A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY: UNDERSTANDING IN-SERVICE STUDENTS EXPERIENCE OF ACQUIRING MS/M. PHIL. OR PH.D. DEGREE

Abstract

In every country, a better system of education can open the doors of social, economic, intellectual, scientific and hi-tech advancements. This study was intended to explore the real-life experiences of students (MS/M. Phil. or Ph.D.), who are working in different sectors also to understand the association among the academic performance of students, motivation, and attainment along with working. In this paper, the researchers used a phenomenological research design through a qualitative inductive approach. By accumulating deeper detail and viewpoints, the phenomenon is documented. For this study researchers selected three leading universities. The data were collected through in-depth, unstructured interviews under a phenomenological research design from MS/M. Phil or Ph.D. students from IQRA, KU, and SZABIST universities. The data analysis shows that all the respondents are truly aware of the concept of Higher Education, which seems to be non-traditional and in fact very strong in its spirit, but in so far as their experiences are concerned to reach up to its genuine realization, different perspectives in respect of real-life journey are recorded from a different respondent. To tackle the factors that negatively affect the academic performance of in-service students, the desired measures to be suggested relevant for encouraging higher studies in Pakistan.