A STUDY ON STUDENT MOTIVATION AT  UNIVERSITY LEVEL

Mustafa  Kamal; Gazi Abdullah-hel  Baqui

doi:10.53808/KUS.2013.11and12.1208-S

Authors

Mustafa Kamal Department of Development Studies, Dhaka University, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Gazi Abdullah-hel Baqui Khulna University, Khulna 9208, Bangladesh

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53808/KUS.2013.11and12.1208-S

Keywords:

Student motivation, university life, qualitative study, goal orientation, academic tasks, interventions

Abstract

The present paper explores how student motivation changes over time at university level based on the students’ perspectives. A purposive sample of nine students was interviewed from the Economics Discipline of Khulna University. The paper reveals that the loss of motivation can occur at any stage of a student’s university life: some may start university with low motivation, yet others may be caught in it at the middle stage or even at the very end. While a small number of students sustain good motivation level throughout their student life, most students experience some swings between high motivation and low motivation and majority of them tend to end the university life with a frustrated mindset. It is also found that some factors play a positive role and can drive a number of students more to academic tasks. In addition to providing insights and explanations about what factors work behind to shape the motivation level of students at the university, the present paper reveals how the provision of certain interventions is related to them and thus relevant to the existing setting.

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