CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

The introductory chapter is divided into eight sections, which will give the reader a comprehensive overview of the study. The first section presents the subject matter by presenting the background of the study. this will be followed by the statement of the research problem , the objectives on which this study is based ,research questions, hypothesis, significance of the study, scope of the study and finally the last section presents an overview of the progress of the rest of study.

1.1 Background to the Study

The diversification of student’s profiles as a result of educational expansion over the years is translated to both the sociodemographic characteristics of the students and to the strategies they adopt to meet the challenges of the university experience. Some studies point to characteristics like gender, age the socioeconomic background of the family and earthnicity as the factors that contribute most to these hecterogenisation of students profiles on an individual level( arinovillalaroya, hemandezpedreno, llopisGoig,tejerinamontanana, and Navarro susaete, 2008; gonzalezmonteagudo, 2010) some of these characteristics translate to new ways of understanding the university experience and as a consequence to new ways of articulating and combining academic studies with other responsibilities or experiences.one of the most characteristics of this students responsibilities is working while studying.

One of three issues that has become especially important for Cameroon institutions recently is the need to increase student access to and participation in higher education and more specifically to foment participation among more vulnerable and under presently groups with the aim of achieving a more inclusive and equitable participation( European commission/EACEA/EURIDICE 2014) this concern has brought a growing interest in the study of the live conditions of university students and how the institutional changes and university reforms that have been implemented have been able to modify this conditions and how they have been datarymental to them.

Parallel to the changes in higher education other processes or dynamics that are external to the institution could be plating a fundamental role in shaping students social conditions. The economics crisis in particular has had a major impact on the unemployment rate, which has gone from 7.9% at the beginning of the crises(2007) to the current 23.79% having peak at almost 27% in 2013( Spanish national statistic institute)

At part from the high unemployment rate, the economic crisis has also brought about huge insecurities in the labor market, with a drastic decrease in the number of full time jobs and permanent contracts in the specific case of Spain there is a large number of students with involuntary part time jobs; inorder words they work part time because they have been unable to find a better work situation due to labor market insecurities (OCDE,3013). All in all this situation has affected young people particularly harshly.

Thus, within this context of economic crisis and the recent increase in university fees, analyzing the new reality of university students and their participation in the institution of higher education has become fundamental. In this regard this study aims to contribute to the knowledge about the participation and live conditions of university students. Specifically the incidents and evolution of the phenomenon of working while studying is explode while at the same time the effects this has on educational outcomes and labor market entry is analyzed.
The work of students during the academic year raises fundamental questions about learning impacts on their current and future well-being. This thesis investigates the effects of work study program on academic performance of students of the University of Bamenda.

Universities, schools or any educational institute has no value without students. Students are the most reliable assets of any educational institute. The student’s performance ( academic achievements) plays an important role in producing the best quality graduates who will become great leaders and manpower of the country thus responsible for the country’s economic and social development (Ali et al, 2009)

1.2 Statement of the problem

Studentswho decide to combine study and work differ from those who do not combine this two activities in more than just their work status (warren and lee, 2003; Singh, Chang and Dika, 2007). Three pre-existing differences between working and non-working students may also affect educational outcomes (Rothstein, 2007). For the impact of student employment on educational outcomes to be given a casual interpretation, one should control for these common determinants. If not, variation in educational outcomes that should be attributed to the pre-existing differences between working and non-working students will mistakenly be attributed to the differences in work status (Stinebricknerand Stinebrickner, 2003; Baert et al…, 2017)

The pre-existing differences between working and non-working students can be both observable (e.g gender, ethnicity and parental education level) and unobservable (e.g motivation and ability) to the researcher. Although it is fairly easy to account for the former category of pre-existing differences by including these factors as control variables in the estimation process. It is much harder to account for the larger category of pre-existing differences. However, not accounting for these factors biases coefficient estimates.

When estimating the effects of student employment on academic achievement, factors like motivation, ability and students financial constraints are cited as the most important factors that are usaually not observed by researchers (Sabia, 2009; Bachmann et al…, 2011; Scott-Clayton, 2012). Remarkably, for the first two of these, that is motivation and ability, different authors argue for opposing selection effects induced by these this factors. On the other hand, several authors argue that highly motivated and able students are more frequently involved in student work(Stinebrickner and Stinebrickner, 2003; Tyler, 2003; Beffy et al.., 2010). Following this reasoning, student workers are a positive selection of the overall selection. On the other hand, other authors argue for a negative selection, reasoning that students with lower motivation and lower ability are more likely to combine study and work (Rothstein, 2007; Bachmann et al…, 2011; Buscha et al.., 2012). With regard to financial constraints, Kalenkoski and Pabilonia(2010) and Behr and Theune(2016) have shown that the financial wealth of a family is negatively associated with the number of hours student work. As Sirin(2005) showed in the review of 58 studies that socio economic status ( which is closely linked to financial wealth of the family) is positively related to academic archievement. One should also control for students financial constraints to control for a (potentially) negative selection effect.

Consisting with zero sum theory (supra, section 2), there may also be an issue of reverse casualty. Indeed, academic achievement might influence students time use and therefore both whether and how much students work (or are allowed to work by their parents) (Sabia, 2009). Here too this endogencity issue led to both positive and negative biased estimates. On the other hand, students with higher marks may decide that there are capable of combining their studies with student employment, resulting in a positive selection (Sabia, 2009). On the other hand, they may be a negative selection bias if students who perform badly in school become discourage in seeking academic success and turn to student work as a more fruitful allocation of their time ( Warren and lee, 2003; Bozick, 2007).

Performance in higher schools is something that everyone expects it to be of higher quality because of the services rendered by this higher institutions to the community and the general economy as a whole. Many higher education students turn to work and study at the same time due to the various equipment and facilities provided to them, most of these students benefit both financially and educationally. Arising from the foregoing, the primary question is why do full time students perform better that those students who work and study at the same time. This dissertation aims to critically examine this phenomenon in the University of Bamenda in order to isolate key factors that may contribute to this study.

1.3 Research questions

Main research questions

• What are the effects of work study program on academic performance of students of the University of Bamenda?

Specific research questions?

• What are the effects of motivation on the academic performance of students of UBa?
• What are the effects of time spent at work on the academic performance of students of UBa?
• Does financial constraints hinder the academic performance of students of UBa?
• Does ability affect the academic performance of students of UBa?

1.4 Research objectives

Main research objective

• To investigate THE EFFECTS OF WORK STUDY PROGRAM ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF THE STUDENTS OF UNIVERSITY OF BAMENDA.

Specific research objectives

• To access if motivation affect academic performance of students.
• To identify if time spent at work affect the academic performance of students.
• To examine if financial constraints affect the performance of students.
• To determine if ability affect the performance of students.
• To make recommendations.