An African perspective on the relationship between home town location and course enrolment in maritime education training: the case of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

Studies informed by a qualitative design have suggested that there might be a relationship between home location and course enrolment in the maritime industry. This study’s purpose was to attain an understanding of the relationship between two categorical variables, Home Town Location (HTL) and First Choice Course Enrolment (FCCE), with the assumption that First Choice Course Enrolment is dependent on Home Town Location. To test the null hypothesis, the study sought to run a Chi-Square (?²) Test of independence which is generally used when analysing a relationship between two categorical variables using alpha (∝ = 0.1). The Chi-Square Test of independence employed a population of (N = 286) and a statistical required sample of (n = 74) seeking a (0.10) margin of error to test the hypothesis based on the data collected at a public university in Durban, South Africa. Previous studies have identified various factors such as family, relative ease, economic circumstances etc. which influence course enrolment in the maritime industry, with a perception in mind that location has some influence too. The inferential statistical findings based on the data collected led to a conclusion that there was not enough evidence to suggest an association between the variables, while the descriptive statistics showed that great strides have been achieved in transforming and balancing Durban’s MET landscape post-Apartheid South Africa in terms of race and gender.

Keywords: Maritime Education & Training; Course Enrolment; Home Town; Location; Students