Problems Faced by International Students Academically While Working - Assignment Example

Contents Contents 1 Abstract 2 Introduction 3 The methodology 3 The Results 4 Discussion 8 Conclusion 9 Recommendation 9 Appendix A 10 Reference 14 Abstract The aim of the study is to understand the problems faced by international students academically while working. The study has been conducted using a questionnaire and the study had included only those who is working and studying. The key findings of the study are kept under the results section and there has been a discussion topic and recommendation topic for further insights to the study. Introduction The report will be covering the impact on the study of student due to working a part time. The method of the research will be done using qualitative method and quantitative method. The study would have been triggered by the need to understand the problems faced by the student academically by working and how it has been affecting classroom studies (Catherine Watts,2002). There may be some students who may be forced to work that much extra and that would make them tired and give less concentration in class. There are many students joining the concept of employment and that has been triggered by many factors like the introduction of student loan system, withdrawal of the right of the student to claim housing benefit, unemployment benefit and income support during the vacations and so on(Watt and Pickering,2000). The study will be covering the aspect of implications of student working and the study will be covering the problems faced by international students. The methodology Questionnaire method was used to collect data that is needed for discussion or research study. The questionnaire can be seen in the appendix shown below. Only those students that qualify to the tag of international and working will be included in the study. The questionnaire begins with an introduction that states the objective or the purpose of the study and it also seeks the cooperation of the respondent. The questionnaire starts with the open ended question of Nationality where the respondent should enter the nationality of the person/respondent. It has been stated in Malhotra, that open ended questions are the best way of beginning a questionnaire. Then the question goes to the gender of the person .The age group has been divided into different ranges and the minimum age group has been kept as 18 and the maximum age group has been not kept. The student will be asked the next question of sponsorship and the next big question will be whether the student is working or not. This will be most important question of the research as answering yes will help to take part in the research process while answering no will make sure that there is no need to take further in the research. The reason is that research is meant for understanding the problems that student has while working. The question of working has been asked and the industry that has been asked is retail, hotel, restaurant and others. The hours that the student has been working has been given and arrange has been given. The reason for the student working has been asked and the main question of whether any negative impact of working has been there. The next question will be to understand whether the student is having any problem in academics due to working and if the answer is yes then the question becomes open ended by asking the question what the reasons are. For those who have answered no to this question, will be asked whether there is any positive effect on the study due to job and the answer if it is yes can turn into open ended questions like what are the positive effects. The type of interview method was direct face to face interview and a date was fixed for these 30 respondents. The sample had compromised of 30 students with 11 students saying that they are not working and they had no further role in the study. The ethical role of questionnaire was used and the data collected were used only for the study. The Results Types of Employment The sample size initially was 30 and that was shortened to 19 as they were the only one who was working with study. Of these 19 students one was working in office job, 10 were working in restaurant, 8 were working in retail industry. Types of Employment (Sampling size 19) Type of work No of students Office work 1 Retail Industry 8 Restaurant 10 Hours worked 17 respondents were working between 15 and 20 hours while 2 respondents were working less than 10 hours. Hours worked (Sampling size 19) Hours worked No of students Less than 10 2 Between 15 and 20 17 Relevance of working One respondent had worked with the intention of paying rent while 12 respondents was working with the intention of paying university fees and the rest 6 were working for improving their English by praticising. Relevance of working (Sampling size 19) Intention of work No of students Paying rent 1 Paying University fees 12 Improving English 6 Gender equation The sample that was finally decided was 19 and it had 9 females and 10 males. That was almost an equal share and fair representation which was good for the survey. Gender (Sampling size 19) Nationality of the people surveyed The majority of the sample that was decided was from China. The sample had eleven chinese,one Bhutan, three from Thailand, two from Indonesia and Vietnam. The sampling size has been 19 Perceived effect of paid employment on academic studies The respondents were asked the key question of what effect they had by working on academic study and university attendance. Only five respondents did not have any positive effect on study and rest fourteen had positive effect on study. The main positive effect on the study was positive English. The relationship between the number of hours worked and the perceived effect of paid employment on academic studies Two respondents who had worked 15 to 20 hours a week had problems on attendance and there were no hiccups in less than 10 hours section. This has not been consistent as persons who had worked 15 to 20 hours had varied opinion. Discussion The discussion will be always limited by the fact that only 30 respondents were in the sample and that was shortened to 19.The sample cannot claim that it has been represent ting every student in the University. The sample had the advantage of using the gender issue very well. The study was limited to certain sections and that was a drawback. The sample if analyzed a little bit further can be understood that everyone was working less than 20 hours a week and that had meant that students who were working more than this were kept out. That would have meant that the study would have been conclusive and exhaustive. There were 19 respondents in this sample and only two had negative effect on attendance. Only one respondent had negative effect on study and the rest were having positive effect on study. Only five respondents did not have any positive effect on study and rest fourteen had positive effect on study. The main positive effect on the study was positive English. According to Barke (2000) it has been found out that those who had worked had been getting fewer grades than those who are not working and the figures can be said in average also. This has been not discussed in this survey and this should have been tested in this survey as this would have given oven out clear and concise information. According to Becker (1965) ,if the student devotes more time to study ,it has been found that the student will become more academically inclined. According to Pilkington(1994) and NUS(1996),the case of the funding mechanism or the change of the funding mechanism by the university has meant that there is increased pressure on students to work and that has to be also discussed further in studies. Conclusion The aim of the study was to find out the implications of working and studying by international students in UCELI.The sample size was too less for any exhaustive result to be decided on. The concept of major issues like extra study for groups who had felt that they had their academics is getting affected due to work and the concept of getting work or doing work in University can be thought of. There should be steps taken for future similar studies and that can include more students and more academic tutors and institutions. As per the small sampling size that has been put for study, the data that has been analyzed shows that there has been no problem for majority of students who has been working. The majority of the students were working for personal improvement like English improvement and paying university fees. The aim of the study has been to contribute to the debate whether the student has been facing trouble by working. The finding has been divided in to two equal genders and the finding has revealed that only two male had problems with attendance by working. Of the sample 10 were males and 9 were females and only one female had problem with studies as working was affecting the academic study. The main conclusion is that the aim of the research has been good but the study has not been exhaustive and the research can be done further to gain more insights to the topic. Recommendation More areas of the study were ignored like the role of academic tutors in helping the issues faced by the students. The concept of non working students were to be probed further and it has to be seen how not working is helping their studies if any. For that the grades of those who are working and those who are not working has to be analyized.The reason for earning income by those who are working has to be understood in detail and it has to be seen whether the students has been able to show the financial discipline to meet their objective. The questionnaire could have been altered to add more questions. There would have been different phrasing of questions and the questionnaire started well by asking the nationality of the person. The questionnaire would have been divided in to two sections namely part a and part b.Part a would have covered the key issue whether the student is working or not. That question was asked as the final question of part a as that question is very sensitive and phrasing of questions should be in such a way that sensitive questions are kept down below comfortable questions. What are the economical or financial problems faced by students who have been working can be probed further. What are the possible reasons for students who have been working 15-20 hours a week for not meeting university attendance? The role of employers meeting the demands of students should be also understood in detail.(Hodgson) Appendix A Questionnaire Working during study The purpose of this survey is to understand how does work during study affect international students in UCELI. The anonymous questionnaire is composed of two pages, and it is part of the course requirements for the Postgraduate Preparation Program (PPP Gold) Term B. Students interviewed are requested to read the questions carefully before they answer. Thank you for your collaboration. Questions: Q1 What is your nationality? ________________________ Q2 What is your gender? □ Male □Female Q3 Tick your age group □ 18 – 21 □ 22 – 26 □ 27 – 30 □ 31 + Q4 Have you got a sponsorship for your studing? □ Yes □ No Q5 Are you working? □ Yes □ No. If no, this is the end. thank you very much. Q6 Where do you work? □ retail industry □ hotel □ restaurant □ other _____________________________________? Q7 How many hours do you work per week? □ 15 – 20 □ 10 – 15 □ less than 10 Q8 What is the reason for your working? □ pay university fees □ practice English □enjoyment □ other ________________________________________? Q9 Is there any negative effect on your attendance at UNI because of your job? □ Yes □ No Q10 Is there any negative effect on your study because of your job? □ Yes □ No If yes, what?____________________________________________ Q11 Is there any positive effect on your study because of your job? □ Yes □ No If yes what?_____________________________________________ Q 12 Are you able to work more than 20 hours per week? □ Yes □ No Thank you for your cooperation. --------------------------End of the questionnaire---- Reference Barke,2000,Students in the labour market,nature,extent and implications of term-time working among University of Northumbria Undergraduates ,Research report. Becker,1965,The allocation of time, Economic Journal,Vol 75(299),pp.493-517. Catherine Watts,2002,”The effects of term-time employment on academic performance”,Vol 44 (2) ,pp.67 viewed on June 16,2009,retrieved from www.emeraldisight.com/researchregisters. Naresh Malhotra, 2004,””Questionnaire and Form Design”, Marketing Research An applied orientation, pp.290. National Union of Studies(NUS),1996,Students at work,National Union of Students,GMB,London. Pilkington,1994,”Student Financial Support”,in Hasergrove,The Student Experience,PP.55-71. Hodgson,A.and spours,K ,2000,earning and learning:A local study of part-time paid work among 14-19-year-olds,Institution of education, Lifelong learning group,London. Watts,C.and pickering,A.(2000), “pay as you learn: student employment and academic progress”,Education+Training,vol.42 no.3,pp.129-34. Read More