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Why go to university? exploring the purpose of attaining higher education among first-born Students from B40 and M40 Malay families

In recent years, conversations surrounding the purposes of higher education have been influenced by national policy discourse that is framed in relation to economic contexts. The preoccupation with labour market interests and employability issues continue to dominate the discussion on the purpose of...

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Main Authors: Abd Rahim, Saidatul Madiha, Hussien, Suhailah
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IIUM Press 2022
Subjects:
L Education (General)
LB2300 Higher Education
LC1390 Education of special classes of persons
Online Access:http://irep.iium.edu.my/99361/2/99361_Why%20go%20to%20university.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/99361/
https://journals.iium.edu.my/ijes/index.php/iejs/article/view/420/176
https://doi.org/10.31436/ijes.v10i1.420
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spelling my.iium.irep.993612022-09-22T00:45:37Z http://irep.iium.edu.my/99361/ Why go to university? exploring the purpose of attaining higher education among first-born Students from B40 and M40 Malay families Abd Rahim, Saidatul Madiha Hussien, Suhailah L Education (General) LB2300 Higher Education LC1390 Education of special classes of persons In recent years, conversations surrounding the purposes of higher education have been influenced by national policy discourse that is framed in relation to economic contexts. The preoccupation with labour market interests and employability issues continue to dominate the discussion on the purpose of higher education. This presents specific discursive constructions of what it means to attain higher education qualifications, and more broadly, in orienting the provision of higher education itself. While such views generate mixed response among different institutional stakeholders, the perspectives of young people who wish to pursue a university education are rarely considered in the discourse. This article aims to highlight the reasons behind young people’s aspirations to further their studies at the university level. Data were drawn from a series of semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of fourteen first-born matriculation and foundation students from B40 and M40 Malay families. The findings demonstrate that intrinsic reasons were expressed alongside extrinsic, economic rationales as the students explained their motives to pursue higher education. While differences in the articulation of these reasons may not be sharply evident when comparison of socio-economic and generational status of the students is made, the notion of social mobility is relatively absent in the students’ accounts. Altogether, these findings illuminate the multiple views on the personal motives of attaining higher education, both corresponding to and in contrast with the instrumentalist view of higher education replete in contemporary state-projected discourse. IIUM Press 2022-06-13 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://irep.iium.edu.my/99361/2/99361_Why%20go%20to%20university.pdf Abd Rahim, Saidatul Madiha and Hussien, Suhailah (2022) Why go to university? exploring the purpose of attaining higher education among first-born Students from B40 and M40 Malay families. IIUM Journal of Educational Studies, 10 (1). pp. 22-39. ISSN 2289-8085 https://journals.iium.edu.my/ijes/index.php/iejs/article/view/420/176 https://doi.org/10.31436/ijes.v10i1.420
institution Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia
building IIUM Library
collection Institutional Repository
continent Asia
country Malaysia
content_provider International Islamic University Malaysia
content_source IIUM Repository (IREP)
url_provider http://irep.iium.edu.my/
language English
topic L Education (General)
LB2300 Higher Education
LC1390 Education of special classes of persons
spellingShingle L Education (General)
LB2300 Higher Education
LC1390 Education of special classes of persons
Abd Rahim, Saidatul Madiha
Hussien, Suhailah
Why go to university? exploring the purpose of attaining higher education among first-born Students from B40 and M40 Malay families
description In recent years, conversations surrounding the purposes of higher education have been influenced by national policy discourse that is framed in relation to economic contexts. The preoccupation with labour market interests and employability issues continue to dominate the discussion on the purpose of higher education. This presents specific discursive constructions of what it means to attain higher education qualifications, and more broadly, in orienting the provision of higher education itself. While such views generate mixed response among different institutional stakeholders, the perspectives of young people who wish to pursue a university education are rarely considered in the discourse. This article aims to highlight the reasons behind young people’s aspirations to further their studies at the university level. Data were drawn from a series of semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of fourteen first-born matriculation and foundation students from B40 and M40 Malay families. The findings demonstrate that intrinsic reasons were expressed alongside extrinsic, economic rationales as the students explained their motives to pursue higher education. While differences in the articulation of these reasons may not be sharply evident when comparison of socio-economic and generational status of the students is made, the notion of social mobility is relatively absent in the students’ accounts. Altogether, these findings illuminate the multiple views on the personal motives of attaining higher education, both corresponding to and in contrast with the instrumentalist view of higher education replete in contemporary state-projected discourse.
format Article
author Abd Rahim, Saidatul Madiha
Hussien, Suhailah
author_facet Abd Rahim, Saidatul Madiha
Hussien, Suhailah
author_sort Abd Rahim, Saidatul Madiha
title Why go to university? exploring the purpose of attaining higher education among first-born Students from B40 and M40 Malay families
title_short Why go to university? exploring the purpose of attaining higher education among first-born Students from B40 and M40 Malay families
title_full Why go to university? exploring the purpose of attaining higher education among first-born Students from B40 and M40 Malay families
title_fullStr Why go to university? exploring the purpose of attaining higher education among first-born Students from B40 and M40 Malay families
title_full_unstemmed Why go to university? exploring the purpose of attaining higher education among first-born Students from B40 and M40 Malay families
title_sort why go to university? exploring the purpose of attaining higher education among first-born students from b40 and m40 malay families
publisher IIUM Press
publishDate 2022
url http://irep.iium.edu.my/99361/2/99361_Why%20go%20to%20university.pdf
http://irep.iium.edu.my/99361/
https://journals.iium.edu.my/ijes/index.php/iejs/article/view/420/176
https://doi.org/10.31436/ijes.v10i1.420
_version_ 1744648648915943424
score 13.211869

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