A Study of Problem and Possible Solutions for Students Taking Longer to Graduate than Academic Plan Case Study : Undergraduate Engineering Program, Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok

Abstract

This research aims to study at the problem of delayed graduation. Furthermore, it recommends some potential solutions applicable to the students in the Faculty of Engineering, King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok. The research studies from a pool of 229 students who did not graduate within the usual time suggested by curriculums of 9 departments within the Faculty of Engineering. A simple random sampling method is used. A group of 54 teachers from the same 9 departments are also selected for the study, by purposive sampling. The study uses surveys, interviews, and appropriate statistical measures such as percent, average and standard deviation. Survey data show that (1) students believe that curriculums are the most prominent problem, while teachers think that teachers themselves are. Interview data agree with the findings from the surveys. In short, the students think that the biggest problem is the fact that they could not re-enroll in the classes they had failed in the next semester due to the high number of classes in each semester. On the other hand, the teachers think that the biggest problems are the lack of advices to students and lack of expertise in the subject matters. From interview data, it is found that (1) students agree with student's survey data and believe that the highest-level problem is that the instructors assign homework without consideration of students' level of understanding, while (2) instructors believe that the problem is lack of enough attention/interest in learning from the students. From surveys, when asked about the potential solutions to the delayed-graduation problem, the students have the highest number of suggestions related to the students themselves, and the second highest related to thesis work. On the other hand, the teachers most often recommend solutions related to the teaching/learning approaches. From interviews, students are most likely to recommend solutions related to curriculums and thesis work, while teachers are most likely to suggest ones related to the curriculums.