First Year Learning Experiences from Student’s Perspective in a Multicultural Setting: The Case of Islamic University of Technology (IUT)

Abstract

This study examined and assessed the learning experience of first year engineering student’s perspective in a multicultural setting in terms of nationality, language and gender. It was conducted with MCE, CSE and EEE first year stream students of session 2016-2017 studying at the Islamic University of Technology (IUT), Gazipur, Bangladesh.

The population of this study was the First Year Engineering students of IUT. As the population was mixed and multicultural, representative portion should be included in the sample. Purposive sampling were used throughout the study. The sample selection was validated against population parameters to ensure that appropriate proportions of gender, mode of attendance, study area and citizenship characteristics are present in the sample.

Research was conducted using questionnaire based on Grade Point Average (GPA) and other characteristics of the local and international students. Statement-wise category percentage, weighted average (WA) and Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon (MWW) test were used to assess the learning experience of first year engineering students of IUT in relation to research objective 1. Two-way ANOVA were also used to compare academic achievement of local and international, as far as male and female students at IUT relating to research objectives 2 and 3 respectively in winter semester of the academic year 2016-2017. 167 students were selected in three departments (MCE, CSE, and EEE) and assigned the questionnaire randomly. Students of the study were divided in to three groups such as local, international, female students and organized for a Focus Group Discussion of six students per group. A null hypothesis was tested by analyzing the data collected from the questionnaire and achievement test. The results revealed that there was significant difference in the overall mean achievement scores of the three subgroups of IUT.

This investigation was an effort to observe how teaching-learning process affects the achievement of students according to their status and gender in a multicultural environment. The main objective of this study was to assess the learning experience of first year engineering students of IUT in terms of (i) quality of teaching-learning, (ii) learning resources, (iii) curriculum structure (iv) student support, (v) extra-curriculum activities.