The influence of aspirations on higher education choice: a telecommunication engineering perspective (original) (raw)
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EDUCATIONAL AND CAREER ASPIRATIONS OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY
2021
The present paper is an attempt to discuss the research carried out with the aim to study educational and career aspirations of undergraduate students. The study was guided with the objectives asto study the level of educational and career aspirations of undergraduate students with respect to their courses (B.A, B.Com. and B.Sc.) and with respect to their gender (boys & girls). The hypotheses were formulated that there is no statistically significant relationship between the educational and career aspirations of undergraduate students and their courses (B.A, B.Com. and B.Sc.) as well as their gender (boys & girls). For the purpose of data collection two questionnaires were adapted and administered on randomly selected samples of 150 from the population of undergraduate students with equal distribution on the basis of courses and gender. The responses from the questionnaire items were coded and processed by using the SPSS.T-test and F-test were used in statistics and the result shows that there is no statistically significant relationship between the educational and career aspirations of undergraduate students and their courses as well as their gender.The paper comprises introduction, statement of the problem, background and rationale as well as need and significance of the study, research questions, hypotheses, aims and objectives and research methodology of the study.The paper also includes major findings, educational implications of the study and suggestions for further research in the field.
Journal of Education and Research
Career choice of students differs due to many factors which influence their decision on whether or not to pursue their career of choice. Since making a career choice becomes a turning point in a student’s life, it requires careful consideration. This research identifies the level of the five determinants (academic interest, self-efficacy, financial benefits, non-financial benefits, and family expectations) of TVET career choice, especially in diploma-level engineering students, and their association with each other. The study adopts a quantitative approach by using a survey design. The respondents are selected using a simple random sampling technique. The data are collected by questionnaire through google form at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic. Out of the total of 215 questionnaires emailed to the first-year students, 205 questionnaire forms are counted as valid. The data are analysed descriptively and inferentially using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 25 ...
Factors Influencing the Aspirations of First Year Engineering Students: A Statistical Study
Journal of Engineering Education Transformations, 2023
An engineering student passing out from the college has different aspirations such as obtaining a job through campus interview, opting for higher education in India and abroad, becoming an entrepreneur and so on. A study was conducted in the past to understand the aspirations of the undergraduate students. The current study is an attempt to identify the factors that influence the student aspirations. A study in this connection was carried out in an Engineering College located in the western part of India. The objective of this paper is to determine the factors influencing the aspirations of engineering students. Nine factors influencing the student aspirations were identified from the findings of the previous study and additional six factors were identified through a brainstorming session with the faculty members and students. A Google form was created to identify the prominent factors influencing the student aspirations. This form was circulated to 450 students and responses were obtained from 286 students over a period of one month. Multiple Linear Regression analysis was used to identify the most significant factors that influenced the student aspirations. Results indicate that seven factors namely annual family income, peer motivation, chances of fulfillment of aspirations, government policies, current academic marks, opportunities provided by institute and marks in CET exam are the most influential shaping the student aspirations. The outcome of this study will help the educational institutions to channelize their efforts, develop suitable mechanisms and help the students in fulfilling their aspirations.
Career Choice of Undergraduate Engineering Students
Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2016
Choosing engineering as a profession has traditionally not been a top priority among women. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB), choice is contingent upon attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control, all of which influence behavior. Our research aimed at determining whether the frequencies of these three factors are the same or different among women and men choosing engineering careers. We examined the set of three TPB factors for 330 undergraduate engineering students majoring in information and systems engineering and computer science. We asked the students what had led them to choose a future engineering career. Analyzing each response for recurring TPB factors and sub-factors, which were identified and validated, we found that undergraduate female students who did not express the attitudes factor in their statements are influenced by the subjective norm factor more than men. At a higher resolution, women are significantly more influenced than men by other people. Our study contributes to advancing our understanding about gender-dependent career choice by exploring factors and sub-factors that expand on TPB. These factors and sub-factors can serve researchers interested in developing tools for encouraging women to choose and retain STEM careers.
FACTORS AFFECTING STUDENTS CAREER CHOICE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
This research focuses upon evaluating decisions made by engineering students to choose or change their field of engineering study in order to determine influences and mechanisms that drive their choice of engineering major at the University of New Haven (UNH). Socializers (parents, peers, and faculty), self-identified competence, and media sources were studied for their level of influence and effect upon the selection of an engineering field. This research also investigates students’ perceptions of different engineering majors at the University and their awareness and understanding of those majors. Understanding this type of decision and knowledge helps the University’s engineering educators in emerging new undergraduate engineering majors or innovative interdisciplinary engineering programs attract and recruit students to these lesser known or understood majors. The long-term goal of this research is to develop a survey instrument that can be used at other universities in order to collect generalizeable information of the choice of engineering major. This paper presents select quantitative and qualitative results from this study. A survey was conducted of 97 voluntary participants from eight undergraduate programs within the College of Engineering. Some key findings indicate that gender and parental educational achievement levels affect choice of engineering major at UNH. In addition, only 66% of engineering students indicated that they had determined their specific major before visiting potential universities during their search. This should indicate to the University’s engineering programs that there is significant opportunity to influence student decisions during the recruitment process or during their first and second years of study
1970
Four items on educational and vocational decisions were analyzed izom the 1969 University Student Census of the -University of Maryland. A random samole of 100 students from each class was gtudied and comparisont were made by class and sex. Results indicate that: (1) more freshmen and sophomores were undecided and uncertain about theit vocational goal and major field of study than juniors and seniors;, (2) a substantial number of upperclassmen were "as yet undecided and of their vocational goal; (3) males and females did not seem to. differ in their indecision about a major field of study or vocational goal; (4) the time of selection of vocational goal and major field of study did not appear to be redated; (5) stadents,undecided about either major .field or .vocational goal tended' to be undecided about the other; and (6) students undecided on their major field of study were less favorable to the idea of'a special college for new-students undecided as to their of stud3 viewed 'Oa idea more favorably. It is suggested that the undecided _students may not want to be labeled or singled out, because it may connote that they were different and/or inferior. CAuthor/SW)
Disciplinary Differences in Engineering Students' Aspirations and Self-Perceptions
2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition Proceedings
In discussions of the recruitment and retention of engineering majors, students are sometimes treated as a homogeneous group with respect to the necessary preparation for college, their career values, and their aspirations despite the diversity of opportunities and specialties across disciplines. Moreover, initiates just starting their post-secondary education in engineering may not perceive disciplines as practitioners do: they may identify and find affinity for features of an engineering specialty that may be different from actual practice. This paper conducts a comparative analysis of students at the start of their engineering studies using data drawn from a nationally-representative survey, conducted in 2011, of 6772 students enrolled at 50 colleges and universities in the U.S. By identifying students intending to major in eight different disciplines (bio-, chemical, civil, electrical/computer, environmental, industrial/systems, materials, and mechanical engineering), we show how student goals, values and self-perceptions differ. Regression analysis is used to study how the likelihood of entering one of these eight disciplines is associated to career outcome expectations, students' self-beliefs around their science, physics, and math identities, and constructs measuring their personal and global science agency. Results indicate that students intending to major in engineering show substantial interdisciplinary distinctions in the investigated domains. The utility of this work is that it should help to guide more effective recruiting of students into engineering disciplines and allow for a broadening of recruitment efforts to students who would normally be overlooked for engineering careers.
The aim of the study was to determine the students' perception on the choice and retention of Engineering Technology as a Career Course. The study was guided by two objectives and two research questions. The study adopted Survey as the research design. Which was carried out in Federal polytechnic Bali, Taraba State. The population of the study was 343, which is comprised of all students of Agric. and Bio-Environmental Engineering, Building Technology, Civil engineering, Computer engineering, and Electrical/Electronics engineering departments. There was no sampling technique as all the population was managed as samples for this study. Structured questionnaire was used in data collection for the study which was validated experts; Cronbach Alpha coefficient formula was used in determining the internal consistency of the instrument, which gave a coefficient value of 0.78, indicated that it is reliable. The data collected was analyzed using mean and standard deviation with the help of Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software, version 22. The result reveals that all the respondents themselves have chosen engineering as a course before admitted, engineering is the career they wanted since from their secondary schools with the total support of their parents/guardians. They also found engineering as best course for career take-up, showed their happiness being as engineering students. It was concluded that Students follows their interests as they were encouraged by their parents/guardians since from their early years. It is also recommended that there is need for special counselling services to encourage the students since from their childhood years, as they understands of the societal needs of becoming an engineers, Government should provide all manpower and training facilities needed for training engineers in the tertiary institutions of learning.
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS ON ADVANCES in ENGINEERING EDUCATION
The motivations with which students choose the higher programme to follow have a high impact on their academic performance throughout the programme and on the dropout rate. The type of motivation (intrinsic or extrinsic) that leads them to choose the programme area is very important in their resilience in the face of difficulties they may encounter during the programme. It is also important to attract students to a particular area of higher education. In Portugal (in line with other countries), the demand for higher education programmes in the field of Electrical Engineering has been decreasing among students applying for higher education. This decrease occurs despite the area have high employability. On the contrary, the demand for Mechanical Engineering and Electromechanical Engineering programmes has been growing. Given this, it is important to try to understand the motivations that lead students to apply for programmes in the field of Electrical Engineering. For a better underst...
Journal of Engineering Education, 2009
This study uses a mixed-methods design to investigate students' career decision making at two U.S. undergraduate institutions. The research question was, "To what extent do students who complete undergraduate programs in engineering intend to pursue engineering careers?" We surveyed senior engineering majors about their post-graduate intentions, and later interviewed a subset of the seniors about their career intentions. Only 42 percent of students surveyed reported that they definitely intended to pursue a career in engineering, 44 percent were unsure, and 14 percent were definitely not pursuing engineering. We observed significant institutional differences. Interview data reveal the quixotic nature of many students' decisions about their careers; strikingly, students were vacillating between multiple post-graduate options late into the senior year, even into summer. Implications are discussed for further research and ways engineering departments can influence students' career decisions.