Abstract
This paper examines how full-time or part-time status affects students’ level of satisfaction with their degree programs. For our analysis, we obtained data from a survey of graduate students. The survey was conducted at a public university in Spain from 2001 to 2004. The decision to undertake paid employment while studying emerges as one of the key determinants of student satisfaction. In particular, our findings indicate that students who hold a part-time job while studying are more likely to express less satisfaction with their college experience.
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Notes
An alternative strand of the literature deals with the concept of consumer satisfaction. This concept could be applied to the analysis of students’ satisfaction. However, the relationship with this literature lies outside the scope of this paper. For a detailed discussion on consumer satisfaction see Giese and Cote (2000).
Other studies, such as Pike (1994), have examined data from individuals who had been working for at least 10 years since they obtained their degree.
In the management major, economics accounts for about one-third of the total course content.
In order to provide a deeper interpretation of our results we should consider a selection procedure (like the Heckman’s method). This procedure would allow us to identify the variables driving the decision about working or not by a student. Unfortunately, the data that can be extracted from the student survey at our disposal does not allow us to construct the variables needed to implement that selection procedure. Therefore, we limit ourselves to suggesting different interpretations of the estimation results.
Students may perceive that applied lectures and working hours are substitute rather than complementary activities.
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Acknowledgments
This paper has benefited from the valuable comments of the referees of this journal. The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support received from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and FEDER through grants SEJ2006-03879 and SEJ2006-11067; the Generalitat of Catalonia through the Barcelona Economics Program (XREA) and grant SGR2005-00447; the Autonomous Government of Andalusia through grant SEJ-03261; and the School of Computer Science of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. We also thank Jordi Pons and Patricia Laura Gómez for their help in providing and processing the data set.
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Appendices
Appendix A
Appendix B
The student opinion survey included ten questions about the graduate program and a number of additional items related to their experience at the university. Furthermore, each respondent answered personal, academic and job-related questions. The basic questions of the questionnaire were written as follows:
Mark each of the following issues related to your academic experience and university facilities for the Bachelor’s Degree Program in Computing (BPC) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona from 0 (worst) to 10 (best):
Aspect | Mark |
|---|---|
1. Academic program | |
2. Quality of theoretical lectures | |
3. Quality of applied lectures | |
4. Faculty | |
5. Quantity of applied lectures | |
6. Adequacy of the degree subjects for labor market requirements | |
7. Library services | |
8. Classroom facilities | |
9. Computer laboratory facilities | |
10. Overall satisfaction of graduate program |
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Moro-Egido, A.I., Panades, J. An Analysis of Student Satisfaction: Full-Time vs. Part-Time Students. Soc Indic Res 96, 363–378 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9482-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-009-9482-1