Abstract. The paper aims at bringing into attention the issue of motivation for the 12th grade high- school students to continue their studies in higher education. The general direction of investigation relates to the identification of intrinsic and extrinsic motivational aspects which drive students to continue their basic training at the university. In order to realize this goal, the study included three high schools from the rural area of the districts of Timiş and Gorj. The research method was the investigation based on a questionnaire, and the investigation tool was a questionnaire of opinion containing closed-ended and semi-opened questions. The questionnaire was first applied upon a number of 111 students from the 12th grade, but then there was a selection of a batch of 91 students who declared their intention to continue their education after graduating high school. The research focused on the extent to which the intrinsic motivation (e.g. the desire to become a good specialist; the desire to have a successful life; the pleasure to study; the appreciation of the role of education in any individual’s training), but also the extrinsic one (an attractive workplace; parents’ influence; the environment influence) stimulate the decision to attend the courses of a faculty. The results showed that the intrinsic motivation comes first for the majority of students, who are strongly motivated by the desire to succeed in life, by the interest in learning, but mostly by the desire to be best specialists in a domain. The study offers some openings to specialists in counseling and vocational orientation from the field of pre-university and university education

intrinsic motivation, higher education, extrinsic motivation

social sciences

Presentation: poster