Aim. The purpose of this paper is to determine the correlates of student preferences for the mode of instruction in the university education system. Methods and materials. In order to achieve the goal, a pilot study was conducted on a group of 124 students selected randomly. Results and conclusion. Based on the statistical analyses, it can be concluded that the students’ preferences in the aspect of choosing the mode of education are not divided; the majority of them are in favour of the mixed education system 85.5%. In addition, the study presents a generalised model of the correlates of preferences of educational mode choices. The analyses show that students in favour of full-time education will simultaneously claim that high quality education is provided only by full-time education (r=0.631) and they will reject online education (r=-0.561), and mixed type (r=-0.216). Three correlates of students’ thinking on the choice of university education mode were identified. The first referred to the preference for the full-time system considering the quality of education resulting from the full-time mode. The second mode of preference concerned the choice of online and blended education, and was related to the claim that the quality of education does not depend on the mode of stationary education. The third was a preference for a blended system while claiming that only the full-time mode of study would provide a high quality of education.