Secondary students' interest in pursuing the four-year BBA programme.
The present study investigates the awareness, perceptions, and factors influencing Higher Secondary students' interest in pursuing the four-year BBA programme under NEP 2020. A structured questionnaire comprising twenty-four Likert-scale items representing four latent constructs—Awareness, Perception, Interest, and Influencing Factors—was administered to 500 Higher Secondary students. The study employs descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), Pearson correlation, multiple regression, independent samples t-test, one-way ANOVA, and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) to examine the proposed relationships among the constructs.
The findings indicate that students possess a moderate to high level of awareness regarding the four-year BBA programme. Students generally exhibit positive perceptions towards the programme, particularly regarding employability, industry exposure, research opportunities, and professional development. Business Analytics emerged as the most preferred specialisation. Correlation and regression analyses reveal that awareness, perception, and influencing factors significantly affect students' interest in pursuing the programme, with perception demonstrating the strongest predictive effect. The study also identifies significant differences in awareness across school types.
The study contributes to the emerging literature on higher education reforms under NEP 2020 by providing empirical evidence on students' programme preferences and educational decision-making. The findings offer valuable implications for policymakers, universities, educational institutions, career counsellors, and management educators seeking to improve awareness initiatives and promote management education in India.
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