Exploring specialisation preferences of University of Namibia media and communication undergraduate students

Abstract

Various factors such as employment, salary, economic returns etc. are said to play a role on students’ decision when selecting their major. The purpose of this research is to explore the different factors that are taken into consideration by UNAM; media studies students’ when selecting their major. Using quantitative research methods the study analysed factors that are most considered by 3rd and 4th year media students (that’s between the year 2019 -2020) when selecting their major. The SPSS software was used to analyse data collected. The factors that was found to play the greatest role on students’ decision when majoring included, employment (64.4%), hobbies and interest (59.3%), salary (27.1%) as well as bursary and scholarships (5.1%). The results also points out external factors involved in students decisions when majoring such as family members, references, lectures, professionals in the fields, fellow students and more. Shocking results from the study is that public relations and advertising is the most considered major in media studies with 81% of students’ choosing it as a major, while print and digital journalism is the least with 6.8% of students. This study definitively answers the questions regarding the different factors considered by media students during their selection of major. Further studies are needed to explore a causal relationship between the key factors which is employment, salary and hobbies and interest as to why they are dominating on students decisions when selecting an area of concentration. In addition additional study is needed to determine why public relations and advertising is most preferred compared to journalism.