Exploring masters students experiences in their academic research journey in the school of education, Moi University, Kenya

Abstract

The training of postgraduate students is a core function in the endeavors of any university. Postgraduate training completion is as a result of an interaction of multiple factors which include student attributes, supervision and the provision of resources and facilities. Studies have shown that universities experience relatively low completion rates, high dropout rates and large discrepancies between intake and output at postgraduate level. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of the postgraduate students on their academic research journey in the School of Education, Moi University. The study set out to achieve five objectives notably: to examine the motivation behind the student enrolling into various Masters Programmes; Explore the student-related experiences; the research related experiences; institutional -related experiences, and to suggest strategies to enhance Masters Students completion rates in the School of Education. This study was guided by the ecological – transactional model of resilience developed by Brenner and the works carried out by Calilllas. A Sample of 42 masters students and three (3) key informants were drawn using purposive sampling in the School of Education. This study adopted an exploratory sequential mixed methods design. Data was collected through interviews and questionnaire. Data collected qualitatively was analyzed thematically and quantitative data were analyzed descriptively using percentages. The study found out that 90% of postgraduate students were motivated professionally to enroll for master’s programmes in the form of personal marketability and professional development. This study found that out that 47% of the respondents experienced competing obligation,61% of the respondents had issues with funding and 47% of respondents has issues with academic preparation. On Research, 58% of the respondents had issues with research methodology foundation and 60%of the respondents had issues with data collection and analysis. On the institution 55% of the respondents did not receive maximum contact with supervisors, 79% of respondents were part time students, academic staff capacities, motivation and teaching overloads influenced postgraduate students in their academic research journey. This study recommended that personal marketability and professional development were essential in motivating students to enroll for various masters programmes.Student to increase on motivational boosters of self- belief and resilience and reduce on motivational guzzlers of self- sabotage, procrastination and anxiety. The University to provide effective training and strong foundation on research methodology, improve on student-lecturer interaction motivate staff and put more emphasis on postgraduate studies. In conclusion masters’ students in the school of Education were motivated professionally to join various programmes,Students in the course of their studies experienced individual ,research and institutional related challenges. The study recommends that a similar study be extended to students enrolled in Doctoral programmes.