Academic Engagement among College Students in Urban Bangalore: Exploring Institutional and Individual Level Determinants of Academic Engagement

Prakat Karki *, Soumonetra Chaudhury **, Bishal Patangia ***
*-*** Christ (Deemed to be) University, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
Periodicity:August - October'2020
DOI : https://doi.org/10.26634/jpsy.14.2.17487

Abstract

Academic engagement refers to the quality of effort or involvement that students themselves devote to academically and educationally purposeful activities. Academic engagement is directly related to the outcomes of academic courses as well as future job prospects and career success of students. The interplay of institutional or contextual variables alongside individual or psychological aspects of students leading to academic engagement is still not fully understood. In this study, academic engagement was assessed among 194 undergraduate and postgraduate students (mean= 19.08 years) from urban Bangalore, India, which comprised 64 male and 130 female students. The participants responded through an online self report survey that included their socio-demographic and institutional details, screening forms and standardized questionnaires. Academic engagement was operationalized as three components of vigour, dedication and absorption and they were measured using a standardized scale. Overall, there were 13 institutional and individual variables in contention and their association with academic engagement was studied using parametric statistical tests. Among the institutional variables, significant differences in academic engagement were found between various courses/classrooms and year of study. Among student level variables, academic engagement was found to be significantly different between the two genders and the choices of majors of students. Also, among the psychological variables, academic engagement was significantly related to the personality trait of instrumentality (masculinity), and self esteem. There were also significant inter correlations between the three subscales of academic engagement. The study highlighted the complex interplay of both institutional and individual level factors in influencing student academic engagement and performance.

Keywords

Academic engagement, Institutional variables, Individual variables, Vigour, Absorption, Dedication.

How to Cite this Article?

Karki, P., Chaudhury, S., and Patangia, B. (2020). Academic Engagement among College Students in Urban Bangalore: Exploring Institutional and Individual Level Determinants of Academic Engagement. i-manager's Journal on Educational Psychology, 14(2), 24-33. https://doi.org/10.26634/jpsy.14.2.17487

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