Implications of the learning environment in a professional Master’s degree in business administration in Brazil

Abstract

This study focused on the implications of a learning environment in a professional Master’s degree in business administration in Brazil. The study was qualitative and involved semi-structured interviews with graduates of a graduate program with a professional focus. The study identified the physical, psychological, social and technological dimensions of a learning environment and it enabled the identification of eight mediating factors that act on the learning process. The meanings that are attributed to each of the dimension contribute to an understanding of how the events experienced in the environment influenced the students’ experiential perception of a Master’s degree course and, consequently, their personal and professional learning. For the scientific field and for the professional and academic development at the graduate level, the study provides two contributions: identification of the main positive and negative implications of the dimensions of a learning environment in the development of Master’s degree students with a professional focus; the realisation that a learning environment in the graduate context is multidimensional and multidirectional, given that the dimensions and the mediating factors are interrelated.