THE PROBLEM OF LEARNING BUSINESS EDUCATION IN TERTIARY INSTITUTION (A CASE STUDY OF UNIBEN)

0
1064

THE PROBLEM OF LEARNING BUSINESS EDUCATION IN TERTIARY INSTITUTION (A CASE STUDY OF     UNIBEN)

 

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

Globally, a number of students are pursuing university education. The need to raise their status in society, need for belonging, security at their work places, masterly of their teaching subjects and self actualisation among others, motivate  students to enrol for university education (Mc Innis, 2001).

(Krause et al. 2005).

Taniguchi & Kaufman (2005) note that, although the number of students pursuing university education is increasing, his is not the same with mathematics and science related programmes. In addition, not many students perform well in Science Education programmes. In 2002, the population of students between 40 and 49 years, enrolled in Australian universities was 4,975 (Lukic, Broadbent and Maclachlan, 2004). Their academic performance measured by class attendance, course work, and examination scores fell below the pass grade. As a result, at the end of the first semester, approximately 27% of them withdrew from their course. Research in this area by Krause et al. (2005) at University of Melbourne indicates that, a number of factors affect the academic performance of students. Some of these are; student demographic characteristics, student psychological characteristics student prior academic performance, social factors, institutional factors, and outcomes of the learning process.

Concerning demographic characteristics, age and gender were found to have an effect on academic performance (Krause et al, 2005). Similarly, Clarke and Ramsey (1991) found age to correlate with performance in most institutions and courses. The general finding was that older university students perform better than younger students. However, in some courses such as Mathematics and Science, students were adversely affected because their learning speed tended to decrease with age, while the depth of learning increased.As regards student psychological characteristics, academic preparedness and motivation in any learning situation is very cardinal as it determines the outcome of the learning process. Krause et al. (2005) report that significant numbers of students who voluntarily withdrew from full-time study cited unsatisfactory study skills and inadequate pre-requisite knowledge as reasons for withdrawing. Studying and learning approaches at tertiary level appear to be strongly influenced by practices at secondary school level and the miss-match may create problems. It is evident, therefore that, from the relevant literature available, students’ performance is clearly related to their own concepts of their academic ability (Murray-Harvey, 1993).

Consequently, student prior performance, admission to university on the basis of academic performance is determined according to one index or some combination of indices, such as secondary school results or ranking (overall or in specific subjects). Using student prior performance to rank them indicates that secondary school subject results invariably are strong direct predictor of tertiary performance. McKenzie and Schweitzer (2001) note that students’ domain-specific knowledge relates to their intrinsic motivation to study a subject.

On social factors, family and peer support influence students’ commitment of the institution and course satisfaction. West et al. (2012) in their study at Monash University report that a few students withdraw from university study because of the difficulty of combining study with family commitments and needs. Whatever is going on in a student’s personal life, will inevitably affect what is going on in school, and vice versa. A student needs time to be in class, and appropriate time for study. In addition, there must be time for family, friends, social activities, and time to just be alone.

DOWNLOAD COMPLETE PROJECT MATERIAL

THE PROBLEM OF LEARNING BUSINESS EDUCATION IN TERTIARY INSTITUTION (A CASE STUDY OF     UNIBEN)

Leave a Reply