Factors influencing the career choice of undergraduate students at a historically disadvantaged South African university
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Date
2015
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
IP Publishing
Abstract
During the apartheid years in South Africa, career guidance
amongst disadvantaged learners was largely absent and, for many, career
choices were limited and governed by politics. Despite South Africa
having celebrated 20 years of democracy, this situation has improved only
slightly. Therefore, the aims of the study were to determine the factors that
influenced students' career choice and to ascertain the possible barriers
that impacted their decision. An adapted version of Myburgh's Career
Choices Questionnaire (2005) was administered to 721 undergraduate
students. The results showed that parents and loans or bursaries were the
largest sources of financial support and that anticipated benefits
influenced the students' career choice, with the potential for personal
growth and development, for future high earnings and for promotion to the
top of the organization the most important among these. Furthermore,
participants rated visits from lecturers and brochures as the most
prominent sources of influence.
Description
Keywords
Tertiary institution, Higher education, Undergraduate, Career choice, South Africa, Apartheid
Citation
Abrahams, F. et al. (2015). Factors influencing the career choice of undergraduate students at a historically disadvantaged South African university. Industry and Higher Education, 29(3): 209-219