Motivations for participation in higher education
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Date
2016
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Journal of Lifelong Education
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The objective of this qualitative study was to establish motivations
for participation of non-traditional students (NTS) in university
education. The findings are drawn from empirical data collected
from 15 unstructured in-depth interviews with NTS of the School of
Computing and Informatics Technology at Makerere University, and
analysed with the aid of qualitative data analysis software ATLAS.
ti. Three major findings were established: (1) motivations were
found to be multiple, multifaceted and varied for each individual;
(2) the sociocultural context of the African society including societal
perceptions of university education were found to be the major
factor shaping motivations of NTS to upgrade their educational
qualifications; and (3) most motivations were found to be extrinsic
in nature rather than intrinsic and based more on push rather than
pull factors. Yet, although the demand for university education is
increasing, life beyond university can no longer guarantee some of
the anticipated rewards such as employment and its related benefits.
It therefore becomes important that the purpose of education within
universities in Africa is directed towards achieving development of
the whole human being. In this way, a graduate’s capacity to function
will not be seen only in the economic and professional life, but also
in other spheres of life.
Description
There are two types of motivations generally agreed upon in literature on motivation –
intrinsic and extrinsic motivation (Swain & Hammond, 2011). McGivney (1996) as quoted
in Swain and Hammond (2011) describes intrinsic motivation as ‘the enjoyment the individual
gets from performing an activity or the subjective interest the individual has in the
subject’ (p. 594). On the other hand, extrinsic motivation relates to the notion of utility value
of the task and therefore is instrumental and related to the expected subsequent reward
(Swain & Hammond, 2011).
Keywords
Extrinsic motivations; socio-cultural context; non-traditional students; university education; capabilities