Assessment of the determinants of career choice made by university students of Uganda: the case of Makerere University School of Statistics and Planning final year students 2018/2019

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess the strategic factors that influence students’ career choices in Ugandan Universities with Makerere School of Statistics being the case study. They study was guided by the following research objectives: To examine the extent do environment factors influence career choice among students. To examine the extent do factors opportunity influence making career choice among students and to examine the extent do factors of personality influence career choice among students in Ugandan Universities? This study used a descriptive research design, i.e., this research design involved observing and describing the behavior of a subject without influencing it in any way. The target population under the study was the School of Statistics students. Sample random sampling techniques was employed in this study. A sample of 100 respondents was selected randomly. This technique allowed the researcher to ensure that each case in the population had an equal chance of being included in the sample. Data collection tool that was used to collect the relevant information needed for analysis was the questionnaire. To ensure effective and efficient data analysis process, the data was coded, sorted and analyzed using regression analysis in the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). Presentation of data was in bar charts. The findings regarding the first research question on the extent to which environmental factors influence students’ career choices in Universities, showed that students’ career choices were influenced by environmental factors. A significant percentage of eh respondent agreed that heir career choices were influenced by environmental factors while a portion of the respondents remained neutral. The findings regarding the second research question on the extent to which opportunity factors influenced students’ career choices universities, the majority of the respondents felt that opportunity factors play a major role in influencing heir career choices. Finally, in regard to the third research question on the extent to which the personality factors influence the students’ career choices in universities, indicated that the career choices of many respondents are influenced by the personality factors. Overwhelming respondents agreed that personality factors played a major role in influencing their career choices.