This study developed a specific scale to measure the impact of extrinsic motivations on students’ decisions to pursue online graduate programs at business schools in Latin America. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research proceeded in three stages. In the first stage, the construct was defined by identifying key extrinsic factors motivating students to enroll in online graduate programs, followed by the creation and initial validation of the scale in Colombia. The second stage involved testing the scale in Chile to determine its cross-cultural applicability. In the third stage, the scale’s predictive validity was confirmed, demonstrating its effectiveness in explaining how extrinsic motivations influence students’ intentions to enroll in online graduate programs. The findings indicate that the scale, composed of five dimensions—Cost Reduction, Ability to Study from Any Location, Control Over Learning Pace, Flexibility to Balance Study and Work, and Avoiding Commuting Time—is a reliable predictor of student preferences and intentions in online graduate education. The final scale includes 25 items across these dimensions, measuring extrinsic factors through items related to flexibility, time savings, and global accessibility. Validation in two Latin American countries confirms the scale’s relevance across diverse cultural contexts, enhancing its applicability within the region. This study provides empirical evidence that extrinsic motivation is a key determinant of students’ intentions to enroll in online programs in developing countries. It confirms that extrinsic motivations reflect a preference for flexible learning options compatible with students’ lifestyles and professional needs, linked to their beliefs about time management, professional advancement, and career opportunities associated with earning a graduate degree.

This article explores the properties of Fibonacci sequences and their widespread applications.

The article presents the experience of formation and development of economic competences of non-economic specialty students. The modern world is quite complex, diverse, and multidimensional, in order to adapt to it, work effectively, it is necessary to have information about market relations, relations in the sphere of production, consumption, exchange, distribution, and also to be able to connect these areas, navigate the laws operating in these areas. It should be noted that the formation and development of a specialist’s economic competence occurs throughout his or her entire professional life. In our study, the process of forming economic competence is considered as its formation at the stage of mastering economic disciplines, relevant special courses and methodical support. Training in higher education should lead to the acquired knowledge being transferred into the activity of combining elements into an interconnected structure, into the skillful distribution of resources, into the activity that brings profit and has the form of capital investment, in other words, the individual, acquiring knowledge for himself, should be able to transform it into a socially significant value. This requires the search for and implementation of new approaches in the content and organization of the educational process at all levels of education. Research devoted to the role of education in the preparation of future non-economists for economic competence focuses on the preparation of an individual for the economic literacy of an entrepreneur. One of the main tasks of the education system should be preparation for successful socialization in the context of involvement in entrepreneurial relations. It is students and young specialists who have advantages in entrepreneurship in the current conditions: they have the opportunity to obtain specialized knowledge and skills in the field of economics; they can start their own business, relying on economic knowledge. Therefore, the role of higher education is increasing, since it helps to meet the needs of society and implement its socially significant goals. This poses new challenges for universities to transfer the necessary economic knowledge, skills and abilities to students, and to develop their economic competence. The development of basic economic competences in a student is a guarantee of his competitiveness in the labor market and the basis for making reasonable economic decisions in the daily life of every person.