Empowering tertiary level students to solve their own study-related problems to improve study performance

PurposeStudents’ progressing to tertiary (undergrad or higher) level education often faces problems due to the change in the educational settings that may directly or indirectly affect their studies and interim results. In addition, they may suffer from low self-esteem, which in turn may result from...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied research in higher education 2020-12, Vol.12 (5), p.1117-1133
Main Authors: Nishat, Nazia, Islam, Yusuf Mahbubul, Biplob, Khalid Been Md. Badruzzaman, Mustain, Umam, Hossain, Md Kamrul
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
At risk students
Collaboration
Colleges & universities
Counseling
Counselor Training
Education
Empowerment
Learning
Peer Counseling
Peers
Private schools
Rural areas
Universities
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Summary:PurposeStudents’ progressing to tertiary (undergrad or higher) level education often faces problems due to the change in the educational settings that may directly or indirectly affect their studies and interim results. In addition, they may suffer from low self-esteem, which in turn may result from another set of issues such as negative peers, past poor results, unable to get into a school of choice and so on. Those who have to live away from home to attend a university could have their own set of problems. To provide support many universities have counseling offices to help the students tackle their problems. The counseling officers often give repeated appointments in an attempt to help solve these problems. At the university where the research was conducted, more than 75 percent of the students come from a rural background. These are students who, for the purposes of acquiring their tertiary-level education, have had to move to the city, away from their family. These students are known to have problems such as adjusting to urban life, missing home, managing all household chores by themselves, even a culture shock given the nature of urban life and so on, all of which may affect their studies. Unfortunately, the university under study does not employ a student counselor to look after students coming from rural areas. Therefore, to support such students it was thought that a peer counseling session might help the students help themselves.Design/methodology/approachA workshop using a collaborative approach to help students solve their own problems was designed and conducted. From three different departments, 78 students with a low Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA 
ISSN:2050-7003
1758-1184
DOI:10.1108/JARHE-07-2018-0136