Commonwealth Department of Education, Science and Training

Identifying the Changing Needs of Australian Coursework Postgraduate Students

Darryl Coulthard
School of Management Information Systems
Deakin University

99/9

September 2000

Evaluations and Investigations Programme
Higher Education Division

ŠCommonwealth of Australia 2000

ISBN 0 642 44479 X (Electronic)
DETYA No. 6492.HERC00A

This report is funded under the Evaluations and Investigations Programme of the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

Preface
Acknowledgements
Executive summary

1. Introduction
The CAPA project
Method
Survey instrument
Response rate
Approach of the report

2. A demographic summary of the respondents

3. Levels of satisfaction: all students
Overall levels of satisfaction of selected groups
Summary

4. Levels of satisfaction: on-campus students
Satisfaction with course: on-campus students
Type of course
Field of study
Enrolment status
Payment type
Age
Work status
Two way analysis of variance of selected groups
Resources and services: on-campus students
Library services
Academic support
Computer services
Student services

5. Levels of satisfaction: external students

6. Reasons for undertaking postgraduate study

7. Discussion
Satisfaction and quality
The relationship between age, reason for undertaking the course and satisfaction

Conclusion

References

Appendices
Attachment 1
Attachment 2

Figures and Tables

Tables

Table 1	A comparison of survey respondents by field of study with 1998 DETYA enrolment statistics
Table 2	A comparison of type of course of the survey respondents with 1998 DETYA enrolment statistics
Table 3	Campus status of survey respondents by gender
Table 4	Age breakdown of survey respondents
Table 5	Overall level of satisfaction with course and with resources and services: all students(%)
Table 6	Percentage of students not satisfied with course by survey item: all students
Table 7	Percentage of postgraduate students rating resources or services as "poor" by survey item: all students
Table 8	The overall level of satisfaction for course and resources and services: on-campus students(%)
Table 9	Percentage of students not satisfied with their course by survey item: on-campus students
Table 10	Mean level of satisfaction by type of course: on-campus students
Table 11	Mean satisfaction by field of study: on-campus students
Table 12	Mean satisfaction by enrolment status: on-campus students
Table 13	Mean satisfaction by payment type: on-campus students
Table 14	Mean satisfaction by age: full-time students
Table 15	Mean satisfaction by work status
Table 16	Percentage rating the quality of resources and services as poor: on-campus students
Table 17	Satisfaction with course and level of resources and services: external students (%)
Table 18	Satisfaction with their course: external students
Table 19	Satisfaction with the level of resources and services: external students
Table 20	Summary of results of three-way frequency analysis

Figures

Figure 1	Overall satisfaction with course and resources: all students
Figure 2	Students not satisfied with course or resources by campus status: all students
Figure 3	Students not satisfied with course or resources by field of study: all students
Figure 4	Students not satisfied with course or resources by payment type: all students
Figure 5	Students not satisfied with course or resources by campus status: all students
Figure 6	Students not satisfied with course and services by age: all students
Figure 7	Satisfaction with course and services by gender
Figure 8	Library services: percentage of on-campus students who rated services as poor or very poor
Figure 9	Academic support: percentage of on-campus students who rated services as poor or very poor
Figure 10	Academic support: percentage of on-campus students who rated services as poor or very poor
Figure 11	Student and other services: percentage of on-campus students who rated services as poor or very poor
Figure 12	Per cent not satisfied by type of course: external students
Figure 13	Per cent not satisfied by field of study: external students
Figure 14	Per cent not satisfied by payment type: external students
Figure 15	Per cent not satisfied by age: external students
Figure 16	Per cent not satisfied by gender: external students
Figure 17	Reasons for undertaking course: all students

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