Students’ Perspective on the Semester System at Higher Education Institutions in Pakistan

Abstract

This study investigates student perceptions of the semester system's deployment in Pakistani higher education institutions in the context of worldwide transformative shifts. The study examines the transition from the conventional annual system, focusing on key issues such as students' first perceptions, the semester system's impact on academic workload, time management, learning, assessment procedures, engagement, and involvement. It investigates feedback mechanisms and communication channels to get insights into the effectiveness of student-instructor interactions. The study evaluates overall student happiness and the semester system's possible impact on well-being, recognizing both positive characteristics that contribute to a positive academic experience and potential issues that harm mental health. Five selective universities conducted a survey using a questionnaire. The four-point Likert scale questionnaire “strongly disagree to strongly agree” was used to collect the ordinal data. Using simple random sampling, four hundred student samples were collected from five selective universities. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the frequency, percentage, and median as the average for ordinal data. Furthermore, the Kruskal Wallis H Test assessed variations in more than two groups’ opinions based on five university levels, and the Mann– Whitney U test investigated inequalities in the views of two groups of male and female students. The results offer valuable insights to educational policymakers, administrators, and educators. These insights will provide a student-focused understanding of the consequences of implementing the semester system.