The result comes from a dissertation made by Mikael Thelin, PhD in cultural geography at Uppsala University. In it he has investigated what makes students choose a certain high school.

- My hypothesis was that several factors come into play. What I have come up with is that students mainly choose school based on programs and knowledge gaps, but also on things that are irrelevant when it comes to the quality of education itself.

Different from grades

According to Mikael Thelin's study, students with higher grades tend to choose a school based on the quality of education, while students with higher grades tend to choose a school based on, for example, distance, whether they receive a tablet or according to what their friends choose. The results of the dissertation also raise the question of how schools act to meet students' preferences - for example, how they market themselves.

- Previous studies of schools 'marketing show that they rarely highlight teachers' competence. Instead, they often market what is outside the education, for example, that students get a computer or opportunities to practice a sport.

-We live in a knowledge society and where the school plays an important function. Therefore, it is important to look at how students 'preferences affect schools and how schools affect students' preferences, says Mikael Thelin.

In the clip above, you can hear some students attending upper secondary school in Uppsala tell us how they thought when they chose upper secondary school.