The Role of Learning Experiences in Choosing Agricultural Engineering Majors Based on Krumboltz Social Learning Theory of Career Choice

The aim of agricultural higher education majors is to educate skilled and specialized human resources in order to work in the fields of production, research, education, dissemination, and extension of knowledge and technology in agriculture and rural sectors. The goal of training human resources in this field is that these graduates can meet scientifically the needs of the agriculture sector by applying their knowledge and learnings. In recent years, due to the decrease in the enrollment of students in these majors, the identification of factors related to the choice of agricultural majors by students has been questioned. The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the role of learning experiences in choosing agricultural engineering majors. The research was done in the framework of qualitative approach and using deductive content analysis method. The data collection tool was an open- ended questionnaire with unstructured interviews. In order to carry out the research, interviews were conducted with 12 undergraduate students of agricultural majors of different universities. The results were coded by content analysis technique. The findings indicated that associative learning experiences (hearing about the majors and observing agricultural activities) and instrumental learning (positive consequences of the experience) play an important role in choosing the agricultural engineering majors. It should also be mentioned that the contribution of associative learning was greater among different influencing factors.