Completion time dynamics of Doctoral Studies at Makerere University: a hazard model evaluation

Abstract

Issues related to attrition and completion time of graduate studies are certainly an internationally challenging and important area of higher education literature. In this paper, completion time dynamics of doctoral studies at Makerere University were investigated based on data extracted for all 295 candidates in the commencement cohorts from 2000 to 2005. The total elapsed time, from first enrollment to submission of a final copy of a thesis, was adopted as a measure of completion time and event history (survival) analysis methodology was applied. Results reveal a median completion time of 5.0 years. Following a Cox model, in a range of candidate, candidature, discipline and institutional variables, the rate of completion was higher for candidates at younger ages during commencement, international students, those registered in science-related disciplines, and those in commencement cohorts from 2000 to 2002. The model correctly identified the order of completion times by about 72% of the time.