IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v12y2022i3p21582440221109586.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Understanding the Motives for Pursuing Postgraduate Studies and Causes of Late Completion: Supervisors and Supervisees’ Experiences

Author

Listed:
  • Jaquiline Amani
  • Helena Myeya
  • Mariana Mhewa

Abstract

This article is a product of a study that deployed a qualitative research approach to examine what motivates students in Tanzania to undertake postgraduate studies, and the causes of late completion of such studies. A total of 47 participants were involved in this study through focused group discussions and semi-structured interviews. The results revealed five distinct reasons why postgraduate students enter a doctoral or master’s degree course: employment prospects, better salary, career progression or change, personal development, and prestige or self-actualization. Moreover, it was found that the determinants of late completion were both institutional and personal. Institutional factors included a non-supportive learning and research environment, cumbersome thesis and examination process, heavy supervisors’ workload, supervisors’ lack of motivation, and low entry qualifications by candidates. On the other hand, personal factors were poor educational background, social and financial problems, lack of good communication skills, research incompetence, low commitment, and partial study leave. The study concludes that efforts to improve the quality of postgraduate training should address the potential systemic, institutional and individual barriers. In the light of this, it is recommended that the institutional conditions and policies should be re-examined to ensure that supervisors and those they supervise are effectively facilitated in fulfilling their roles and responsibilities, so that postgraduate research produces good and timely quality results.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaquiline Amani & Helena Myeya & Mariana Mhewa, 2022. "Understanding the Motives for Pursuing Postgraduate Studies and Causes of Late Completion: Supervisors and Supervisees’ Experiences," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:12:y:2022:i:3:p:21582440221109586
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440221109586
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440221109586
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440221109586?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rens van de Schoot & Mara A Yerkes & Jolien M Mouw & Hans Sonneveld, 2013. "What Took Them So Long? Explaining PhD Delays among Doctoral Candidates," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(7), pages 1-11, July.
    2. Laudeline Auriol, 2010. "Careers of Doctorate Holders: Employment and Mobility Patterns," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2010/4, OECD Publishing.
    3. Supriya Kumar Ghatak & Balagopal G. Menon & Biswajit Mahanty, 2021. "Identifying, prioritizing and ranking of factors influencing the PhD milestones’ completion delays," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 1457-1476, August.
    4. Chris M. Golde, 2005. "The Role of the Department and Discipline in Doctoral Student Attrition: Lessons from Four Departments," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 76(6), pages 669-700, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Koen Geven & Jan Skopek & Moris Triventi, 2018. "How to Increase PhD Completion Rates? An Impact Evaluation of Two Reforms in a Selective Graduate School, 1976–2012," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 59(5), pages 529-552, August.
    2. Hottenrott, Hanna & Lawson, Cornelia, 2014. "Flying the nest: How the home department shapes researchers’ career paths," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 201409, University of Turin.
    3. Carolina Cañibano & F. Javier Otamendi & Francisco Solís, 2011. "International temporary mobility of researchers: a cross-discipline study," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 89(2), pages 653-675, November.
    4. Nicola Curtin & Janet Malley & Abigail J. Stewart, 2016. "Mentoring the Next Generation of Faculty: Supporting Academic Career Aspirations Among Doctoral Students," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 57(6), pages 714-738, September.
    5. Marc van der Steeg & Karen van der Wiel & Bram Wouterse, 2014. "Individual Returns to a PhD Education in the Netherlands: Income Differences between Masters and PhDs," CPB Discussion Paper 276, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    6. Marc van der Steeg & Karen van der Wiel & Bram Wouterse, 2014. "Individual Returns to a PhD Education in the Netherlands: Income Differences between Masters and PhDs," CPB Discussion Paper 276.rdf, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    7. Geuna, Aldo & Shibayama, Sotaro, 2015. "Moving Out Of Academic Research: Why Scientists Stop Doing Research?," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis LEI & BRICK - Laboratory of Economics of Innovation "Franco Momigliano", Bureau of Research in Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge, Collegio 201501, University of Turin.
    8. Diego Useche & Ernest Miguelez & Francesco Lissoni, 2020. "Highly skilled and well connected: Migrant inventors in cross-border M&As," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(5), pages 737-763, July.
    9. Stefano Breschi & Francesco Lissoni & Gianluca Tarasconi, 2014. "Inventor Data for Research on Migration and Innovation: A Survey and a Pilot," WIPO Economic Research Working Papers 17, World Intellectual Property Organization - Economics and Statistics Division.
    10. Giuseppe Lucio Gaeta & Giuseppe Lubrano Lavadera & Francesco Pastore, 2022. "The Effect of Job–Education Vertical Mismatch on Wages Among Recent PhD Graduates: Evidence From an Instrumental Variable Analysis," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 8(1), pages 197-225, March.
    11. Jonas Lindahl & Cristian Colliander & Rickard Danell, 2020. "Early career performance and its correlation with gender and publication output during doctoral education," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 122(1), pages 309-330, January.
    12. Rycx, François & Santosuosso, Giulia & Vermeylen, Guillaume, 2022. "The Over-education Wage Penalty Among PhD Holders: A European Perspective," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1126, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    13. Hayter, Christopher S. & Parker, Marla A., 2019. "Factors that influence the transition of university postdocs to non-academic scientific careers: An exploratory study," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 556-570.
    14. Uhr, Charline & Meyer, Steffen & Hackethal, Andreas, 2021. "Smoking hot portfolios? Trading behavior, investment biases, and self-control failure," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 73-95.
    15. Baruffaldi, Stefano H. & Marino, Marianna & Visentin, Fabiana, 2020. "Money to move: The effect on researchers of an international mobility grant," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(8).
    16. Natalia Shmatko & Galina Volkova, 2017. "Service or Devotion? Motivation Patterns of Russian Researchers," Foresight and STI Governance (Foresight-Russia till No. 3/2015), National Research University Higher School of Economics, vol. 11(2), pages 54-66.
    17. João M. Santos & Hugo Horta, 2015. "The generational gap of science: a dynamic cluster analysis of doctorates in an evolving scientific system," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 104(1), pages 381-406, July.
    18. Yanru Xu & Ji’an Liu, 2023. "Exploring and understanding perceived relationships between doctoral students and their supervisors in China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    19. Valerie K. Bostwick & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2022. "Nevertheless She Persisted? Gender Peer Effects in Doctoral STEM Programs," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(2), pages 397-436.
    20. Anat Gofen & Adam M. Wellstead & Noa Tal, 2023. "Devil in the details? Policy settings and calibrations of national excellence-centers," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(2), pages 301-323, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:12:y:2022:i:3:p:21582440221109586. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.