Distant Students’ Satisfaction as an Indicator of Institutional Success in Higher Education
Abstract
In higher education in Hungary, correspondence courses play an important role alongside the state funded (full-time) courses. Students enrolled in these courses usually learn while working and these studies complement or supplement the students' earlier educational path. Higher education institutions are competing for correspondence students and therefore the satisfaction of these students acquires a special significance. However, researchers have pointed out that their satisfaction depends not only on the quality of services but also on the commitment of the students. Satisfaction depends on several factors (e.g. on expectations, on preliminary considerations), according to Bean and Bradley this means an emotional stance in fact, which is associated with isolation and dissatisfaction in the case of fulltime students. Several international and also some Hungarian studies confirmed the connection between the dissatisfaction and non-embeddedness of students. In the research project Learning Regions in Hungary: From Theories to Realities we questioned part-time students from three dominant higher education institutions (N=1092). In our research we examined the following questions in the case of part-time students: what is the connection between motivation or commitment and achievement? And what kind of demands and requests turn the correspondence students into actors of Higher Education?
References
Astin A.W., What matters in College: Four Critical Years Revisited, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco 1993.
Banta T.W., Pike G.R., Revisiting the Blind Alley of Value-Added, “Assessment Update” 2007, 19. 1, pp. 1-15.
Bean J.P., Bradley R.K., Untangling the Satisfaction Performance Relationship for College Students, “Journal of Higher Education” 1986, 57, 4, pp. 393-412.
Choosing Students. Higher Education Admissions Tools for the 21st Century, eds. W.J. Camara, E.W. Kimmel, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, London 2005.
Employability and Mobility of Bachelor Graduates in Europe Key Results of the Bologna Process, eds. H. Schomburg, U. Teichler, Sense Publishers, Rotterdam 2011.
Heuser B.L., Academic Social Cohesion within Higher Education, “Prospects” 2007, 37, 3, pp. 293-303.
Hirschi A., Fischer A., Work Values as a Predictors of Enterpreunerial Career Intentions: A Longitudinal Analysis of Gender Effect, “Career Development International” 2013, 18, 3, pp. 216-231.
Klein S.P., Kuh G.D., Chun M., Hamilton L.S., Shavelson R.J., An Approach to Measuring Cognitive Outcomes across Higher-education Institutions, “Journal of Higher Education” 2005, 46. 3, pp. 251-276.
Knox W.E., Lindsay P., Kolb M.N., Does College make a Difference? Long-term Changes in Activities and Attitudes, CT: Greenwood Press, Westport 1993.
Kun A.I., Oktatási jelzés és szűrés a munkaerőpiacon – az empirikus vizsgálatok tanulságai, “Competitio” 2013, 12.1, pp. 39-60.
Pascarella E.T., Terenzini P.T, How College affects Students. A Third Decade of Research, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco 2005.
Pusztai G., A láthatatlan kéztől a baráti kezekig. Hallgatói értelmező közösségek a felsőoktatásban. [From the Invisible Hand to the Gladhand. Students’ Interpretive Communities in Higher Education], Új Mandátum Kiadó, Budapest 2011.
Pusztai G., The Effects of Institutional Social Capital on Students’ Success in Higher Education International, “Journal of Educational Development” 4/ 2014 (forthcoming).
Pusztai G., “Nem biztos csak a kétes a szememnek…” Hallgatói eredményességi koncepciók és mutatók a felsőoktatás-kutatásban, Nagy Péter Tibor & Veroszta Zsuzsa 2014. A felsőoktatás kutatása, Gondolat, Budapest 2014.
Rautopuro J., Väisänen P., The Function of Goal Orientation and Commitment to Studies in Different Fields of University Education, “The Finnish Journal of Education” 2002, Kasvatus 33, 1, pp. 6-20.
Schultz T.W., Investment in Human Capital, “The American Economic Review” 1961, 51. 1, pp. 1-17.
Smart J.C., Feldman K.A., Ethington C.A., Academic Disciplines: Holland's Theory and the Study of College Students and Faculty, TN: Vanderbilt Univer¬sity Press, Nashville 2000.
Szczepanski J., Higher Education in Eastern Europe, International Council for Educational Development, New York 1974.
Thomas S.L., Ties that Bind: A Social Network Approach to Understanding Student Integration and Persistence, “The Journal of Higher Education” 2000, 71. 5, pp. 591-615.
Tinto V., Leaving College. Rethinking the Causes ad Cures of Student Attrition, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago–London 1993.
Tinto V., Research and Practice of Student Retention: What Next?, “Journal of College Student Retention Research” 2006, Theory & Practice, 8. 1, pp. 1-19.
Varga J., A pályakezdő diplomások munkaerő-piaci sikeressége 2011-ben, in: Frissdiplomások 2011, ed. Garai Orsolya-Veroszta Zsuzsa, Educatio Társadalmi Szolgáltató Nonprofit Kft. Felsőoktatási Osztály 143-173, 2013.
Veroszta Zs., A mesterképzésig juttató erők – A felsőoktatási bachelor/master átmenet szelekciós tényezőinek feltárása, in: Frissdiplomások 2011, ed. G. Orsolya–Veroszta Zsuzsa, Educatio Társadalmi Szolgáltató Nonprofit Kft. Felsőoktatási Osztály 2013, 9-37.
Copyright (c) 2016 HORIZONS OF EDUCATION
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a CC BY-NC-ND licence that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are asked to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access). We advise to use any of the following reserach society portals:
