A Study of Graduate Students' Enrollment Decisions, Satisfaction, and Needs towards Learning Experiences

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ชัยยุทธ กลีบบัว
Amaraporn Surakarn

Abstract

This study aims to investigate factors influencing students’ decision-making on pursuing graduate studies, satisfaction with learning experiences at universities, and the needs of learning experience management for graduate studies. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was conducted. The 2019 Student Barometer dataset was investigated with descriptive statistics for the quantitative phases. This dataset was the result of a survey on the learning experiences of 115,807 graduate students in 66 countries around the world (e.g., Thailand, Canada, and China) conducted in 2019 using the Student Barometer instrument. Among these students, 6,118 students were studying at Thai universities. A qualitative phase was then conducted: 30 Thai students who had answered the survey in the quantitative phase were interviewed and analyzed the data by content analysis. Quantitative results: for the decision on pursuing graduate studies, the majority of Thai (97.0%) and international (95.7%) students emphasized on academic degrees that would affect their future work. In addition, Thai students (95.3%) were satisfied with their learning experience in graduate courses, and Thai students (89.0%) were likely to recommend others to apply to the universities where they were studying, which is higher than international students. Qualitative results: needs promoting overall satisfaction with universities could be categorized into four domains: 1) arrival, 2) learning, 3) living, and 4) support.

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Section
บทความวิจัย (Research Articles)

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