A comparative study of communication perspectives of factors influencing students’ career choice at UNIZULU and DUT
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Date
2017
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Publisher
University of Zululand
Abstract
The choice of career is a delicate matter that demands caution and serious attention. Many people have become victims of circumstances of incorrect career choice due to lack of proper career guidance and information. On the other hand, there is a debate among academic researchers in the field of career counselling and guidance that learners in urban areas have more advantage in understanding career choice compared to their rural counterparts. The findings, however, have been controversial. Hence, this study sought to examine and compare the extent to which communication perspective on factors influencing students ‘career choice in rural and urban tertiary institutions of learning are the same or different. An in-depth literature of prior studies in the field of counselling and guidance was conducted to create the theoretical foundation for this study. On the basis of the literature review, a conceptual framework for the Department of Basic Education was developed. A self- designed questionnaire under descriptive survey was adopted and simple random technique was employed to administer a total of 370 questionnaires to students from one rural and one urban university in South Africa. The participants comprised first-year undergraduates from Durban University of Technology (DUT) and University of Zululand (UNIZULU). The data were analysed through the MoonStats and later transferred to tables and average mean. The study indicated that friends, internet, and university open day were the major channels of communication by which career services were provided to potential university ‘students. The study also revealed that first-year students from DUT were well-equipped on knowledge of career choice information than the first-year students of UNIZULU. Students from the two universities have similar views that parents, admission requirements and matriculation results were the major factors influencing their choice of course of study in the higher institution of learning. The study further offered recommendations and further study based on the research objectives of the study.
Description
A dissertation submitted to the Faculty Of Arts in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters in Communication Science in the Department of Communication Science at the University Of Zululand, 2017
Keywords
career choice --counselling --guidance --South Africa