Prevalence of Non-Completion among Postgraduate Students in Selected Public Universities in Kenya

Abstract

Non-completion among university students is a common phenomenon in many parts of the world. Many causes of this problem have been advanced and among them are institutional and individual reasons like financial ability, gender and motivation to complete studies. Psychological distress though not investigated thoroughly has been cited as one of the problems leading to non-completion. The study sought to establish the prevalence of non-completion among postgraduate students in selected public universities in Kenya. Weiner Attribution theory (1985) informed the study. The study adopted a correlation research design, and it was conducted in two selected public universities in Uasin Gishu and Nairobi counties targeting a population of 945 postgraduate students. A sample of (N=273) was obtained from the two selected public universities through systematic random sampling. The study used questionnaires, focus group discussions and document analysis in collecting data. Reliability of the questionnaire was established using Split half method from a pilot study conducted in Uasin Gishu County. Statistical package for the social sciences SPSS 23 was also used to analyse the data. Descriptive statistics to analyze demographic data while Pearson correlation was employed to test the relationship between psychological distress and non-completion. Regression analysis was used to clarify the nature of relationship with the variable. Findings indicated an average non-completion rate of 2.5 years with most students citing financial constraints as the primary cause of their non-completion. The study recommended that students who wished to further their studies should first establish a financial channel or safe for the education journey before they registered for their studies. This would ensure that they would avoid dropping out of school due to a lack of school fees. The study further recommended that students should choose a study model that would favour their schedules to ensure that they did not go through a lot of stress trying to accomplish several tasks simultaneously.