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Article
Publication date: 22 August 2023

Oghenere Gabriel Salubi and Ndakasharwa Muchaonyerwa

This study empirically analyse the lived and individual experiences of internet use time among postgraduate students in a period where the line between the virtual and real is…

Abstract

Purpose

This study empirically analyse the lived and individual experiences of internet use time among postgraduate students in a period where the line between the virtual and real is blurred. The infusion of the internet in higher education has not only facilitated the production of new knowledge but has also led to reports of internet addiction among many users during the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns. This study aims to evaluate the level of internet addiction among postgraduate students and the supportive information services role that librarians could provide.

Design/methodology/approach

In this study, 279 postgraduate students completed a quantitative survey targeted at all the postgraduate students at a university campus in South Africa. Data was collected using an adopted internet addiction test questionnaire. The data was descriptively and inferentially analysed.

Findings

As many as 61 (22.7%) are always online, with most of the respondents, 112 (41.6%) spend 10 h or more on the internet daily. Laptop computers at 44.7% emerged as the primary electronic device used by postgraduate students for accessing the internet, surpassing the prevalence of mobile phone usage. On internet addiction level, internet use time had a statistically significant relation with problematic internet use levels in respondents. These results suggest that the increased uncontrolled internet use could negatively interfere with productive academic work of postgraduate students. However, based on the inferential statistical results, it can be concluded that academic use of the internet does not contribute to increased levels of internet addiction. The study recommends that librarians should provide literacy education and resources on how to use the internet safely and responsibly, including tips on setting boundaries, managing time online and productively using online information resources.

Originality/value

The study assesses problematic internet use among postgraduate students and provides suggestions on supportive information services that librarians could provide in an era where many library information services provision and higher education are hinged on the internet.

Details

Digital Library Perspectives, vol. 39 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2059-5816

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 March 2024

Michail Nerantzidis

Sustainable development (SD) is becoming an important area of research in accounting education. This paper examines if postgraduate accounting students in the Greek context…

Abstract

Purpose

Sustainable development (SD) is becoming an important area of research in accounting education. This paper examines if postgraduate accounting students in the Greek context present different awareness of SD issues and if this is related to their Master’s orientation. Moreover, it compares the results with other similar studies.

Design/methodology/approach

An online questionnaire was designed based on Ebaid (2022) and Aleixo et al. (2021), and distributed to two different Master’s orientation programs. Then, descriptive statistics and contingency table analysis were performed to illustrate the main differences regarding the students’ responses.

Findings

The results indicate that the examined postgraduate students recognize the importance of SD for their future careers and require more knowledge about this issue. Moreover, it is presented that most of the postgraduate students adhere to the core sustainability principles (i.e. recycle, reuse and reduce), while only the students of environmental, social and governance (ESG) Master are significantly and actively engaged in social and environmental activities. Collectively, the results show that postgraduate students in Greece are more familiar with the term SD compared to participants in other similar studies in different contexts.

Practical implications

Planners and decision-makers in higher education institutions could benefit from the findings to reconsider accounting education by introducing new courses and/or Master’s programs to promote knowledge and action for SD.

Originality/value

This is the first study, as far as we know, that examines the issue of sustainability and accounting education on postgraduate students.

Details

Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-3896

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 2 January 2024

Pamela David, Intan S. Zulkafli, Rasheeda Mohd Zamin, Snehlata Samberkar, Kah Hui Wong, Murali Naidu and Srijit Das

The teaching and learning of anatomy has experienced a significant paradigm shift. The present study assessed the level of knowledge in anatomy in medical postgraduate students…

Abstract

Purpose

The teaching and learning of anatomy has experienced a significant paradigm shift. The present study assessed the level of knowledge in anatomy in medical postgraduate students and explored the impact of interventions in the form of anatomical videos on knowledge obtained. An awareness of the importance of human anatomy for clinical skills was created to ensure a certain level of competence be achieved by the end of the anatomy course.

Design/methodology/approach

Postgraduate medical students were recruited from various specialties on voluntary basis. The first step was to conduct a preliminary screening exam to determine the level of anatomical knowledge. The students were then divided into two groups at random, one of which received no intervention (the control group), and the other of which watched the videos with content that was pertinent to the practical demonstrations (intervention). To assess the effects of the video intervention, a post-test was administered to all students.

Findings

Both spot tests (SPOTs) and short answer question (SAQ) components for scores of all the regions from the intervention groups were comparable to the scores obtained by the post-test control group, although the findings were not significant (p > 0.05). However, the intervention group from the abdomen (ABD) region did perform significantly better (p < 0.05) than the screening test score.

Originality/value

The results of the research study imply that interventions like anatomical videos can bridge the postgraduate trainee’s anatomy knowledge gap in a practical method which will immensely help in increasing their knowledge.

Details

Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1985-9899

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 May 2023

Antonio Caparrós Ruiz

The current expansion of the knowledge economy and its requirements of highly educated workers make interesting to analyse the effects on the labour market outcomes of completing…

Abstract

Purpose

The current expansion of the knowledge economy and its requirements of highly educated workers make interesting to analyse the effects on the labour market outcomes of completing a master's degree. This study examines the factors determining the probability of pursuing a postgraduate programme and observes whether workers reaching this educational attainment reap the benefits of their human capital investment through better paid jobs compared to college-only degree holders. On the other hand, it analyses whether individuals with a master's degree are more prone to upward wage mobility.

Design/methodology/approach

The study relies on data obtained from the second survey on the Labour Insertion of University Graduates conducted by the National Statistics Institute (INE, 2019). This survey allows us to observe labour market transitions of the first group of Spanish university graduates under the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and their earnings. The methodological procedure consists of the estimation of wage models controlling for the unobservable differences between workers who have or have not completed a master's degree.

Findings

The results indicate a significant positive impact of master's degree on salaries. Furthermore, individuals with postgraduate studies are more prone to upward wage mobility in comparison to college-only degree holders.

Research limitations/implications

Data used does not allow us to identify which competences associated with the completion of a master's degree are more remunerated by employers.

Practical implications

The econometric specification applied allows us to compute the direct effect of a master's degree on wages and predict the average probability that an individual is in a determined wage interval according to the knowledge area and controlling by the rest of characteristics.

Social implications

The findings are helpful to diagnose and understand how the knowledge acquired through postgraduate studies are rewarded by the labour market, which is essential to evaluate the return on educational investments when making decisions about whether or not to continue postgraduate studies.

Originality/value

This research addresses novelty aspects on tertiary education in Spain and its effects on workers' careers.

Details

International Journal of Manpower, vol. 44 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-7720

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 April 2024

Behnam Soltani and William E. Donald

Drawing on a theoretical framework of sustainable career ecosystem theory, our paper aims to consider how domestic and international postgraduates can enhance their employability…

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing on a theoretical framework of sustainable career ecosystem theory, our paper aims to consider how domestic and international postgraduates can enhance their employability through participation in a landscape of practice.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employed an exploratory, longitudinal case study design to capture students' lived experiences on an 18-month Master of Professional Practice course at a higher education institution in New Zealand. The data collection procedure involved field note observations (months 1–4), a focus group (month 13) and narrative frames (months 16–18). The sample was domestic students from New Zealand (n = 2) and international students from Asia (n = 5).

Findings

One’s participation in multiple communities of practice represents their landscape of practice and a commitment to lifewide learning. Through participation in various communities of practice, domestic and international students can enhance their employability in three ways: (1) boundary encounters to develop social capital, (2) transcending contexts to enhance cultural capital, and (3) acknowledging the development of psychological capital and career agency.

Originality/value

Our work offers one of the earliest empirical validations of sustainable career ecosystem theory. Expressly, communities of practice represent various contexts whereby employability capital is developed over time. Additionally, the postgraduate students themselves are portrayed as interconnected and interdependent actors, presenting a novel framing of such dependencies at the micro-level of the ecosystem. The practical implications come from informing universities of the value of a landscape of practice to enhance the employability of domestic and international students in preparation for sustainable careers and to promote the sustainability of the career ecosystem.

Details

Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-3896

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 July 2023

Abdurahman Ahmed Endris and Yohannes Sisay Molla

Most educational institutions worldwide have suddenly switched to online instruction due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and English language teaching took its part in…

Abstract

Purpose

Most educational institutions worldwide have suddenly switched to online instruction due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and English language teaching took its part in this transition. The immediate transition from face-to-face to fully online instruction affects its effective implementation, especially in developing countries like Ethiopia where online learning is in its early stage. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate postgraduate EFL students’ perceptions and practices of online learning.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a descriptive survey design. Using simple random sampling, 91 postgraduate EFL students were selected from four universities. Online questionnaires were employed to collect data. To analyze the data, both descriptive (mean and standard deviation) and inferential (one sample t-test) statistics were used.

Findings

The findings of the study indicate that the students had favorable perceptions of online learning. Despite the students' positive perceptions, the results of the study showed that the practice of online learning in the universities was limited; especially the practice of synchronous online learning was low.

Research limitations/implications

The results suggest that the concerned bodies at the universities should consider implementing a blended (both synchronous and asynchronous) learning system to deliver an online learning approach.

Originality/value

This is one of the first studies in a higher education context in Ethiopia, which tries to investigate the postgraduate EFL students' perceptions and practices of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper is original because it investigated the status of online learning during the pandemic in a developing country like Ethiopia; it provides a real and convincing idea of a new way of learning in the post-COVID-19 context. The study can also be useful for related future research in the context of a pandemic-like COVID-19.

Details

Higher Education, Skills and Work-Based Learning, vol. 13 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-3896

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 April 2022

Muhammad Nizam Zainuddin and Dzulkifli Mukhtar

The purpose of this study is to examine postgraduate students' reflexive narratives about their entrepreneurial passion (EP) experience as a result of their direct participation…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine postgraduate students' reflexive narratives about their entrepreneurial passion (EP) experience as a result of their direct participation in a series of hand-selected experiential learning events within the curated identity workspace (IW) of a cross-disciplinary postgraduate entrepreneurship education programme.

Design/methodology/approach

This study uses a qualitative exploratory design using interpretative phenomenological analysis with a group of graduate students from a cross-disciplinary postgraduate entrepreneurship education program at an entrepreneurial university.

Findings

This study discovers that students’ EP experience is developed through the internalisation of an entrepreneurship learning activity into their personal identity through the harmonisation and reorganisation of their competing micro-identities of professional and entrepreneurial identity, prompting them to create a new identity that enables them to act entrepreneurially without relinquishing their existing professional identity.

Originality/value

This study demonstrates how entrepreneurial education programmes function as an IW and posits a theoretical model illustrating the hidden connections between entrepreneurial activity, personal identity and entrepreneurial learning experience that collectively influence individuals' entrepreneurial behaviour.

Details

Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, vol. 15 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2053-4604

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 December 2023

Sue Rodway-Dyer and Stewart Barr

The purpose of this research was to discover the impacts of taught environmental sustainability-focused geography postgraduate programmes on student attitudes, behaviours and…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this research was to discover the impacts of taught environmental sustainability-focused geography postgraduate programmes on student attitudes, behaviours and practices in relation to environmental awareness within two research-intensive universities in the UK.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study involved online surveys to measure environmental attitudes, behaviours and practices at the start and end of four taught geography postgraduate programmes.

Findings

There was widespread attitudinal change and an increasing prioritisation of environmental issues reported among participants after they had completed their programme. However, behavioural change was limited, and there was little evidence of greater awareness being translated into changed practices. The learning benefits included a greater focus on interdisciplinarity, holistic thinking and critical self-reflection.

Practical implications

The findings demonstrate that postgraduate taught (PGT) programmes in sustainability improve student awareness and concern about environmental issues but do not necessarily lead to widespread behavioural change. This raises questions for programme convenors about how education for sustainability can be truly transformational and avoid leading students to develop eco-anxieties over the scale of change required.

Originality/value

There is a lack of research engaging with students on PGT programmes, especially in understanding their impacts on environmental attitudes, behaviours and practices. The research provides an evidence base for understanding the effects of PGT programmes in challenging student values, attitudes and practices and by implication knowledge transfer post-graduation, with the potential to help protect the environment and identify ways of living better with the ever-changing planet.

Details

International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1467-6370

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Supervising Doctoral Candidates
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83797-051-3

Book part
Publication date: 20 March 2024

Luca Morini, Jodie Enderby, Mark Dawson, Farhana Gokhool, Emmanuel Effiong Johnson, Samena Rashid and Virginia King

This chapter discusses the process of initiating and developing an open and ongoing conversation about values within a doctoral community in an education research center located…

Abstract

This chapter discusses the process of initiating and developing an open and ongoing conversation about values within a doctoral community in an education research center located within a British university. To do this, the authors first articulate the local and institutional context of this specific doctoral community and the intersections of values declared by the host institution and the specific research center.

This chapter then moves on to describing the process of building an open conversation with postgraduate researchers (PGRs) and staff supporting them. This open conversation questions and explores the institutionally stated values, starting from collaboratively negotiated guiding questions and prompts. The discussion of responses to those prompts, obtained through an anonymous online platform, grounds then a discussion of how values can become relevant and rooted in everyday experience for PGRs. The authors, as a collective, use the concept of “boundaries,” emerged in the conversations themselves but also relevant in academic literature, as a linking concept for the discussion of the responses.

The discussion then concludes by articulating the broader impact of the engagement in these conversations about values within and beyond the boundaries of the host institution and argues for the importance of such ongoing conversations as fundamental elements of fostering value-based communities and cultures in higher education contexts.

Details

Worldviews and Values in Higher Education
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-898-2

Keywords

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