Student Engagement in Public and Private Ethiopian Universities : Transforming Students’ College Experiences and Learning Outcomes

Transforming students’ academic, social, and work-related skills and competencies has taken center stage in Ethiopian higher education (HE) and quality assurance (QA) policy, research, and practice. Student engagement (SE) research has long underscored the importance of SE in promoting the quality of students’ learning, educational experiences, and achievement of desired outcomes. Grounded in this notion, the present study explores SE in public and private Ethiopian universities. The role of existing HE and QA policies, structures, and processes in transforming students’ classroom, on-campus, and off-campus educational experiences and learning outcomes was examined. Three fundamental research questions were posed. In order to find the best possible answers to those questions, a mixed exploratory sequential design was used, consisting of two-phase qualitative and quantitative data collection, analysis, and interpretation strategies. More specifically, methods and procedures from applied thematic analysis and survey research were used to collect, analyze, and interpret the qualitative and quantitative data. Respondents were selected using purposive, stratified, and simple random sampling techniques. Using a purposive-theoretical sampling technique, study participants from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the Higher Education Strategic Center, and Higher Education Relevance and Quality Agency, along with transformation and QA offices and heads working at different levels in sampled universities, were selected to take part in the first, qualitative phase of the study. Similarly, simple random and stratified random sampling techniques were used to select sample universities, academic programs and disciplines taught, instructors, and students for both pilot testing and the second, quantitative phase of the research. Extensive reviews of the conceptual, theoretical, and empirical foundations of SE were made to shed light on the relationships between SE and the quality of students’ learning, overall HE experiences, and learning outcomes. In addition, the existing conceptions of SE, learning experiences, and achievement in Ethiopian HE and QA policies, strategies, regulatory frameworks, curriculum intentions, and teaching, learning, and assessment processes and procedures were synthesized. The reviews guided the development, determination, selection, and validation of the data collection instruments that were used to gather both primary and secondary data during the first and second phases of the study. Document review checklists and semi-structured interview guides were devised to collect data for the qualitative phase. Similarly, relevant National Survey of Student Engagement and Faculty Survey of Student Engagement questionnaires and student achievement data in the form of cumulative grade point averages were used as data for the quantitative phase. In order to analyze the qualitative textual data obtained from interview transcriptions and document analysis, applied thematic analysis techniques were used. In addition, both descriptive and inferential analytical procedures were employed to analyze the quantitative data. The results of the qualitative study enabled the generation of codes and themes that made up the SE concepts, dimensions, typologies, and theoretical assumptions that played a salient role in determining the SE variables, measures, and indicators in the context of Ethiopian higher education institutions (HEIs). Apart from this, the qualitative study enabled the identification of factors related to policy, strategy, curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment, students, and instructors that influenced SE and the development of students’ academic, social, and work-related skills and competencies in Ethiopian HEIs. Meanwhile, in-depth discussions of SE themes, concepts, dimensions, typologies, and assumptions enabled the determination of an appropriate SE survey instrument to collect quantitative data from randomly selected sample instructors and students in selected private universities. The results from the second-phase, quantitative data analysis revealed students’ and instructors’ perceptions of the rate of student participation in purposefully designed classroom, on-campus, and off-campus educational activities. The results also revealed the extent to which teaching, learning, and assessment processes and practices transformed SE and the quality of student learning and outcomes, indicating the existence of an association between SE and learning achievement. Finally, implications for policy, research, and practice are discussed, as are the limitations of the study