Making it normal for ‘new’ enrollments: effect of institutional and pandemic influence on selecting engineering institutions under the COVID-19 pandemic situation

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced Indian engineering institutions (EIs) to bring their previous half-shut shades completely down. Attracting new admissions to EI campuses during the pandemic have become a ‘now or never’ situation for EIs. During crisis situations, EIs have struggled to return to their normal track. The pandemic has drastically changed students' behavior and family preferences due to mental stress and the emotional life associated with it. Consequently, it has become the need of hour to examine the choice characteristics influencing the selection of EIs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this study is to critically examine institutional influence and pandemic influence that affects students’ choice about engineering institutions (EIs) during COVID-19 pandemic situation and consequently to study relationships between them. A quantitative research, conducted through a self-report survey composed by a closed-ended structured questionnaire was performed on the students who were recently enrolled in the EIs (academic year 2020–2021) belonging to North Maharashtra region of India during the pandemic. The findings of this study have revealed that institutional and pandemic influence have directed EI choice under the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also found that pandemic influence is positively affected by institutional influence. The study demonstrated that EIs can attract new enrollments by repositioning their institutional characteristics that regulate pandemic influence. The study can be a measuring tool for policy makers to attract new enrollments under pandemic situation.