How do master’s students perceive academic identity and academic career path?

Abstract

This study aims to explore how Master’s students perceive academic identity through their study journey and whether these perceptions affect the aspirations of Master’s students as a future academic. The research questions are as follows: How do Master’s students perceive academics’ value, behaviours, and roles as a teacher and researcher? Do Master’s programs positively shape academic identity and academic culture? To what extent are Master’s students inspired to be academics in the future and why? How do Master’s students perceive preparation for an academic career? Many studies have explored academic identity and career path among doctoral students, but not many studies have focused on the Master’s level. Obtaining a Master’s degree is the first step for many postgraduate students in learning how to do academic research, and some students are initially inspired to be future academics and continue their studies. In addition, in some parts of the world that do not have a strong doctoral training system, a Master’s degree is often regarded as the only necessary qualification for university teachers. Although the profile of typical Master’s students has been changing from full-time to part-time, from recent undergraduate to mid-career professionals, and from research oriented to vocationally oriented, Master’s programmes are still widely perceived as stepping stones to obtaining a PhD. In particular, for a long time, Master’s students in research-intensive universities had been generally viewed by faculty as pre-PhD students, with the expectation that students would continue along an academic career path. However, in recent years, research has in fact shown that students in Master’s programmes are predominantly interested in careers outside of academia, even though faculty members and curriculum tend to emphasise preparation for a research-focused academic career. Qualitative data from face-to-face interviews conducted in the selected programmes and institution were obtained to explore students’ reasons for pursuing Master’s degrees and their academic identities. Fifty individual interviews were conducted with students from 10 programmes in one research-intensive university in Hong Kong. A purposive non-probability sampling was used. The criteria used to identify respondents included the programme in which they were enrolled, mode of enrolment (full-time or part-time), demographic characteristics, and programme stage (first or second year). The interview questions included the following: What are students’ intentions in engaging in Master’s programmes? What types of careers do students aspire to? What knowledge and skills do students expect to learn from academics to become teachers and/or researchers? How has students’ perceptions of academics changed throughout their Master’s studies? In what ways do perceived challenges influence students’ career plans as academics?