University Students’ Productive Engagement: A Study from COVID-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh

Abstract

Abstract: The purpose of the study is to encapsulate the engagement of university students in diversified productive activities during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the pre-COVID situation. A total of 215 responses from university students representing both males (60.5%) and females (39.5%) were collected through an online survey and the questionnaire included both open and closed-ended questions. The result shows the involvement of 32.1 percent of students in different volunteering, 61.4 percent in different self-development, and 53.5 percent in various income-generating activities during the period of COVID-19 academic shutdown together with various challenges faced by the students for not being engaged in any of these productive activities during this period. The findings also revealed that time spent on each category of activities remained higher during the COVID-19 situation than in the pre-COVID period. Online involvement (27%) during the COVID-19 restricted period and physical involvement (40.9%) in the pre-COVID period have dominated their manner of participation in productive activities. The outcome of the present study and the model generated by the authors will promote the scope to know more comprehensively about students’ engagement in different productive activities giving them important insight to utilize their valuable time and future course of action amid the loss of the COVID-19 pandemic with the support from public and private organizations, educational institutions. The value of these findings and the associated model can be used to create a suitable ambiance for doing productive activities for university students and for being proactive.