Analysis of Determinants for Mobility of Students in Private Universities in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

By ensuring that students have the knowledge and abilities needed to develop and enhance the economy of governments and nations, education helps students assume roles in society. The growing phenomenon of student mobility is connected with globalization and internationalization processes and internationalization. The country has observed a sizable proportion of government and privately funded students opting to transfer from one university to another, despite CUE's attempts to integrate curriculum and the KUCCPS placement method in all universities. This kind of student movement seems to indicate that the culture has hidden preferences on which universities to attend. As the study's target, Nairobi County in Kenya, this demands crucial criteria for mobility amongst pupils. This research was driven by the subsequent specific objectives done in private universities in Nairobi County, Kenya: to analyze the effect of customer care services on student mobility; to determine whether student engagement influences students’ choice of mobility; to investigate whether the quality of learning is a cause of student mobility; to establish the relationship between students’ economic status and mobility and, to find out the relationship between the course completion time and student mobility. The study too pursued to assess the impact of government policies on students’ mobility in private universities in Nairobi County, Kenya. This study employed a descriptive quantitative survey design. This study targeted 26 registered private universities (including private university constituents where mobility rate records are too high) in Nairobi County, Kenya. The research sample size was 180 private university students and nine registrars. Quantitative data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. Descriptive analysis, inferential statistics, and regression analysis were used to analyze the findings. Descriptive statistics such as mean scores, percentages, and standard deviation were computed appropriately. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to establish the extent of the effect on the dependent variables of independent variables. This study found that economic status does not influence student mobility in private universities in Nairobi County, Kenya. The mobility of students in Nairobi County, Kenya is greatly influenced by customer care services, student engagement, quality of learning and course completion times, This study suggests that government organizations, including the Ministry of Education (MOE), Kenya University and Colleges Placement Service (KUCCPS), Commission for University Education (CUE), and Higher Education Loans Board (HELB), review the current learning policies in institutions of higher learning and integrate systematic measures to control the alarming cases of student mobility. To attract potential students to their individual universities, the marketing divisions of the target-area universities should make more investments in customer support services. Private universities should make deliberate efforts in ensuring that there is an improvement in course completion time of their courses. Private universities should invest in their respective infrastructure that is meant to ensure superior learning possibilities.