Employability of graduates has gained considerable interest among researchers recently. This interest came about because of reported concerns by employers regarding the lack of employability skills among graduates thereby rendering them unemployable. South Africa is experiencing persistently high unemployment rates among the youth, particularly those with degrees. Similarly, self-employment of graduates has gained considerable interest among researchers around the world. Despite high unemployment rates among the youth of South Africa, self-employment levels are disappointedly at low levels. Therefore, knowledge of university students‟ perceptions with regard to employability and intention for self-employment is important. The phenomenon of employability has gradually developed over the decades. This resulted in researchers finding it difficult to come up with a common definition of the concept. Nonetheless, researchers share similar views with regard to the importance of employability, particularly among graduates. Due to the changing nature of the world of work, there is an unprecedented need for graduates to possess employability skills that will enhance their employability throughout their working life. For a long time, there has been a debate in South Africa regarding the preparedness of graduates for the world of work. Employers complain about the quality of graduates while universities feel that employers are not appreciative of their contribution in producing appropriate graduates. Therefore, there is a need to investigate employability of students continuously, as the future workforce will come from this cohort. For many decades, self-employment has been viewed as an important component of economies of many countries. In light of this, there has been an increasing interest in self-employment around the world. In the case of South Africa, research has consistently indicated that compared to countries at similar levels of development, the country lags behind on this front. In response to this, numerous attempts have been undertaken to strengthen actions that encourage and support self-employment as an attractive substitute to wage employment for students. There is a shared view among researchers that the decision to enter into self-employment is preceded by intention. Therefore, there is a continuous need to investigate self-employment intentions in South Africa, particularly among students. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between perceived employability and intention for self-employment among university students. A quantitative research approach was followed to collect data. A questionnaire was administered among second year, third year and postgraduate students at four universities in two provinces of South Africa. Factor analysis was used to establish whether data were appropriate for analysis. T-tests and ANOVA were used to compare students‟ employability skills, perceived employability and intention for self-employment. While there were no significant differences in terms of employability skills and perceived employability, significant differences were found on self-employment intentions on various variables. Correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationship among the factors of perceived employability and the relationship between perceived employability and intention for self-employment. The results indicated that there is a statistically significant relationship between perceived employability and intention for self-employment among university students. Reflecting on the results of this study it is evident that university students perceived themselves as employable. In line with the results, it is important that the employability skills of students should be developed, as this will enhance their employability. The curriculum should be designed in such a way that it incorporates employability skills. Employers and government should play a meaningful role in this regard. While the majority of students indicated that they intend to be self-employed someday, there were a substantial number of students who do not view self-employment as a career option. Therefore, self-employment should be made a compulsory module across different fields of study. Different stakeholders should be involved in encouraging university students to engage in self-employment activities. / PhD (Entrepreneurship)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.

Social entrepreneurship has been a topic of academic enquiry for nearly two decades. However, scholarly research has been challenging. It was observed that most of the surveyed empirical studies have been conducted in the United Kingdom and the United States. The concept has to some extent received attention in developing countries, such as Bangladesh and Venezuela. However, the contextual and empirical understanding of the phenomenon is still lacking in Africa, and South Africa is no exception. The phenomenon of social entrepreneurship has a long history. Since inception, no general consensus has been reached regarding its definition. For the purposes of this study social entrepreneurship is defined as the process through which individuals operate in the commercial sector with the aim of providing products and services that benefit the poor in society. From the onset, social entrepreneurship has consistently been commended as an effective alternative business process of providing much needed social goods and services to society. The activities of social entrepreneurs are significantly important in situations where government facilities have failed or are unable to deliver much needed resources and services such as employment, health care and education. The primary objective of this study was to identify social entrepreneurship intentions among university students in Gauteng province. A quantitative research approach was followed to collect data. A questionnaire was administered among undergraduate and post-graduate students from selected universities in Gauteng. Factor analysis was used to identify factors that influence social entrepreneurship intentions. Six factors which influence social entrepreneurship intentions were identified namely, social entrepreneurial intentions, attitude towards entrepreneurship, proactive personality, attitude towards entrepreneurship education/university environment, perceived behavioural control and risk taking propensity. Furthermore, correlation analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship amongst social entrepreneurship intentions factors. The results were significant which indicated that there was a positive linear inter-factor association. Additionally, analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted to determine whether significant differences exist with regards to the influence of gender, age and year of study on social entrepreneurship intentions factors. Significant differences were found with regard to age and gender on social entrepreneurship intentions. Based on the findings it is evident that social entrepreneurial intentions, attitude towards entrepreneurship, proactive personality, attitude towards entrepreneurship education/university environment, perceived behavioural control and risk taking propensity are factors that influence social entrepreneurship intentions among university students in Gauteng. Given the need to develop social entrepreneurship research in South Africa, it is recommended that future research further explore and identify social entrepreneurship intentions factors using a larger sample size, by including all provinces in South Africa. Future research could also focus on exploring the relationship between social entrepreneurship intentions, and other variables such as personality traits, culture and other demographic variables. / MCom (Entrepreneurship)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.

Employability of graduates has gained considerable interest among researchers recently. This interest came about because of reported concerns by employers regarding the lack of employability skills among graduates thereby rendering them unemployable. South Africa is experiencing persistently high unemployment rates among the youth, particularly those with degrees. Similarly, self-employment of graduates has gained considerable interest among researchers around the world. Despite high unemployment rates among the youth of South Africa, self-employment levels are disappointedly at low levels. Therefore, knowledge of university students‟ perceptions with regard to employability and intention for self-employment is important. The phenomenon of employability has gradually developed over the decades. This resulted in researchers finding it difficult to come up with a common definition of the concept. Nonetheless, researchers share similar views with regard to the importance of employability, particularly among graduates. Due to the changing nature of the world of work, there is an unprecedented need for graduates to possess employability skills that will enhance their employability throughout their working life. For a long time, there has been a debate in South Africa regarding the preparedness of graduates for the world of work. Employers complain about the quality of graduates while universities feel that employers are not appreciative of their contribution in producing appropriate graduates. Therefore, there is a need to investigate employability of students continuously, as the future workforce will come from this cohort. For many decades, self-employment has been viewed as an important component of economies of many countries. In light of this, there has been an increasing interest in self-employment around the world. In the case of South Africa, research has consistently indicated that compared to countries at similar levels of development, the country lags behind on this front. In response to this, numerous attempts have been undertaken to strengthen actions that encourage and support self-employment as an attractive substitute to wage employment for students. There is a shared view among researchers that the decision to enter into self-employment is preceded by intention. Therefore, there is a continuous need to investigate self-employment intentions in South Africa, particularly among students. This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between perceived employability and intention for self-employment among university students. A quantitative research approach was followed to collect data. A questionnaire was administered among second year, third year and postgraduate students at four universities in two provinces of South Africa. Factor analysis was used to establish whether data were appropriate for analysis. T-tests and ANOVA were used to compare students‟ employability skills, perceived employability and intention for self-employment. While there were no significant differences in terms of employability skills and perceived employability, significant differences were found on self-employment intentions on various variables. Correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationship among the factors of perceived employability and the relationship between perceived employability and intention for self-employment. The results indicated that there is a statistically significant relationship between perceived employability and intention for self-employment among university students. Reflecting on the results of this study it is evident that university students perceived themselves as employable. In line with the results, it is important that the employability skills of students should be developed, as this will enhance their employability. The curriculum should be designed in such a way that it incorporates employability skills. Employers and government should play a meaningful role in this regard. While the majority of students indicated that they intend to be self-employed someday, there were a substantial number of students who do not view self-employment as a career option. Therefore, self-employment should be made a compulsory module across different fields of study. Different stakeholders should be involved in encouraging university students to engage in self-employment activities. / PhD (Entrepreneurship)--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2015.

Denna studie tar del i den stora hälsotrenden som pågår i dagens samhälle. Ingen kan ha undgått hur media påverkar och har ett stort inflytande när det kommer till kroppsfixering och självförtroende hos människor. Överallt får man intrycket av att man ska vara smal eller vältränad för att passa in och det är viktigt att vara som alla andra. Och är du inte det så uppfyller du inte omgivningens krav. Självklart borde detta spegla av sig på självförtroendet om man inte känner att man uppfyller kraven, eller är det verkligen så? Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka om manliga och kvinnliga universitetsstudenter har olika syn på sitt eget utseende och självförtroende, och även undersöka om det finns några könsskillnader i detta. Vi har valt att göra undersökningen med hjälp av enkäter via det webbaserade programmet Survey & Report. Sedan analysera resultatet i Survey & Report och statistikprogrammet SPSS. Vi valde att gå runt på Karlstads universitet med enkäten och låta slumpmässigt utvalda respondenter få svara på enkäten och det var 50 studenter som deltog i undersökningen. Resultatet visade att de kvinnliga studenterna hade generellt sämre självförtroende än vad de manliga studenterna hade. Både de kvinnliga och manliga studenterna var överlag ganska positiva till sitt eget utseende. De manliga studenterna visade sig vara mer säkra i olika sorters situationer än vad de kvinnliga studenterna var. Slutsatserna är att det var ett brett område att undersöka, kanske för brett för en b-uppsatts och för den lilla andelen respondenter vi hade. Det går inte heller dra någon generalisering av forskningen då det var för få respondenter. Men av det som vi valt att undersöka går det att dra en slutsats att de manliga respondenterna visade på ett bättre självförtroende och att de var säkrare i olika situationer. De kvinnliga respondenterna var mer jämnnöjda med sitt utseende än vad männen var, och de kvinnliga respondenterna svarade att de ville ändra mindre på sig själva utseendemässigt än vad männen svarade att de ville. / The paper takes part in the big health trend going on in today's society. No one can have failed to notice how the media influences and has a major influence when it comes to body fixation and self-confidence. Everywhere one gets the impression that one should be slim or fit to fit in and it is important to be like everyone else. And if you're not, you don’t meet the demands of your surroundings. Obviously, this should reflect on your self-confidence if you do not feel you meet the requirements, or is that the case? The purpose of this paper is to examine whether male and female university students have different views of their own appearance and self-confidence, and also investigate whether there are gender differences. We have chosen to do the survey using questionnaires via the web-based program Survey & Report. After analyzing the results of the Survey & Report and SPSS, we chose to walk around at Karlstad University with the survey and let the randomly selected respondents answer the questionnaire and there were 50 students who participated in the survey. The results showed that female students generally had lower self-confidence than the male students had. Both the female and male students were overall quite positive about their own appearance. Male students were found to be more secure in different kinds of situations than the female students were. The conclusions are that there was a wide area to explore, perhaps too wide for this kind of paper and for the small percentage of respondents we had. It is not possible to draw any generalization of the research when there were too few respondents. But from what we have chosen to investigate it is possible to draw a conclusion that male respondents showed a better self-confidence and were more reliable in different situations. The female respondents were more evenly satisfied with their appearance than men were, and female respondents answered that they wanted to change less of themselves in appearance than men responded that they would.

University attrition is a complex problem which may include different variables. This article seeks to describe the reasons behind university attrition in a private university in the city of Iquitos. The sample included 88 young people who dropped out the studies at University where the present study was carried out, whose ages range between 18-25 years, from which 42% are women and 58% males. The data from focus group was analyzed, as well as the interviews and the systematization of the existing information. The results show that the institutional characteristics would be the first factor that triggers attrition, followed by the vocational interests, academics, and finally the economic factor / El problema de deserción universitaria es complejo e incluye diversas causas. En este artículo se busca describir las razones que explican el fenómeno de la deserción universitaria en una universidad privada de la ciudad de Iquitos. La muestra estuvo conformada por 88 jóvenes que abandonaron los estudios en aquella universidad; sus edades fluctuaron entre los 18 y 25 años de edad; de ellos, el 42% fueron mujeres y el 58% fueron varones. En el presente trabajo, se analizan los datos obtenidos de los grupos focales, de las entrevistas y de la sistematización de la documentación existente. Los resultados muestran que las características institucionales serían el primer factor de deserción, seguido de los intereses vocacionales, los académicos y, finalmente, los económicos.

Researchers adopting the strength-energy model of self-control (Baumeister et al., 1998) have suggested that taxing situations (i.e., self-control demands) exhaust a limited self-control resource and leave individuals in a state of self-regulatory fatigue known as “ego-depletion.” Following the onset of ego-depletion, numerous studies have shown that individuals are more susceptible to lapses in self-control, including failure to resist alcohol consumption. Self-determination theory (SDT; Ryan & Deci, 2000) researchers have contributed to this body of research in at least two major ways. First, they have suggested that psychological need satisfaction may hold a restorative function and buffer against the ego-depleting effects of self-control demands during the day (Ryan & Deci, 2008). Second, they have empirically demonstrated that self-control resources may only be needed to execute responses involving greater controlled (CR) than autonomous (AR) regulation (Moller et al., 2006). Drawing upon each of these perspectives, the current study investigated: a) whether students reporting greater self-control demands during the day would be protected from higher levels of ego-depletion during the evening if they perceived greater psychological need satisfaction during the day, and b) whether students reporting higher levels of ego-depletion during the evening would be at greater risk of alcohol-related self-control failure at night if they reported relatively greater controlled than autonomous regulation for limiting their nighttime drinking. Two independent samples of university students were recruited during the Fall 2015 (Sample 1; n = 175) and Spring 2016 (Sample 2; n = 204) semesters. Across three (Sample 1) and four (Sample 2) week periods, students were prompted to complete measures of self-control demands and psychological need satisfaction during the day, and ego-depletion, alcohol-related self-control failure, and self-regulation for limiting alcohol consumption during the night. Using multilevel analysis, findings revealed a positive association between self-control demands and ego-depletion. This association was moderated by psychological need satisfaction during some temporal periods more than others. Findings also revealed a positive association between ego-depletion and alcohol-related self-control failure, but only among Sample 1 participants. Findings did not implicate self-regulation as a moderator of this relationship. The applicability of the strength-energy model is discussed in relation to student drinking behaviour. / Graduate / 2017-12-14 / tcarey@uvic.ca

Den rollstress som uppkommer i bristen på koppling mellan teori och praktik har varit underlag för studier av studenter på flera utbildningsprogram. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka beteendevetarstudenter på Mälardalens högskola, med fokus på deras upplevelser av att utbildningen inte leder till en specifik yrkesroll. Kvalitativa semistrukturerade intervjuer utfördes med 15 beteendevetarstudenter. Analysens meningskoncentrering genererade tre teman, ambivalens och stärkt initiativförmåga upplevde 15 studenter och svårigheter att omsätta teorin i praktik uppfattades av 14 studenter. Ambivalensen gällde utbildningens bredd som både skapade möjligheter men samtidigt bidrog till en otydlighet inför framtida yrkesroller. Stärkt initiativförmåga handlade om att studenterna lärt sig skapa egna erfarenheter i brist på praktik. Svårigheter att omsätta teorin i praktiken gällde att de saknade kopplingen mellan studier och arbetsliv. Inför framtida studier uppmanas det att jämföra beteendevetarstudenter från andra högskolor där det finns praktik och jämföra resultatet för att se om praktiken tillför ytterligare färdigheter.

The aim of the research study is firstly to examine the relationship between self-esteem and learning strategies amongst first year university students. From this the investigator aimed to discern whether there is a link between cognitive and affective factors in student learning as has been widely accepted in pedagogical studies. Secondly, the difference in self-esteem levels in relation to gender and year of study were also examined. Thirdly, the differences in self-esteem and learning strategies in relation to year of study were investigated. The rationale for the investigations in this study stems from the fact that first year university students are seen to be at a major life transition that brings with it challenges on an affective (self-esteem) and cognitive (learning strategies) level. The sample of the study consisted of 197 participants gathered from the University of the Witwatersrand. The instruments utilised were the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (1965), the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory- LASSI (Weinstein, 1987) and a brief Student Demographic Survey to gain information such as the students gender and year of study. Findings indicated that there is a relationship between self-esteem and the motivation to learn- one of the components of the LASSI. However, contrary to many other findings, no cognitive-affective link was evident. Furthermore, males and females appeared to show difference in the study aids learning strategy as well as in self-esteem levels, where females proved to have more positive self-esteem levels than the males. Year of study lastly, also proved to have an influence in student self-esteem levels.

The research aims to establish the perceived impact of relocation on first year student’s ability to cope with academic demands at University. The research intends to answer the following questions: How do first year students perceive their adjustment at University? Has the relocation impacted on the students functioning on any level? For example: -Academically, Emotionally, Physically and Socially. A large number of young adults relocate due to the need to pursue their chosen careers at the University. However, this happens at a time in their life when there is a lot of turmoil around social and individual identity and the pressures from society to achieve, including pressures to secure their future. This happens independently from parents and relevant social ties when students study away from home. A qualitative methodology was used for the research. The sample consisted of 10 Black female post matric first year students at University. The age range of participants was between 17 and 20. Data was collected through the use of semi structured interviews. Gathered data was analyzed using thematic content analysis. This involves organizing the data into categories on the bases of the themes and concepts. The concepts were then linked up in the form of a sequence. Eight steps were then followed when analyzing the data, which forms part of the criteria for thematic content analysis. Results obtained indicate that students find relocation to be a perturbing experience which pushes one out of their comfort zone into the unknown. This experience forces one to make numerous adjustments. The move taps into one's ability to deal with ambiguities, function independently and implement a task to deal with unanticipated challenges. Thus students are expected to take on the role of young adulthood. This brings with it the reality that they now have to be independent. As a result of this, most students get involved in what is called goal modification, namely focusing on what they would like instead of focusing on what their parents would want. The process is challenging as one is going through a process of loss and, in other ways, gain. The loss of social capital is felt as having a negative impact on academic performance. This is because students loose their source of motivation, support and reliable company. They now have to source it within themselves, an attribute which has proven to be difficult. Relocation is viewed as a compounding variable to other challenging factors to students. Hence the students’ relocation is perceived to be a variable which tends to have a negative affect on students’ academic performance. This is due to the fact that relocation tends to create a sense of discontinuity from known academic structures, social support ties and familiar surroundings. The loss of the above mentioned factors tends to aggravate the process of academic adjustment.

Abortion is a very controversial topic and over the years, many different attitudes have been formed around it. Previous studies have looked at people’s attitudes towards abortion in relation to gender, age, race, socio-economic background, religion, education and even marital status. The current study aimed to investigate the change of attitudes that students would have towards abortion given a range of circumstances (from serious to less serious). The role of gender in these attitudes was also looked at. This study conducted two separate semi-structured focus groups for each gender (6 males and 5 females). In the two focus groups, each vignette with a particular circumstance was read out to the students followed by questions. These follow up questions were discussed amongst the students present in the focus group. The responses from the students were recorded using a Dictaphone. From the Dictaphone, the information received from these interviews was transcribed. Thereafter, content analysis was used to analyse the findings which aimed to identify different themes. Following this, discursive constructs around abortion as well as conclusions were formed and discussed.