The Perceived Importance of Communication Skills Courses among University Students: the case of two universities in Tanzania

International Journal of Education and Research 2015; 3 (2) : 497-508This article is about the perceived importance of communication skills courses among Tanzanian university students. A total of 134 undergraduate students, randomly selected from two Tanzanian universities, were involved in this study. The study adopted a case study design in order to have an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon under investigation. The data were collected through interview schedules and they were analysed using thematic content analysis in which they were coded and classified according to themes generated from the responses. The findings revealed that communication skills courses were perceived by the majority of the respondents as important courses for the acquisition of communication skills needed in academic settings. It is recommended that universities should strive to improve the delivery of the courses by ensuring that both human and material resources are adequately available for the purpose of enabling students to benefit more from the course