Education | Majority of university students disappointed by course content

A survey conducted by the Macau Youth Research Association and the General Association of Chinese Students-Macau has found that nearly 57 percent of Macau’s university students feel the content of their courses has not met the expectations they had before entering university.

Some 35 percent of the surveyed students claimed that if they could, they would choose a different major to the one in which they are currently enrolled.

According to both associations, many students are not thorough when choosing subjects, and do not do enough research on the majors they ultimately choose.

About 65 percent of the interviewees were admitted to their first choice in terms of preferred institutions.

Fifty percent of the students chose to pursue a further education degree for self-improvement and personal interest, 18 percent went to university to feel more accepted by society, 13 percent believed that going to a university meant having a good future, 11 percent went to university with the purpose of making more money in the future and 7 percent went to satisfy family expectations.

Approximately 50 percent of the students either “agree” or “strongly agree” when asked if they are satisfied with their time at university or not. On the other hand, 14 percent of the students chose “disagree” and “strongly disagree” when asked if they were satisfied with their university life or not.

In total, 728 students were surveyed. Seventy-two percent of them were studying in Macau, 27 percent were studying in mainland China, and the remaining 1 percent were studying in Taiwan, with the exception of a single student, who was studying in Hong Kong.