K'okul, S.A. Florence2011-07-282011-07-282011-07-28http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/527Department of Educational PsychologyThe LB 1027.5 .K64Student riots have persisted in Kenyan universities since 1960s where lives have been lost and property destroyed despite the existence of guidance and counselling in the universities. The available literature shows that the government formed several commission committees to look into the causes of the riots and if possible come up with lasting solutions but such efforts have not yielded any positive results. It was for this reason this study was designed to establish students' perception on the causes of the riots and the status of guidance and couselling in two selected public universities in Kenya; the universities of Nairobi and Kenyatta and two private universities; the United States International University and Daystar University. This study employed a descriptive survey design. The independent variables were: Internal factors, external factors and student specific factors and riots, guidance and counselling services and other intervention measures in each university. The dependent variables were; the extent to which the factors influenced riots, previous riot experience and participation at university, change in student behaviour and level of riots. The target population for this study comprised 36,000 students from whom 358 respondents were sampled, (354 students and 4 university counsellors). The study areas were purposively sampled while simple random sampling was used to sample the subjects. A sample size of 200 respondents was sampled from the University of Nairobi's 5 campuses, 100 from Kenyatta and 29 from USIU and 29 from Daystar. The study used questionnaires, focus group discussion guide and observation checklist to collect data. The instruments were pre-tested at Jomo Kenyatta University of Technology and Catholic Universities respectively using a sample of 25 respondents (14 undergraduates, 9 post graduates and 2 university student counselors). The pilot study enabled the researcher to establish validity and reliability of the instrument. Respondents in the pilot study did not take part in the actual study. The purpose was only to refine the instruments. Spearman's rank order correlation was used to correlate the correlation coefficient while Spearman's Brown prophesy formula was used to test the content of the Interview schedule. The calculated value of rs was 0.768 while the reliability of the total test yielded a correlation coefficient value of 0.869. Quantitative data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social sciences (SPSS). Qualitative data applied thematic analysis while descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages and means were used. The study established student specific factors such as past riot experience, age and economic background; internal factors such as; financial constraints, examination stress and drug abuse, misunderstanding between the students and the university authority; external factors such as; Police harassment and influence by politicians. Riot persistence with no change in student's behaviour or attitude with the intervention measures used. Counselling services were offered in departmental offices and not given adequate support, career guidance and pastoral counselling were the most utilized services. The study recommends that guidance and counselling should be recognized, initiated and refined at pre-university and in universities for it to have a deeper impact on individual students. Pastoral counselling should be combined with other types of counselling and offered in a counselling centre with adequate facilities. Student `Barazas' Mentoring programmes, peer counselling, sports and games, dialogue be strengthened in universities. More professional counsellors be employed and counselling done on drug abuse and examination stress. Organized forums for dialogue between the students, the university authority, and the police.enStudent counsellorsPersonnel service in educationDisciplineStudent strikes --KenyaThesis