EXPLORING THE PROBLEMS FACED BY THE ACADEMICS IN TRANSFORMING UNIVERSITY COLLEGES TO UNIVERSITIES: A PILOT STUDY

Abstract

Improving higher education provision is one of many agendas of the government worldwide. Despite its diversity and importance, the number of studies on the transformation of tertiary institutions particularly the transformation from university colleges to universities is still lacking. Thus, this pilot study aims to determine whether the academics face problems in the transformation from university colleges to universities, to explore the solutions provided and to test the instrument developed for defects before conducting the main study. Semi- structured interview questions were employed on three participants who was a managing academic, a permanent staff and a contract staff. The pilot study proved to be important in four ways. These include (1) selecting suitable potential participants, (2) categorizing the problems faced by the academics in the transformation from university college to university, (3) reflecting on suitable solutions from the views of the academics and (4) amending the semi- structured interview questions. Seemingly the academics viewed that they faced various categories of problems related to the transformation; hence, solutions were crucial for the academics to remain motivated and satisfied with their jobs. The findings have important implications as they can assist the policy makers and the management of the university college in improving the solutions provided to the academics experiencing the problems prevalent in the pilot study.