Educational Research

Abstract

This paper looks at student understanding of academic quality in Amoud University's view of graduate students. The research examines the value of quality service delivery in Amoud University graduate student perception assessed by four stages such as class, year of study, program analysis and job statues. The research also explores whether students view non-academic facilities positively

Keywords

Graduate students, Historical psychology, Ministry of education

INTRODUCTION

Historically, the study of teaching has been dominated by simple input-output models of instructional effects. In this paradigm, teaching behaviours are identified or created, students are exposed to these conditions, and student output is measured. Typically, student mental processes are assumed without direct measurement or entirely ignored. In this tradition, students have been largely viewed as the passive recipients of instruction.

Students' perceptions of their participation and instructor behaviours were examined in the university classroom. Some support for the chilly climate construct was observed; however, gender effects were mediated by general activity level. Differences favouring males were found among students categorized as active participators. Female students' views of their instructors were influenced by instructor gender (Gail, 2003) (Sandra et al., 2003).

Activity theory is a psychological meta-theory, paradigm or framework about studying, thoughts and consciousness. The origins of activity theory lay in (Vygotsky’s, 1978) cultural-historical psychology that sought to understand human activities as complex, socially situated phenomena.

Vygotsky was a leader in the formation of a theoretical approach emphasizing the contributions of the social and cultural world to intellectual development.

The idea for Amoud University came from four intellectuals working in the Gulf in 1994 and was formally proposed in a workshop held in Borama on August 6, 1996. The workshop agreed to the proposal and adopted a resolution for the establishment of the university by 1997. Amoud University started its first admission examination on September 1997 and selected 66 students to undergo a nine-month intensive English course. The university commenced its undergraduate program on 4 November 1998 and admitted the first freshman class. Amoud University was formally launched in 1998 and is registered as a non-governmental, non-profit making institution. Amoud is an institute which is deeply rooted in the local community as the primary support for the establishment of Amoud came from the community elders, leaders, business people, concerned citizens and local non-governmental organizations.

This institution has also branch campuses in the following location(s): Hargeisa City. Officially accredited and/or recognized by the Ministry of Education, Republic of Somaliland, Amoud University is a medium-sized (student’s enrolment range: 6,000-6,999 students) coeducational higher education institution. Amoud University offers courses and programs leading to officially recognized higher education degrees in several areas of study. See the areas of study matrix below for further details. This 21 years old higher-education institution has a selective admission policy based on entrance examinations and students' past academic record and grades. The admission rate range is 80-90% making this Somaliland higher education at least selective institution. International applicants are eligible to apply for enrolment

It is for this reason that this study was conducted following the conceptual framework in (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Conceptual framework the purpose of your study is to explore the demographic factors associated with the perception of graduate students towards the academic programme on which they are enrolled in Amoud University.

Study objectives

The purpose of your study is to determine the effect of demographic factors on the perception of graduate students towards the academic programme on which they are enrolled in Amoud University. Therefore, the researcher created a study to shed light into student’s opinions on the graduate student perception with the following objectives:

This means that the study should test the following null hypothesis:

1. Gender of graduate students has no significant effect on their perception of the academic programme on which they are enrolled.

2. Year of study of graduate students has no significant effect on their perception of the academic programme on which they are enrolled.

3. Programme of study of graduate students has no significant effect on their perception of the academic programme on which they are enrolled.

4. Employment status of graduate students has no significant effect on the perception of the academic programme on which they are enrolled.

Literature review

Introduction

The assessment of student’s perception concerning the academic programe by the universityy in a academic point of view may help in the discovery of the basic requirements which students commonly consider during the selection of their preferred universities (McMahon, 2012). Having to make high-risk decisions and being indeterminate of selecting an institution of higher education, students particularly search for proof of premium service quality provision in the facilities provided by the academic institutions (Oldfield et al., 2012). Given that student satisfaction acts as a primary indicator of quality, institutions of higher education must consider student demands and preferences when providing good academic programe.

Empirical literature

(Dennis Zocco, 2011) stated that study presents the outcome of an empirical analysis determining the relative degrees of risk perceptions in four major categories that students consider in selecting future courses such as subject matter, professor, course environment and grading. This research paper was donated to the literature by informative perception of students regarding selection of specialization in programs. This research paper investigates ten perceptions that students consider in selecting specialization in program - students own interest, friends' opinion, numerical approach, and theoretical approach, and specialization scope, nature of specialization, financial interest, faculty, professor opinion and physical attributes.

In higher education institutions, perceived service quality can be the product of evaluating a number of service encounters for a student and these could range from encounters with administrative staff, to encounters with lecturers, librarian and security staff. If an institution consistency provides services at a level that exceeds customer expectations, the services will be evaluated as high quality but if the services fail to meet customer expectations, the services will be judged as poor quality research exploring the students' comments on their learning process, in particular of their lecturers and professors, is included to support the approach of this paper's research. (Ferreira et al., 2008) used a Likert-style survey to examine the relationship between students' perceptions of education and their performance in an accounting subject. (Meredith Taylor, 1993) student perceptions of a student response system (SRS) were examined. Students were surveyed to determine perceptions of the impact the SRS has on learning. Results indicate that using an SRS may help support engagement and learning by using pedagogical methods perceived by the learner as current and familiar.

Gender graduate student and perception

Despite the lack of interest in Turkey, numerous studies on sex differences in cognitive performance can be found in the literature. In one of the earliest studies (Morris,1959) referring to the psychic and social differences between sexes, claims that the education outcomes of men and women will, at least in part, be different at the collegiate and graduate level. The debate on gender differences in cognitive abilities has actually evolved out of the debate on biological vs. social determinism. The biological perspective on sex differences and cognitive performance considers social factors to be trivial or subordinate to biological factors like brain structure. Lynn in several of his studies (Lynn, 1999) (Allik et al., 1999) (Colom et al., 2004) asserts that males have larger average brain sizes than females and therefore, would be expected to have higher average IQs1. (Mackintosh et al., 1998), on the other hand, claims that there is no sex difference in general intelligence. Mackintosh proposes that general intelligence.

Employment status and student perceptions

According (Molly, 2012), Community service-learning is a "high impact" teaching strategy that responds to contemporary challenges facing higher education. Some faculty, however, remain reluctant to use service-learning in their courses because they believe it does not fit into busy student schedules, given increases in the percentage of employed students and increases in their average number of hours worked per week. This study was undertaken to determine if students' views of the learning they derived from community service-learning were affected by their employment. Students (N = 125) from two universities completed a survey at the end of their service-learning courses, where they reported both the number of hours they work on average per week and their perceptions of servicelearning. The main findings were: a) students' perceptions of service-learning were not adversely affected by their employment; b) the overwhelming majority of students reported very positive perceptions of service-learning; and c) although first-generation students of colour (but not first-generation white students) worked significantly more than non-first-generation students, they reported positive perceptions of service-learning consistent with the overall sample. These findings support service-learning as a valuable teaching-learning strategy in college courses for all students, including those who work significant numbers of hours per week.

METHODOLOGY

The study adopted a correlation survey research method, performed at ex-post facto, with questionnaire as the major data collection instrument. Amoud University was randomly selected for research on hargiesa campus. 64 students (respondents) were picked throughout the program using simple random sampling techniques. The sampled respondents were judged representative

There are two types in the same campus, for example year one and year two. The questionnaire, produced by the researcher, was classified as "Demographic factors on graduate student perception." It was precisely through three members of this group that 64 questionnaires were administered. Only 64 of these questionnaires were found to be useful, representing a response rate of 95%. It was developed as a five-point Liker type rating scale, allowing the respondents to indicate whether they “Strongly Agree” (SA) = 5, “Agree” (A) = 5, “Undecided” (U) = 3 “Disagree” (D) = 2 or “Strongly Disagree” (SD) = 1 with the statements in the instrument.

The data collected were analysed using bivariate correlation analysis. The hypotheses were tested at the .05 level of confidence.

FINDING

Gender and student perception

The first hypothesis on demographic characteristics was that a significant gender analysis of graduate students and their understanding of the academic program they are enrolled in at Amoud University. To test the hypothesis that gender is exploring perception among graduates at Amoud University significantly, to verify whether differences in gender and graduate student perception, ANOVA was done and the results presented in (Table 1)

Table 1. Gender and student perception.

The result in (Table 1) showed that on average, male student perception scored a little bit higher on academic programme enrolled on SPAP than their female counterparts. However, student’s (t = 0.075) was bigger because the probability or level of significant (p = 0. 0.000) was the smaller then α = 0.05 (p<0.05). The null hypothesis is accepting or true. Hence there is enough evidence to say that there are no significant linear relationships between the gender of graduate students and their perception of the academic programme on which they are enrolled.

Year of Study on student perception

The second hypothesis regarding demographic characteristics was that important year of study examines graduate students and their understanding of the academic program they are enrolled in at Amoud University. To test the hypothesis, the study year significantly explores the perception of graduate students at Amoud University. To verify whether differences in gender and graduate student perception, ANOVA was done and the results presented.

The result in (Table 2) showed that on average, second year study sample mean (75.317) student perception scored a little bit higher on academic programme enrolled on SPAP than their first year study sample mean (69.956) counterparts. However, student’s (t = 2.213) was bigger because the probability or level of significant (p = 0. 0.031) was the smaller then α = 0.05 (p<0.031). The null hypothesis is accepting or true. Hence there is no enough evidence to say that there are significant linear relationships between the year study of graduate students and their perception of the academic programme on which they are enrolled.

Table 2. Year of study and student perception.

Programme of stud on student perception

The third hypothesis regarding demographic features was that important study program examines graduate students and their understanding of the academic program they are enrolled in at Amoud University. To test the hypothesis, this study program significantly explores the perception of graduate students at Amoud University, to verify whether gender and graduate differences are different per student.

The result in (Table 3) showed that on average, climate change program sample mean (75.857) of study student perception scored a little bit higher on academic programme enrolled on SPAP than their another program such as education sample mean (76.500), research sample mean (75.851), public health sample mean (72.625), monitor evaluation sample mean (69.200), project sample mean (68.500), business administration sample mean (65.857), of study graduate student perception. However, student’s (t = 0816) was bigger because the probability or level of significant (p = 0. 0.418) was the greater then α = 0.05 (p >0.418). The null hypothesis is reject or false. Hence there is no enough evidence to say that there are significant linear relationships between the program of study of graduate students and their perception of the academic programme on which they are enrolled.

Table 3. Program of study and student perception.

Employment status on student perception

The four hypotheses on demographic characteristics were that employment status significant explore of graduate students and their perception of the academic programme on which they are enrolled in Amoud University. To test the hypothesis, that employment status significantly explore graduate student of perception in Amoud University, To verify whether differences in gender and graduate student perception, ANOVA was done and the results presented.

The result in (Table 4) showed that on average, the status of employment is work full-time student perception scored a little bit higher on academic programme enrolled on SPAP than their another status of employment graduate student perception. However, student’s (t = 076) was bigger because the probability or level of significant (p = 0. 0.940) was the greater then α = 0.05 (p > 0.940). The null hypothesis is reject or false. Hence there is no enough evidence to say that there are significant linear relationships between the employment statues of graduate students and their perception of the academic programme on which they are enrolled.

Table 4. Employment status and student perception.

CONCLUSION AND RESULT

The survey on assessing to determine the effect of demographic factors on the perception of graduate students towards the academic programme on which they are enrolled in Amoud University is concluded. In the research continuity there are four goals, such as gender, Year of study, and program Study and Job Status System. Participating in the analysis though was seven different programs. Participating in the study though was seven different programs. Before analysing the data the method is input and coding using linear regression analysis.

Recommendations student makes on ways to enhance and develop the academic program of the university and policies in the school environment. The study provides students need more experienced Proffisors to the rearch department. This suggestion include

1. To encourage university policy and to make better relations with management,

2. Degree history, to improve practical classes and need more skills

3. To promote training and skills

4. University should help students do more practical laboratory practices than theoretical ones

5. Some of the program's recommendations make us clear that it is their history degree.