Factors influencing adults to pursue postgraduate studies at the University of Dar es Salaam: a case study of MA (education) evening programme

The study investigated the factors that motivate adult students to pursue MA (Ed) evening programme at University of Dar es Salaam. It was guided by four research objectives including to establish the context within which the MA (Ed) evening programme was introduced; to investigate factors that influenced adult students to pursue MA (Ed) evening programme; to examine challenges faced by adult students when pursuing the MA (Ed) evening programme; and to indentify measures used by adult students to solve problems they face when pursuing the programme. The study employed a qualitative approach using multiple case study research design. The study involved sixty four (64) adult students, six (6) lecturers, one (1) Coordinator of Postgraduate studies of SoEd and one (1) Associate Dean of SoEd who were obtained through stratified sampling, convenient sampling and purposive sampling. The data were generated through questionnaire, interview, focused group discussion (FGD) and documentary review and analysed through a computer software called Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 12.0 and Microsoft Excel 2007. On the other hand, qualitative data were analysed through content analysis technique. It was found that MA (Education) evening programme was introduced to accommodate the increasing number of students who missed enrolment in regular MA (Ed) programme and as means to Motivation Avenue for its teaching staff. Adults pursuing MA (Ed) in evening programme had varying motives; however, the age, the economic factors and expectation motive were over-riding factors, including lesser others like social, self development, captive wives, and institutional motives. Students in the MA (Ed) evening programme were challenged by rising tuition fees, limited access to library facility, and lack of clear set time for consultation, transport problem, and inadequate infrastructure which pushed them to apply different individual efforts to bring equilibrium. It was concluded and recommended that the University of Dar es Salaam should review their tuition fee rates, SoEd library to be accessible even for MA (Ed) evening programme hours and weekends, standby generators for electricity lapses and more space should be obtained for MA (Ed) students. Lastly, there is a need to conduct other studies of a similar nature to cover the whole university institutions with evening programmes to get a wide scope of the problem and the way it can be addressed.