An Exploratory Study
At most institutions, students in the final year of their undergraduate degree programs, including Postgraduate students, have to do a dissertation, the purpose of which, amongst others, is to provide them with the opportunity to undertake a project that will enable them to develop as an independent learner.
In undertaking their projects, they often have the choice of deciding on what type of project they want to engage in – empirical or case study based. Irrespective of which type of project they undertake, it is presumed that it is a piece of work undertaken by them and that it will provide them with the opportunity to develop and acquire essential skills and attributes that will prepare them for the world of work.
The project was undertaken to ascertain students’ views about whether or not the dissertation module enhanced their employability or entrepreneurship prospects. In other words, it is to find out how much doing their dissertation has prepared them for their future career and/or aspirations. The preliminary results are interesting.
In response to the question:
Do you believe your dissertation should be relevant to your future career/employment?
The result is shown below:
In response to the question:
When deciding on your dissertation topic, did you relate it to your future career?
The result is shown below:
There is evidence from this initial finding that the dissertation project has a great potential to enhance students’ employability prospects and as such institutions should encourage their students to choose topics that will prepare them for the world of work. Students live in a real world, and any knowledge they acquire must relate to the real world. Hence at AFEXED, we place a strong emphasis on the tripartite relationship between teaching, learning, and research.
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