Postgraduate Students' Views on Postgraduate Education

Abstract

The aim of this research is to reveal the views of postgraduate students on postgraduate education. In this context, postgraduate students' reasons for taking postgraduate education, their expectations from postgraduate education, their communication problems in graduate education and their views on evaluation in graduate education were also revealed. In addition, it is aimed to reveal students' perceptions about postgraduate education. Case study design, one of the qualitative research designs, was used in the research. The study group of the research consists of 20 students studying at different graduate levels in 11 different universities in the 2021-2022 academic year. Maximum variation sampling method, one of the purposive sampling methods, was preferred in the sample selection. The data were collected with a semi-structured interview form prepared by the researchers. The obtained data were analyzed by content analysis method. According to the results of the research, it has been revealed that the reasons for doing postgraduate education differ, and that doctoral students have more views on this subject than graduate students. While it was revealed that the expectations of postgraduate students regarding postgraduate education were mostly met before the start of postgraduate education, it was determined that the expectations of doctoral students regarding postgraduate education were met more than those of postgraduate students. It has been revealed that students mostly have communication problems in postgraduate education, and postgraduate students have more communication problems than doctoral students in this process. In addition, it has been determined that they have the opinion that the evaluation process in graduate education should be process-oriented rather than product-oriented for students. It has been determined that postgraduate students have a positive perception of postgraduate education. In line with the results, suggestions have been put forward to eliminate the problems that graduate students have experienced during their education and to develop policies to ensure that they have a positive perception towards graduate education.