Motivation for Enrolment and Influence of Postgraduate Study Programme on Career Satisfaction among Agriculture Students in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

The recent upsurge in application and admission for postgraduate study programme across universities in southwestern Nigeria underlined this study on the push for enrolment and influence of postgraduate study programme on career satisfaction among agriculture students in southwestern Nigeria. Using structured questionnaire, data was collected from 209 postgraduate students selected across major  universities in southwestern Nigeria through a multi-stage sampling procedure. Data was collected on the respondents’ socio-economic characteristics, sector(s) of preference for employment, factors underlining enrolment for postgraduate  programme, perceived influence of postgraduate programme on their career satisfaction and constraints faced in postgraduate study programme. Data collected were summarized using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, means and ranks. Chi-square and PPMC were used to test the hypotheses. Mean age of respondents was 29.8 years. Majority were male (55%), single (74.2%) and had their first degree more than 10 years ago (71.4%). A fair proportion (46.4%) of respondents was unemployed. Education (46.9%), agriculture (30.6%) and oil & gas (19.1%) sectors ranked as the most preferred sectors for employment among the respondents. Desire to acquire better expertise in field of study (mean=3.62), thirst for higher qualification (mea =3.49) and the need to meet requirements for choice career/job (mean=3.09) ranked as the  major factors influencing enrolment for postgraduate programme among respondents respectively. About 37% of  respondents perceived the influence of postgraduate programme on their career satisfaction as low. Similar trend was observed for respondents across the universities sampled. Major constraints faced by the respondents in the  postgraduate programme include unnecessary demands from lecturers/ supervisors (mean = 2.63) and over-loaded time table (mean=1.75). Factors influencing  enrolment for postgraduate study programme among the respondents and their perception of the programme influence on their career satisfaction were significantly related (r=0.368, p<0.05).

Keywords: Postgraduate enrolment, agriculture, career satisfaction, graduates students